Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New owner’s plans to renovate 105-bedroom Highlands hotel

The NC500 hotel has changed hands for more than £1m with its new owner planning to make further investments.

The Royal Hotel in Thurso.
The Royal Hotel is located on Traill Street in Thurso. Image: Drysdale and Company.

A Highlands hotel on the North Coast 500 has changed hands for more than £1 million with its new owner planning an extensive refurbishment.

The Royal Thurso Hotel in Traill Street, Thurso, has been closed since last year.

The property has 105 bedrooms, a restaurant and the Invictus Bar, which was popular with locals.

The new owner is Melville Hotels, which now has a portfolio of five properties across Scotland.

Royal Thurso Hotel was marketed for sale for £1.8m but the purchase price is understood to be around £1.3m.

It was marketed for sale by Drysdale and Company on behalf of MGM Muthu Hotels.

Investment at Royal Thurso Hotel

Thomas Melville, managing director of Melville Hotels, said the hotel needs an full refurbishment which could last several years.

However, he plans to open this season after some cosmetic upgrades to public areas.

He said: “There are certain major things we need done before we can open – a new roof over part of the hotel and a kitchen.

Thomas Melville, managing director Melville Hotels.

“I am also planning to refurbish the common areas – paint every corridor, the bar, the lounge, the restaurant and bring in new curtains and other soft furnishings.

“We are starting from scratch so we also need to staff up. I’ve got 25 job interviews arranged this week and we’ll need at least 20 staff to open.

“We really want to bring on local staff. It helps embed us into the community.”

Melville Hotels growth

Melville Hotels also operates Grey Gull Hotel in Loch Fyne, Loch Long Hotel in Arrochar, MacDonald hotel in Kinlochleven and Royal Dunkeld Hotel in Perthshire.

Mr Melville said his strategy is to buy properties in need of upgrades and then add value.

“This is our fifth hotel in six years,” he continued. “We want to cover a lot of the key tourism areas in Scotland. Fort William would be a good next location.

The bar area at Royal Thurso Hotel. Image: Drysdale and Company

“Generally we are buying hotels that have not been done up for a while. As my initial trade was as a builder, so we can refurbish rooms for about half the price as others. Our money stretches further.

“Next year at Royal Thurso Hotel we might do around 20 bedroom upgrades and that could happen for a few years.

“A lot of money will be spent and we will be supporting local businesses. We really want to get the community on side and hopefully they in turn will support us.”

The hotel offers single, twin, double, triple and family rooms. It also has a large car park.

Meanwhile another hotel on the NC500, at Easter Ross, has hit the market priced at £649,500.

Conversation