Isle of Arran hotel and spa resort Auchrannie on course for leap in turnover and profits

Mr Morrison highlighted a rise in the number of customers from England and overseas. He emphasised that the west of Scotland would remain Auchrannie’s main source of visitors, but also flagged success in attracting customers from other parts of the country.

He also underlined the strength of forward bookings.

Mr Morrison said that bookings for the next 180 days showed a rise of 1,200 room nights on the same period of last year.

He flagged the accolade of 2015 Hotel of the Year, in the Scottish Hotel Awards, as one factor that had helped raise awareness of Auchrannie outside its west of Scotland heartland.

Recently-filed Companies House accounts show that Auchrannie Leisure achieved turnover of £5.29m in the year to March 31, 2015, up from £5.21m in the prior 12 months.

The accounts show that, excluding a £242,714 gain on the sale of a property in Brodick used for staff accommodation, Auchrannie Leisure’s underlying pre-tax profits declined to £37,610 in the 12 months to March 2015 from £165,884 in the prior financial year.

Mr Morrison highlighted the fact that the fall in profits in the year to March 2015 had arisen because the 20-bedroom extension to the Auchrannie Spa Resort had not been completed until the spring of last year. The new bedrooms, which have taken the total in the Spa Resort to 57, had originally been meant to be ready by summer 2014.

However, Mr Morrison noted that the main contractor on the Spa Resort extension, Enemetric, had fallen into administration, meaning that Auchrannie had to take on the completion of the project itself.

He cited additional costs from recruitment in preparation for the opening of the new bedrooms. Mr Morrison noted that Auchrannie had not wished to lose its new recruits just because the completion of the extension had been delayed.

This recruitment included a building up of the sales and marketing, and reservation operations.

The expansion, Mr Morrison noted, had added another 20 staff to Auchrannie’s workforce.

Auchrannie is a major employer on the Isle of Arran, with about 150 staff at the moment. Its workforce was as high as 170 last summer at the peak of the tourist season.

Mr Morrison estimated that international visitors now accounted for between four and five per cent of the customer base of Auchrannie, which is owned by the Johnston family. Linda Johnston is executive director of Auchrannie, and has played a key role in the business since it was founded in 1988.

He said that, in the period from April 1, 2015 to the end of January this year, the 57-bedroom Spa Resort had achieved occupancy of 87.9 per cent. This was up from 86.7 per cent in the same period of the prior financial year.

The 28-bedroom Auchrannie House Hotel achieved occupancy of 88.4 per cent in the period from April 1 to the end of last month. In the same period of the prior financial year, it had been 87.4 per cent.

Mr Morrison declared that Auchrannie’s trading had been significantly stronger than expected, given the business had anticipated a fall in occupancy given the addition of 20 bedrooms.

He said: “Given that the room stock had increased by 20 rooms, we did expect occupancy overall to drop in the year and it has increased, so it has been a very strong year so far in terms of trading, our income being over £1m up at the moment.”

Mr Morrison noted that spending in Auchrannie’s bars and restaurants and its ASPA spa facilities were all higher on the back of the increased number of people staying at the hotel and spa resort.

He said: “We have certainly had a very successful [year] so far.”

Mr Morrison added: “It has been great. It has been well in excess of what we were expecting.”