Owner of twin hotels in tourism hotspot on edge of Trossachs goes bust

A hotel business behind two establishments in the Highlands gateway town of Callander has fallen into administration.

Michelle Elliot and Stuart Robb, partners with FRP Advisory, have been appointed joint administrators of Mountview Hotels, which owns The Crags Hotel and Abbotsford Lodge. The administrators said the hotels had historically traded well, but were “severely impacted” in recent months by a significant increase in operating costs and the impact of “historical liabilities incurred during the pandemic, leading to unsustainable cash flow problems”. Both hotels ceased trading at the end of December prior to the administrators appointment.

All four remaining workers have been made redundant with immediate effect and the administrators will now liaise with the Redundancy Payments Office and other agencies to “minimise the impact on the staff”. Following the closure of the hotels, the joint administrators will shortly begin the process of marketing the hotels for sale.

Elliot said: “The Crags Hotel and Abbotsford are well known venues within the popular tourist destination of Callander and which have both been recently refurbished to a high standard. Unfortunately, having explored all its options, the company was unable to survive the fall in revenue coupled with the significant increase in fixed costs over recent months. We will now focus our efforts on assisting employees to submit their claims for redundancy and other sums due to them whilst preparing to market and sell the hotels.”

Callander is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. The town serves as the eastern gateway to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.