Staff at Aberdeen’s five-star Marcliffe Hotel have been served some good news after the owner announced it would remain open for several more months.
The hotel on North Deeside Road had been due to close in November as owner Stewart Spence gets ready to bring his 50-year career in hospitality to an end.
But continued work on plans for the site, which is to be transformed into a haven of luxury homes, means the Marcliffe can continue to trade until the end of March.
Mr Spence sent a memo to staff this week telling them the hotel would stay open on a limited basis.
It said: “All staff who would like to remain at the Marcliffe and ‘muck in’ are welcome to put their name forward.
“This has been a difficult decision for me but I could not face up to keeping the hotel complete in ‘mothballs’ for five to six months.”
The hotel currently employs about 100 full-time and 80 part-time workers.
Mr Spence stressed that the hotel would not offer any ballroom functions in its remaining months.
Bedrooms, the restaurant, the drawing room and private dining would remain on offer.
Mr Spence told the Press and Journal that he will not open on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day or January 2.
He said he did not want people to change their plans in light of the decision to keep the Marcliffe open longer.
Mr Spence said: “Originally we were to stay open until the end of November but a new planning application has gone in, with planning effectively back to square one.”
The Stewart Milne Group is behind plans to build executive apartments on the North Deeside Road site.
The house-building giant acquired the property after earlier plans tabled by Gibson McCartney Ltd for a £90million office complex were withdrawn.
It is proposed that family homes will also be built on the site, with the Marcliffe building to be demolished.