Well-known Aberdeen hotelier Stewart Spence has died.
The 77-year-old enjoyed a hospitality career that spanned more than 55 years.
He owned numerous hotels throughout that time, including the iconic Marcliffe Hotel and Spa at Pitfodels at the Atholl Hotel in King’s Gate.
Tributes have today been paid to Mr Spence who has been described as a “legend” and one of “the best hoteliers in Scotland”.
Stewart Spence ‘was a wonderful man’
Latterly Mr Spence was the owner of the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa.
The Spence family sold the hotel to Sir Jim Milne’s Balmoral Group in a multi-million-pound deal in June last year.
Speaking today Sir Jim said: “I am deeply saddened to hear the news about Stewart Spence.
“I had a huge amount of respect for him and the legacy he built. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to his family during this difficult time.
“Maintaining the quality and standards that he set at the Marcliffe is of the utmost importance to us.
“Stewart was recognised as one of the best hoteliers in Scotland, and it’s through his work that we have strong foundations to continue his legacy.”
Martin Gilbert, friend and former chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, also paid tribute.
He said: “He was a wonderful man. The best hotelier in Aberdeen by a mile.
“He made his guests feel they were the most important people in the world. He is a legend and will be missed.”
Decades of hospitality in Aberdeen
Mr Spence was educated at Ashley Road Primary School and then Robert Gordon’s College.
His career in hospitality began after leaving school in 1962.
At the age of 15 he began working as a waiter and a trainee chef at the Station Hotel in Aberdeen.
In 1965 he spent two years in Paris working as a barman and waiter at Foquet’s before moving to London in 1967 where he worked at the Great Northern, serving in the bar and office.
He made the move back to the Granite City in 1968 as assistant manager at the Treetops before joining Stonehaven’s Commodore Hotel in 1970 as general manager.
In 1972, after 10 years of learning his craft, Mr Spence purchased his first hotel, The Atholl Hotel on King’s Gate in Aberdeen.
During the next two decades he went on to own a further seven hotels, including the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa, which remains the city’s only five-star hotel.
Other venues he owned included the Capitol Restaurant, Queens Hotel, Belvidere Hotel and Invery House in Banchory.
Lifetime achievement awards
Mr Spence bought the original Marcliffe, on Queens Terrace, in 1979.
He moved the hotel to Queens Road, to the site of the Queens Hotel which they had owned since 1973 and re-named it the New Marcliffe.
This is now the site of the Malmaison Hotel in Aberdeen.
The hotel moved from Queens Road in November 1993 to a new eight acre site in Pitfodels, where the hotel remains today.
It was officially opened that year by former Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Guests who have stayed include royalty, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, actor Charlton Heston, rock star Rod Stewart and US golfers Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus.
Mr Spence was the winner of several lifetime achievement awards including Grampian Awards for Business Excellence and Aberdeen City and Shire Hotels Association, both in 2014.
The same year he was made an MBE for services to tourism.
Conversation