Berkshire-based hotelier buys Highlands hotel for £1.5m-plus
Berkshire-based hotelier Terry Mackay has bought his third Scottish hotel in the form of the award-winning Summer Isles hotel at Achiltibuie, near Ullapool in Wester Ross, Ross-shire.
The seaside country hotel with views towards the Summer Isles and the Hebrides sold for in excess of the £1.56m guide price.
Summer Isles is the 2006 Scottish Hotel of the Year and its 30-seat restaurant (headed by resident chef Chris Firth Bernard) has held a Michelin star since 1998.
It can accommodate up to 32 guests across the main hotel (which has three en-suite double bedrooms, one with a sitting/lounge area), three cottages with a combined five double en-suite bedrooms, all with sea views, a log cabin with three double en-suite bedrooms, and a log house with two bedrooms, a double and a twin.
Other facilities include a sun lounge, two residents' lounges, a cocktail bar, and a public bar for locals with its own entrance and two informal dining areas.
Extensive staff accommodation includes two en-suite bedrooms and a two-bedroom managers' flat in the main hotel and a chalet to the rear holding four single bedrooms.
Outside features include a beer garden, a croft garden leading to the sea shore, and croft land to the rear with outline planning consent to build a dwelling house.
The hotel, which trades for six months a year, achieved profits of £275,000 on a net turnover of £805,000 in the year to 14 April, 2007.
Mackay's other hotels are Bunchrew House hotel near Inverness and Castlebay hotel on the Isle of Barra, which he bought in 2003 and late 2006 respectively.
The Edinburgh office of Colliers Robert Barry sold the freehold on behalf of Mark and Gerry Irvine, whose family has owned and operated the hotel for the past 39 years.
By Angela Frewin
