The landmark hotel, which played host to the late Queen and, separately, former US President Barack Obama, is one of Scotland’s most famous.

Now, the 120-year-old Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian is reportedly on the cusp of sale in an £85 million deal.

Real estate specialist React News said the historic hotel at the west end of Princes Street is “close to changing hands”.

The current owner, Twenty14 Holdings, bought the Caley in 2018 from Hilton, who continued as operator, when it was described as the biggest hotel deal in Scotland since Diageo offloaded Gleneagles for £150m to private investment firm Ennismore in 2015.

Twenty14 is the hospitality investment arm of Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group International, which has assets worth more than $650m across the UK, Middle East and India.

If completed, it will be “one of the largest single UK regional hotel trades” in recent years. Parties have been asked for comment.

The Herald: Many of the hotel rooms have caste viewsMany of the hotel rooms have caste views (Image: Newsquest)

The 241-room hotel also has the Dean Banks at The Pompadour and Grazing by Mark Greenaway restaurants.

It comes after another Scottish giant, the Sheraton Hotel and Spa, also in the Scottish capital, was reported to be in sale negotiations, and amid an active market across the range.

At the smaller end of the scale, a 21-room hotel that was once home to an acclaimed furniture manufacturer was also this week put up for sale.

The Victoria Hotel in Kirkcaldy, once home of Alexander Henry McIntosh, founder of the business famed for its teak sideboards, tables and chairs, is on the market with Drysdale and Company at offers over £895,000.

Elsewhere, Glasgow is a “hugely powerful city” but is not currently punching its weight, the new head of Glasgow Airport said, citing “huge opportunities” if stakeholders combine forces to drive progress, in a thought-provoking exclusive interview with business editor Ian McConnell this week.

Andy Cliffe, who is chief executive of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports owner AGS, highlighted the economic importance of securing better connectivity for Glasgow and Scotland as a whole. He believes Scotland has a “connectivity deficit”.

He said: “If I then look at Glasgow, I see a hugely powerful city that I just don’t think punches its weight. Its ingredients, in terms of economic performance per capita, the skills, the number of things happening around innovation and skills, the universities, are huge ingredients. It doesn’t feel as if we bind them together in a coherent way.

“It is not a criticism. We have a load of ingredients that are very strong. We need to bind them together more effectively and we need to bind them together from a city region perspective … It is a sense of momentum that I don’t feel, that I would like to see back in.”

Also this week, deputy business editor Scott Wright reported that Aberdeen-based John Wood Group saw £500 million wiped from its stock market worth after its long-running American suitor decided to not make an offer for the company.

Wood had rebuffed a series of unsolicited approaches from Apollo since late January but on April 17 the board announced it had decided to engage with the private equity outfit on the terms of its most recent approach, after receiving feedback from shareholders. The fifth and most recent proposal valued Wood at around £1.7 billion, or 240p per share in cash.