End of an era as Nairn hotel closes its doors
A HOTEL which has specialised in providing holidays for people with arthritis and other disabilities for half a century is closing its doors.
The trustees of the Lovat Lodge Hotel in Nairn have taken the decision to shut down the facility from tomorrow, with the loss of eight full-time jobs.
The hotel was previously owned and operated by the charity Arthritis Care.
It had five similar hotels across Scotland which it sold off more than a decade ago because they were no longer sustainable.
Highland councillor Liz Macdonald said Nairn had been the only one to survive because of such a groundswell of support.
As a member of the Nairn Community Care Forum she helped launch a petition to save the hotel and a board of trustees succeeded in raising funds to purchase it.
“Unfortunately over the past decade we have lost a lot of our regular customers since the trust took over,” she said. “It is going to be sadly missed.
“We have been operating at about 50 per cent capacity over the past couple of years and it’s unsustainable. We were catering for mainly elderly people and it was very much a niche market.”
Cllr Macdonald said some of their guests regularly organised group outings to the hotel.
“However, many of these people have passed on or have moved into care homes so we have lost that core business which was important to keeping the place viable.
“It was a very difficult decision by the trustees to close the hotel. The only comfort is modern hotels have to provide access for people with disabilities and I understand most of the staff have either found jobs locally or have interviews lined up.”
Anyone who has paid for a holiday in 2019 will get a full refund.
Trustee John Bain said: “2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of Lovat Lodge. Back in 1968, few facilities were available for anyone with special mobility requirements looking for a holiday and Lovat Lodge was unique in providing the opportunity for many people to experience a break away from their home.
“Happily, much has changed over the past five decades, and the range of options has increased many-fold.”
The property will now be placed on the open market.
