Glasgow hotel awarded top accolade
A city centre hotel has been awarded five stars from Scotland's national tourism organisation joining four others in Glasgow that also boast the top accolade in quality.
VisitScotland has awarded Blythswood Square a five star grading adding to Glasgow's offering of luxury accommodation. Blythswood Square joins Hotel Du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens, Radisson Blu, Mar Hall and the Glasgow Hilton in the premier league when it comes to accommodation provision in the city.
Blythswood Square, which opened in November 2009 is the latest addition to The Town House Collection of luxury boutique hotels and offers a 100 luxury bedrooms including six spacious suites and an enticing top floor penthouse complete with rooftop hot tub. It also houses Glasgow's first luxury spa offering indigenous Scottish treatments, a restaurant, bars, a private screening room and event facilities.
VisitScotland's Quality Advisor was particularly impressed with the high levels of professionalism enthusiasm and friendliness demonstrated by staff in all departments throughout their stay, coupled with the opulent surroundings of the public areas and the excellent standards in bedrooms and bathrooms citing Blythswood Square as 'a wonderful new flagship hotel.'
Hans Rissmann, Managing Director of Blythswood Square, is delighted with this latest accolade. He said:
"Achieving VisitScotland's five star status has always been at the top of our agenda. To be able to do this so quickly after the building was completed is a true recognition of the quality of our product and the hardwork and dedication of our team.
'Blythswood Square was the first move to Glasgow for The Town House Collection and we have received a warm welcome from everyone from other hoteliers to our guests, diners and those who join us in our cocktail bar each evening."
Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland, said:
"We are delighted to award Blythswood Square with VisitScotland's five star grading. In Scotland we enjoy high penetration rates in our quality assurance schemes, with more than 70% of accommodation providers and more than 90% of visitor attractions participating demonstrating that Scottish tourism businesses really see the value in receiving gradings.
"As a result we have seen quality across the sector improve with research showing that 44% of businesses have made investment following their grading visit. "
With a growing trend of user generated content on sites such as Tripadvisor, consumer research shows that consumers still very much value the official rating scheme and that it plays a key role in decision making being viewed as a credible benchmark.
VisitScotland's Quality Assurance Scheme is renowned throughout the world as a world leader, with many countries such as Sweden, Finland, Namibia and South Africa now adopting the model.
And quality is very much at the top of the tourism agenda tomorrow night as senior representatives from VisitScotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow Tourism Service Initiative meet with industry leaders and local businesses to discuss the future of tourism for the city moving forward in partnership through 2011.
For more information and bookings, visit: thetownhousecollection.com
