Hotel group revamps 16 gym sites in £2.5m boost

● Macdonald to invest in new equipment at sites across UK

0 The Macdonald Inchrya Hotel & Spa in Falkirk is one of the locations to benefit from the spend Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, the largest independent player in the sector, has embarked on a £2.5 million investment programme to improve gym and spa facilities at sites across its portfolio.

The company is carrying out improvements at 16 of its “Vital” health and wellbeing clubs, including several in Scotland.

The spending programme, which started in the Macdonald Inchrya Hotel & Spa in Falkirk last month and will finish in the Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel in Livingston, includes installing new gym equipment.

Keith Pickard, group director of golf, leisure and spa at Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, said: “The multimillion-pound investment reaffirms our commitment to providing guests with the very best state-of-the-art fitness and spa facilities, building on our already high standards.

“We know just how important our modern gyms and unique spas are to our guests especially at a time of year when many are on a health kick following the festive season and we are excited to continue to provide market leading facilities.”

The Scottish clubs in the upgrade programme also include the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel and the Macdonald Holyrood Hotel.

The new equipment being installed includes exercise bikes that enable users to transport their workout to more than 500 locations showing footage from the Italian Alps to road trails in California.

In October, Bathgate-headquartered Macdonald reported a pre-tax profit of £5.6 million in the year ended 31 March, up 8 per cent on a likefor-like basis, helped by a 30 per cent uplift in group bookings from Japan, China and the US following sterling’s slump in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Turnover fell to £154.2m against £163.4m previously, which was attributed to the loss of revenues from the sale of three properties that continue to be managed by Macdonald Hotels.

Debt fell to £184m, having jumped to more than £700m following the decision in 2003 to de-list the company and take it into private ownership.