A refurbished north-east hotel has been showered with seven gongs at an awards ceremony.
The MacRobert Trust’s Douneside House, in Tarland, has been handed three hotel honours and four personnel awards at the north-east regional finals of the Scottish Hotel Awards.
The country manor is the ancestral home of the MacRoberts, whose line was eradicated when brothers Alastair, Roderic and Iain were killed in air accidents within three years of one another during World War II.
Following their deaths, their mother, Lady Rachel MacRobert, set up a trust for the armed forces, which has donated millions to charitable organisations.
Last year, Douneside House reopened after a £5million renovation of the property into a hotel, wedding venue, conference centre, leisure and health club.
The awards ceremony took place in Inverness, with Douneside House grabbing the luxury hotel, small country house and hotel breakfast of the year categories.
In the ceremony’s people recognition awards, Carolanne Duncan was named housekeeper of the Year, Tomasz Bielawski was hailed restaurant manager of the year and Jim Barron bar manager of the year.
Douneside House general manager, Marcel Wassen, said: “I’m delighted our people have been recognised in this way, we have a fantastic, loyal team here who consistently go above and beyond to exceed our guests’ expectations.”
MacRobert Trust chief executive, Rear Admiral Chris Hockley, said: “We’ve been delighted at the public’s response since re-opening Douneside last year.
“My sincere thanks to the team -it’s due to their hard work and dedication that we’ve reached this point. Ultimately, the more successful Douneside is, the more we can give to worthwhile charities.
“I wish the Douneside team the best of luck at the Scottish Hotel finals [on April 23].”
All profits generated by Douneside are reinvested in the property or distributed to charities.
