Castle Collection snaps up Perthshire hotel for £2.5m

The Castle Collection has bought Scotland's Hotel & Leisure Club in Pitlochry off a guide price of £2.5m.

The Irish hotel group snapped up the 72-bedroom Perthshire property, which holds planning permission for an additional 24 bedrooms, in an off-market deal from Crerar Hotels, which also intends to dispose of three further properties from its hotel portfolio.

Paddy Crerar, chief executive of Crerar Hotel Group, said: "Our strategy is on track to ‘right size' our Scottish portfolio and we are well on with significant investment and development of the majority of our retained hotels."

Crerar Hotels owns eight hotels and three inns in Scotland, including three four-AA-starred properties: the Golf View Hotel & Spa in Nairn; Loch Fyne Hotel & Spa in Inveraray, Argyll; and Thainstone House in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.

The Castle Collection, which is owned and run by the MacCumhaill family, has seven hotels across Scotland, Ireland and Wales, including Fisher's Hotel and Atholl Palace, both also in Pitlochry.

Fionn MacCumhaill, managing director of the Castle Collection, added: "We will be investing a further £2m over the coming year to develop Scotland's Hotel & Leisure Club into a modern vibrant metro boutique hotel."

Julian Troup, head of Colliers' UK Hotels Agency, who handled the sale on behalf of the Crerar Hotel Group, said: "The acquisition of Scotland's was conducted in a highly confidential fashion and is a further example of domestic and overseas buyers looking to secure a hotel in a prime Scottish location."

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