Leading hospitality group targets further growth

A Pitlochry Hotel is set to benefit from a duo of key appointments within its hospitality brand, with further growth targeted.

McKays Hotel Bar and Restaurant on Atholl Road, a highly popular venue for locals and visitors alike, is part of the wider Turas Hotels hospitality umbrella which encompasses hotels, award winning restaurants and a Distillery and Brewery running up the spine of the busy A9 tourist corridor.

Now, following the recent purchase of the Cairngorm Hotel in Aviemore, Turas Hotels has embarked upon a leadership refinement which will benefit McKays and the other properties within the group, without impacting any existing staff or roles.

A new Marketing chief, Jennifer Macdonald-Nethercott, has been enlisted to propel the umbrella brand’s vision whilst Johan Van Heerden has been appointed to the group’s first ever Revenue role.

The appointments are part of a leadership refinement, which will also see the creation of an overarching Director of Sustainability position to embed green action across all properties, including McKays.

Major player in Scottish hospitality

Turas Hotels offers nearly 80 000 room nights annually, between its properties, as well as operating award-winning restaurants and a whisky distillery and brewery.

Its portfolio comprises the Cairngorm Hotel and Boat Country Inn in the Cairngorms National Park, the Seaforth in Ullapool, the Glen Mhor Hotel in Inverness and McKays in Pitlochry as well as Uile-bheist Distillery and Brewery in the highland capital, recently listed by Conde Nast Traveller.

Newly appointed Head of Marketing, Grantown-based Jennifer Macdonald-Nethercott, who has 25 years of experience in the Highlands, spearheaded the recent group rebrand to Turas, which means ‘journey’ in Gaelic.

She will be responsible for rolling out the group’s ‘Stay-Discover-Dine’ vision and customer Rewards scheme while Johan Van Heerden, currently at the Boat Country Inn, steps into the group’s first ever in-house Revenue and Operations role.

“This is a really exciting role,” said Jennifer, pictured at the appointment announcement at McKays. “It’s a privilege to create and develop the look and feel of the brand and to impart the vision to our teams and our guests.

“The key element is that a stay with Turas is much more than a bedroom. Our properties are offering guests quality food and drink, music and entertainment and even distillery tours.”

Climate action plans

Victoria Erasmus, who oversaw the Glen Mhor Hotel’s recognition as one of the world’s greenest at the inaugural World Sustainable Travel and Hospitality Awards in Belize last year, becomes overall group Director of Sustainability.

Co-chair of Visit Inverness Loch Ness, she will now mainstream sustainability programmes across all group properties, developing Climate Plans and diversity and inclusion policies.

Delia Keating takes up a key role as group Head of Recruitment, with Fiona Connor leading on HR.

Charlotte Sukhraj, who previously worked with Radisson and Marriot, and Peter Thornton, ex Historic Environment Scotland, are group Sales Managers. An Accounts Team will also work across the whole group.

“Through the Turas model, we are able to use our talented people across the whole group while cross-promoting our individual properties, like McKays, under the Turas umbrella.

“We knew marketing would have a major role to play moving forward. Jennifer understands the vision and was a natural choice for us,” said Turas Hotels Director, Richard Drummond, a well known entrepreneur in Pitlochry.

Benefits of scale

The appointments, it is hoped, will help the growing business cement its place within the Scottish hospitality sector whilst looking to expand in future.

“Having the advantage of scale is definitely the way we see hospitality going,” said fellow Turas Hotels Director, Jon Erasmus.

“Single hotels are having to do everything from hiring and purchasing to HR and dealing with complex employment law and red tape.

“Streamlining critical functions across the whole business will free up our General Managers to focus on what’s important: customer experience and quality.”