T H A T   W E N T   F A S T
&
NOW IT'S TIME
TO CHANGE UP A GEAR!

"Back in summer 2003 my travel writer colleague Vivien Devlin and I sat down for coffee in the Apex hotel in Edinburgh. We had a very, very busy hotel review website on our hands - imaginatively called HotelReview - and sought a way to highlight the places and people we really wanted to appreciate and encourage.

And now, these years later, we're still here! And in 2025 we mark the 21st anniversary of the first - somewhat chaotic - but fun, and surprisingly popular, awards we organised. ‘Organised’ is perhaps overstating it... but by year two we were indeed a full house at The Balmoral and the next in a posh marquee at Prestonfield House as things grew and our stress levels rose accordingly!

Through ups and downs, change and challenge, our event on 26th February this year marks the start of a transition year as we return to having a dynamic, innovative, independent, well-written and fully researched guide as a year-round hub to underwrite the annual awards.

➦BestHotels.scot will be online for this late spring and we’ll use all we’ve learned to make it popular with both consumers and hotels.

Through changes of ownership (some periods having been excellent) the scheme we began had become exclusively member-only, and expensive. But now, having re-imagined things and re-launched in 2023/24 season, we’re in the process of reverting to the inclusion of any and all hotels on merit – while giving the option of valuable Active Program Membership for various extras, priorities and advantages.

We’ve included very active social media and our Facebook help groups, plus the forthcoming new Scottish Hotel People Awards as a standalone event, to form the Scottish Hotel Support Program.

We’ve strengthened the team greatly and look forward to building on that. I am immensely grateful to our Team, who often contribute huge amounts of experience and time without any real remuneration beyond the love of the industry and what we are striving to achieve.

Thank you to all hotels and hotel people who have supported us through the years - joined in memorable Awards Nights of fun and emotion, too! - and for bearing with us through the challenging regrouping phase post-Covid.

We can’t wait to develop the Scottish Hotels Support Program this year, listening to your feedback as we get back to the business of guiding guests to the best, honouring great contributions and services rendered, and celebrating the finest aspects and facets in every good Scottish hotel."

All the best!

Gary

➦Meet the 2025 Team