A Tayside hotel is undergoing a £250,000 programme of refurbishments, including upgrades to the bar and function suites.
Woodlands Hotel in Broughty Ferry closed its doors on Hogmanay so the £50,000 improvements could be carried out.
Co-owner and general manager Nikki Robertson said it was the latest in a three-year programme of improvements to the 65-bed hotel.
She said: “I’ve got a three-year plan on my office wall that we are working towards.
“You have got to keep evolving. We’ve got to move with what customers want and what their expectations are.”
Nikki talked through the work to the function suites, that include a reworked dancefloor that now comes equipped with LED lights.
She said: “We’ve put in a new carpet and completely updated all the furniture in the bar and lounge area.
“There’s a new bathroom in one of the 65 bedrooms. That’ll be a test and we’ll roll that out over the rest of the hotel.”
Hotel closed at New Year
She said upgrades were also being made to the kitchen.
The hotel has been closed since the new year, but will reopen on Monday with its improved function areas.
“This is the first time we’ve been completely closed, since the start of the pandemic.
“We were shut for nine days at the start before we started doing takeaways and deliveries.
“Not having a walk-in fridge and freezer, it’s quite impossible to run a kitchen.”
The lack of a fridge, and Scottish Government restrictions, meant the function room was out of bounds for Hogmanay.
“We didn’t do anything in our function suite, but our restaurant was open. It was a really good night.”
A work in progress at Woodlands Hotel
While the majority of the hotel’s near 80-strong workforce have been on holiday, some have stepped in to lend a hand.
Nikki said: “We’ve got a really good team and some of them have come in to help getting tidied up.
“The amount of dust has been quite something, so it’s been good to have them. It has certainly helped.”
Nikki, who runs the hotel with head chef Ewan MacRae, said improvements at the hotel would remain ongoing throughout the year.
There are plans for more major work this time next year, she said.
The general manager said: “With the bedrooms, we’ll do that as we go.
“The test bathroom we’ll do to make sure we’ve got it right and it’s how we want it. Then we’ll roll that out throughout the hotel.
“We’ll start as soon as we can, possibly later this month or into February.
“It just depends how busy we are. There’s always something.”
