BOOST FOR HOLIDAYS AT ISLE HOTEL

Businesspeople who want a holiday to get away from it all - but still want to stay in contact with the office - are one of the targets for hotel improvements underway in West Lewis, with assistance from Western Isles Enterprise (WIE).

The Doune Braes Hotel, housed in a former school building near Carloway, is undergoing a £28,800 upgrade to create three large bedsitting rooms on the ground floor, adding to its existing 11 guest bedrooms.

The new double rooms, with ensuite facilities and Internet connections, will also mean the hotel can offer accommodation facilities to the disabled for the first time. All its existing bedrooms are on the first floor and it is impossible to install a lift.

The new development follows a period of sustained growth in visitor numbers since a £200,000 redevelopment completed in 1997 that enabled the hotel, which had formerly depended largely on its bar trade, to develop its restaurant and  accommodation services. It has been a three-star STB establishment since that time. Almost 80 per cent of the hotel's turnover now comes from accommodation services, compared with 30 per cent in the mid 1990's.

Hotel owner Eileen Macdonald has seen a steady growth in the number of people rebooking for holidays year after year - already the hotel is taking bookings for stays next summer. She said that many of those involved were businesspeople who wanted to get away from all the noise and bustle of the city but wanted comfortable accommodation and the ability to keep in contact with their offices.

Over the last decade more people had been attracted to stay in the area by the development of facilities like the Calanais Centre, the Broch centre, the blackhouse village at Garenin and the Norse Mill and Kiln at Shawbost, along with a range of other developments of footpaths, sports and visitor facilities.

It has become clear there was a great demand for the existing large double rooms - while the large ceilidh lounge on the ground floor had become almost unused as local social habits changed.
 
The new bedsitting rooms will be created in the lounge area, leaving each with a view of the adjacent loch. Each will have a lounge sitting area. Mrs Macdonald said that around 15 per cent of the existing trade was people on business - but around half the remaining guests were businesspeople who needed a high quality level of service and support.
 
Since she took over the sole ownership of the hotel in 1994 there have been a series of developments and further expansions in the number of rooms are hoped for in the future, using a building which was formerly the school canteen.

It is expected the new developments will create the equivalent of 3.25 full time jobs and the £28,800 project has won a total of £11,500 backing from Western Isles Enterprise and the HIE Standards 3 programme, backed by the European Regional Development Fund.
 
Mr Donnie Macaulay, the chief executive of Western Isles Enterprise, said it was vital for the development of the economy, both in terms of local businesses and the visitor services industry, that the best possible range of facilities was available. This scheme was an important expansion of the work of a major facility for the West Side of Lewis and would see the number of jobs at the hotel increase from around nine full-time equivalents to more than 12. Success for this venture would therefore be a significant boost for the local economy, providing a mix of seasonal, part-time and full-time employment.