SCOTLAND'S
h o t e l
h o n o u r s
2026 ~ 2027
The Fully-Researched Awards.™
Hotel? Join in!
➦Info hub
2026 Finalists
➦Live Status
Chairman's
➦Events Update & Intro
H I G H L I G H T S F R O M L A S T A W A R D S F I N A L E
Lots of lovely pictures in 4 galleries on
➦Facebook
23rd National Awards for
Scotland's Hotels, Staff and Leadership
23mh Duaisean Nàiseanta
Taigh-òsta, Luchd-obrach & Ceannardas na h-Alba
W E L C O M E
Scotland's Minister for Tourism at last Awards:
➦Richard Lochhead MSP
"It's a privilege to join so many hotel businesses from all parts of Scotland at the prestigious Hotels of the Year awards. You represent the best of Scotland, the best of excellence and experience."
S E A S O N 2 0 2 6 / 2 7
National Hotels of the Year® Scotland
present the uniquely comprehensive Awards & Hotel Honours™ for achievement and distinction at events in 2026/27 as we continue to partner
➦ScotHot
and the
➦Scottish Tourism Alliance, and support
HIT Scotland &
Hospitality Apprenticeship Scotland.
A W A R D S N I G H T 2 0 2 6
Sunday 18th October
➦Event Info & Tickets page is
now live
A U G U S T
Discover live
➦Finalists
for the
2026 National Hotel of the Year Scotland
title, plus the latest with how the other
Hotel, People & Industry Categories
will be presented at the awards events.
Finalist Certificates are now being posted and presented.
H O T E L G U I D E R E V E A L
& G O L D W E L C O M E P L A Q U E S
25 years after we first launched a hotel review guide, the elegant new
Scottish Hotels of the Year Guide
site / app will be unveiled
this month
and fully operational late this season. As we deepen our support for Scots hotels, the comprehensive guide integrates beautifully with both the Awards programme and gorgeous new
➦Gold Welcome Plaques™
with their prestigious, descriptive format.
E X P A N D E D E X P E R T I S E
Our growing
Presiding Team
draws on a wide range of sectors and leadership knowledge, in a process that will deepen understanding and judgement - to empower the Awards' accuracy and forthcoming consumer guide.
➦Info Hub
➦Facebook Galleries
➦NEW!
Gold Welcome Plaques™
#HOTYS are
fully-researched, with 25 years' commitment to hospitality to draw upon. They're founded on observation over years, informed by mystery visits, BestShot™ visits, interviews, expert advice and guest feedback analysis. We've a deep appreciation of our industry's remarkable, storied people and, by shining a light on the inspirational, help to show how we can all win.
➦PEOPLE Nomination
➦HOTEL Nomination
Wishing you a winning season!
Gary McLean Quin | Chairman
William Gorol | President
David Welch | Vice-President - Senior
Vivien Devlin | Vice-President - Founder
Lea Harris | Vice-President - Food & Chefs
Denny Norris | Vice-President - Future Developments
TBA shortly | Vice-President - International Standards
Lady Claire Macdonald OBE | Patron
P R E M I E R 2 0 2 6 S P O N S O R
F I N A L I S T S 2 0 2 6
➦Live Updates
ALL GO FOR 2026/27
TOP EVENTS | NEW SITE | GOLD PLAQUES
DIARY - AUGUST 2026
The 2026/27 Awards Season
will feature many inspirational awards and honours celebrated across several events ~ when we will recognise, in style, our leading people in all departments.
EXCITING GUEST SITE NEWS
Our new consumer site
Scottish Hotels of the Year Guide
unveils its look in August - and it's looking just great! A fully functioning site with app interface is now operational in testing. It'll
include all best Scottish hotels - a fab resource leading with ideas, curated
BestList™ search results, hotel reviews / features, HOTYS (and other genuine) awards, links to hotels' own offers / booking system with
Book-a-Boost™ incentives - and more.
Membership Subscribers have a full Live Review Page on it, plus links on
this site - and get a Gold Welcome Plaque... nice to have now VisitScotland has ended their QA stars.
SOCIALS
Hashtag: #HOTYS26
F A C E B O O K
➦National Hotels of the Year - Scotland
X
➦@HotelsOfTheYear
I N S T A G R A M
➦@hotelsoftheyear.scot
ALL YEAR ROUND
WE'LL SUPPORT SCOTTISH HOTELS
We do love a
BIG RED CARPET NIGHT
(or two)
The most prestigious of Scottish hotel awards will be held again this year as we celebrate 23 years.
National Hotels of the Year®
23rd Season Finale Awards Night Gala
is on
18th October. Prior to that we have a Summer Presentations. On
St Andrew's Day
we re-launch our Scottish Hotel Guide, 25 years after our original hotel review guide appeared.
THIS SUMMER
GOLD WELCOME PLAQUES™ PRESENTATIONS
HOTYS 2026 FIRST REGIONAL WINNERS
NEW HOTEL GUIDE IS REVEALED
The
Hotel Gold Welcome Plaques™ scheme has been refined in one last step which integrates better with the exciting new Scottish Hotels of the Year Guide site. We've released first
Finalists for the top National Hotel of the Year® Scotland 2026 title
-
and are now listing
all other Categories
at each event's separate page.
PRIME TIME
Upgrade your participation!
ENHANCED MEMBER SCHEME
PRIME Membership is now available for season 2026. It includes the awards scheme, the consumer guide and the new Hotel Gold Welcome Plaques.
23 YEARS ON
RESEARCH | INTEGRITY | EXPERTISE
NEW APPOINTMENTS
Meet the expanded 2026
➦HOTYS Team
We welcomed
Toby Wand, MD of ScotHot and also 365 Events - who run The National Chef of the Year for the Craft Guild of Chefs, largest chef competition in UK;
Marc Crothall MBE, dynamic, diplomatic CEO of the Scottish Tourism Alliance; and entrepreneur / force of nature
William Gorol, MD of
triSaaS - twice Queen's Award for Enterprise-winner, marathon runner, ex-Chair of Social Bite, our new President... and, two decades ago, our first Scottish Hotel Manager of the Year! A bigger Presiding Team of Experts & more Peer Judges are in place although as you know, we can't list everyone in advance as we need to be a bit undercover at times!
GOOD CAUSES WE LOVE
We've long supported
➦HIT Scotland - and thank guests for raising £3K in 2025. This year we'll also raise funds for
➦Hospitality Apprenticeship Scotland
Additionally,
➦Hospitality Health Scotland has our full support this year and we'll do what we can!
TWO HELPFUL FACEBOOK GROUPS
We're please to run:
