The owner of the north-east’s best-loved five star hotel has said being made an MBE is the perfect way to round off his 50-year career.
Stewart Spence will bow out of the hospitality industry when the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa at Pitfodels closes its doors in March next year.
The 67-year-old announced last year that he would be retiring and selling up the property, which could be turned into luxury homes.
After confirming the news that the Marcliffe was to close, Mr Spence vowed the premises would “go out with a bang” and embark on a year of celebration.
But today it is Mr Spence himself who is in the spotlight, after being made an MBE for services to the tourism industry in Scotland in the New Year’s Honours list.
Last night he said: “It’s lovely, it’s a wonderful honour.”
And he revealed what it was that first made him realise the need to attract tourists to the north-east.
“It all came about in 1986, when there was an oil crash and the prices felt from $40 a barrel to $10 a barrel,” he said.
“I was about to open a hotel in Banchory called Invery House, but it was panic stations because Aberdeen had emptied and the oil industry had almost disappeared overnight in Aberdeen,” Mr Spence said.
“The city was so busy with the oil industry we had neglected the tourism industry.
“I decided then that I should never put all my eggs in one basket, and made up my mind that we would always do something to encourage the tourism industry, and I went on to focus on golf tourism.”
Keen golfer Mr Spence – who is a Master Innholder and Freeman of the City of London – added: “The north-east has got so much to offer, but to many people it’s just seen as the energy capital of Europe and they don’t look at what it has to offer from a tourism point of view.
“It tourists come to stay with us now, there’s no shortage of places we can recommend.”
Mr Spence’s first step into the hospitality industry was as a trainee chef at the age of 15. During the first six years of his career, he worked in Aberdeen, Paris and London before settling back in to the north-east.
In 1972, his family bought their first hotel – The Atholl.
He has since owned seven hotels and restaurants in the Aberdeen area, with the Marcliffe on its current site at Pitfodels being opened in 1993 by former Soviet Premier 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.