Gleneagles, the five-star hotel near Auchterarder, is to close its doors until February after a change in local restrictions.
The hotel said it comes as Perth and Kinross is to be moved up to protection level three in the Scottish coronavirus restriction system.
The news came "as no surprise" to tourism leaders who are calling for greater support for the hospitality industry as it nagivates its way through the tier system.
Conor O’Leary, Gleneagles managing director, said: “Following the Scottish Government’s announcement that Perth and Kinross will be moved up to protection level three in the national coronavirus restriction system, we’ve taken the very difficult decision to temporary close Gleneagles’ doors for the second time this year – from Friday, November 13 until Sunday, January 31, inclusive.
“Having worked so hard to provide a safe environment across our estate, we are saddened by this development, especially in the lead-up to Christmas, the highlight of our calendar for both teams and guests."
READ MORE: Howden site at Braehead bought for £7.1m
He said: “However, we’re committed to taking the additional measures necessary to protect the health and wellbeing of everyone at Gleneagles, and to play our part in minimising Covid-19 cases in the region.
“The support and well-wishes we’ve received over the past eight months, including our four-month closure period earlier this year, have been truly humbling, and we look forward to welcoming back our hotel guests from 1 February, subject to government regulations.
“We extend our sympathy to all the individuals, families and teams around the world who have been affected by this crisis and our gratitude to all the essential workers who continue to work tirelessly to keep everyone safe.”
Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said: "The news that Gleneagles will be closing its doors until February comes as no surprise to me given the recent announcements.
"I have been having conversations with hoteliers the length and breadth of the country and many are doing similar.
"The costs of remaining open and providing a total experience which the customer expects, with limitations and uncertainty are too high.
"While furlough is a welcome support for staff who would almost certainly be without a job right now in many businesses had it not been extended, it offers no direct financial benefit to businesses and a much greater degree of financial support is needed immediately to enable those both open and closed to remain solvent and bounce back when we are through the crisis period and into recovery.
"We reiterated this on a private call between myself, STA Chair Stephen Leckie and the First Minister yesterday who acknowledged this and we would hope that additional support measures for businesses operating throughout the sector would be announced in the very near future.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel