Catering Scotland NewsScottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

Blythswood Square, the long-awaited five-st hotel in Glasgow, has today opened its doors to the public, 12 months later than originally planned.

Situated in the former Royal Scottish Automobile Club, the ar ?25m hotel boasts 100 bedrooms will also house Glasgow's first luxury spa.

Billed as one of the most environmentally friendly establishments in the city, Blythswood Square incorporates several new renewable energy technologies to achieve reduced carbon emissions.

The Spa at Blythswood Square will open early in 2010 and will be home to Glasgow's only Seaweed Bath chamber.

Peter Taylor, Chairman of the Town House Group, which operates the new development said: 'Our aim was to capture the glamour of a bygone era while showcasing the latest in designer styling. We are absolutely delighted with the outcome.'

www.blythswoodsquare.com

Scotland's hotels had the highest occupancy and rooms yield in the UK outside London during September, despite pressure on rooms yield. According to the latest survey by accountants and business advisers PKF, Scottish hotels recorded a 79.8% occupancy rate in September, while Edinburgh's hotels recorded 87.6% occupancy.

Alastair Rae, a partner in the Real Estate and Hospitality sector at PKF, said: 'Scotland's hotel sector appears to be holding up well, despite continuing falls in both occupancy and rooms yield.
'The rest of the UK is experiencing lower occupancy numbers and considerably lower rooms yield, with the Scottish rate more than ?10 per room higher than the regional UK average, and almost ?17 higher than the rate in Wales.'

'In Edinburgh, despite a drop in occupancy and rooms yield, the city still has the highest figures for both, outside London. The sector in the capital is doing well to still have almost 90% occupancy in September and a rooms yield of nearly ?80, when other British tourist destinations such as York are down to as low as ?55.'

Unfortunately, however, Glasgow's rooms yield fell by 7.8% but Mr Rae said that this was set against a reasonably high occupancy at 80.7%:
'For the year to date, Glasgow's rooms yield has fallen further than the Scottish average fall of 5.9%. This is likely to be caused by falling corporate and conference custom due to a cutback in business expenditure which will take some time to recover.'

VIP Networking Breakfast & launch of the Springboard Scotland Business Partnership Programme

Tuesday 24th November 2009
Venue: Prestonfield, Priestfield Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5UT
8.30am to 10.30am