A Huntly hotel which has been closed since 2021 will create 80 jobs when it reopens next year after an extensive renovation.
Work is underway to turn the Castle Hotel in Huntly into a luxury destination for whisky fans and other tourists.
The hotel was bought in 2020 by family-owned merchant Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky (DTSW) and closed the following year.
It’s expected to reopen next spring with special offers planned for people living within the local AB54 postcode.
Luxury Huntly hotel creating jobs
Hospitality director Krzysztof Dudkowski joined the company after working at high-end hotels and restaurants including The Three Chimneys on Skye and The Fife Arms in Braemar.
He said part of the renovation has been to create fewer, but larger, bedrooms.
He said: “The original building, which goes back to the mid-1800s, was a hunting lodge and before the hotel shut it had 22 bedrooms.
“As part of the redevelopment, it was decided to decrease the number of rooms to increase their size, so each of the 17 bedrooms now have a very generous size.”
In keeping with its positioning at the luxury end of the market, dozens of jobs will be created when the hotel re-opens.
Mr Dudkowski, who is known as KD, said: “We will be creating roughly 80 positions, which is a large number for a hotel of this size.
“This shows the extent of our commitment to make this operation truly extraordinary.”
Appealing to whisky tourists
The hotel is working with designer Fiona Rupert at Lomega Studio.
“We’re taking a contemporary twist on the whisky world – in other words, it’s not all going to be tartan and whisky memorabilia,” explained Jeremy Rata, the hotel consultant working with DTSW on the project.
“The owners made it very clear to me right at the beginning that this hotel’s purpose in life is to support the Duncan Taylor proposition.
“So, whilst it’s completely open to everybody, one of the unique measurements that’s being applied to KD and his team is actually whisky sales.
“Not just bottles or casks that may come through people that Duncan Taylor introduces to the hotel, but also whisky sales across the bar.
“The team that KD is building will have its own whisky sommelier, with the wider team trained in all aspects of whisky.”
The whisky firm is believed to have bought the hotel in 2020 for around £1.25 million.
Before the takeover the hotel was operated for more than 21 years by Andrew and Linda Meiklejohn.
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