Press release -
Striking Gold in Grantown
A Highland hotel which has hosted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert has achieved its ‘Gold’ award from the national tourism organisation in recognition of its excellent customer service.
The Grant Arms Hotel was already a 3-Star hotel but has now been awarded the added ‘Gold’ status from VisitScotland, representing the continuing attainment of outstanding customer service and hospitality for its guests.
Situated in the busy Highland town of Grantown-on-Spey, the stone-built 50-bedroom privately owned hotel has been recently refurbished and upgraded to offer modern comforts, while retaining its traditional character.
The establishment, which also has meeting and conference facilities, has been welcoming guests for many years, with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visiting in 1860. Things have moved on significantly since those days and the hotel now has ensuite bedrooms, all with tea and coffee making facilities, toiletries, hair dryer, colour TV and direct dial phone. There are two disabled rooms on the first floor accessible by lift.
The Bird Watching & Wildlife Club (BWWC), based at the Grant Arms Hotel, also exists for anyone interested in wildlife, from beginners to dedicated birdwatchers. For those who want to go off each day by themselves, the BWWC Team will tell them what is around, where to go and the best time to see it. For those who want escorted trips, the team can provide advice on the many and varied trips available. The BWWC’s club room, library, walks, talks and briefings are free to all hotel guests.
Guests can also book for several events through the hotel, including a red deer rut break in October and a celebrity guided holiday with TV presenter Nick Baker in November.
The hotel has also been awarded Taste Our Best - a joint initiative between VisitScotland and the Scottish Government. Launched in 2013, the scheme is designed to recognise businesses including hotels, restaurants, cafes, takeaways, visitor attractions and B&Bs that not only offer a quality food and drink experience, but include and promote Scottish produce on their menus, to give consumers choice.
Based in Grantown-on-Spey, fresh meat is supplied by Stuart Grant who is also famous for his black pudding, which features on both the dinner and breakfast menus.Other suppliers include eggs from Gawnsmoss Farm in Banffshire; fish freshly supplied by M&J Seafoods and Sutherland’s of Portsoy; Great Glen Game in Spean Bridge for game; McLean’s the Highland Baker for bread; Stirling-based Caledonia’s Larder, purveyor of fine terrines and TPS of Turriff who supply much of the Forres grown vegetables and Scottish fruit berries.
The Grant Arms Hotel has also joined VisitScotland’s VIP (VisitScotland information Partner) scheme, which allows the national tourism organisation to work in partnership with businesses in the area to recognise the work they are already doing in enhancing the visitor experience, including the provision of visitor information.
David Duncan, General Manager of the Grant Arms Hotel, said:
“VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance scheme is an excellent foundation upon which to build a hospitality business. It is an ever-present, measurable control mechanism which influences all decisions, actions and reactions throughout the team.
“The customer is reassured, their experience enhanced and their memory lasting, for all the right reasons.
“The Grant Arms Hotel team delivering QA, grow and glow with the positive customer feedback and high level of repeat business. The journey does not stop here, it will go on indefinitely, flexing, developing and growing to satisfy emerging markets way beyond expectation, with 3 Star Gold playing a key role in focusing.
“Taste our Best supports our kitchen brigade and food service delivery team, inspiring confidence through local authenticity in the sourcing and seasonality of foods.”
Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director, said:
“It is fantastic to see Grantown’s tourism offering enhanced by the Grant Arms Hotel’s well-deserved achievement and I would like to applaud David and his team for their hard work, outstanding customer service and hospitality.
“High-quality hotel accommodation is vitally important to our visitors, which is why VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance gradings are so important to the tourism industry as a whole.
“Developed and improved for over 30 years, our Quality Assurance schemes are world-leading and provide a trusted, independent and impartial source of information for visitors. They allow you to not just meet visitor expectations, but exceed them.
“Quality Assurance is about much more than just the ‘stars’ on your door – it’s about the entire visitor experience, it’s about investing in your business and making it as sustainable and profitable, as it can possibly be.”
For more information, please visit www.grantarmshotel.com
For more information on VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance scheme, please visit www.visitscotland.org/quality_assurance.aspx
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- quality assurance
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
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2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design - 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design started on 1 January 2016 and will end on 31 December 2016.It will build on the momentum generated by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
