Portable hotel firm Snoozebox seals golf deal at Archerfield

SNOOZEBOX, the Aim-quoted portable hotel ­company, has sealed a deal with the Archerfield estate in East Lothian to erect a 160-bedroom unit on the site of the 2013 Open golf at nearby Muirfield.

The agreement was arranged by Grangemouth-based Fusion Group, Snoozebox’s Scottish agent, which is also in talks to bring a 500-room portable hotel to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

The Snoozebox hotel will be built next to Archerfield’s walled garden, where several marquees will be erected to create “lounges” for guests. Archerfield is also developing a micro-brewery at the walled garden.

After being used for the Open, the accommodation blocks will be moved to Edinburgh for a second season at the city’s festivals.

Last year Snoozebox ran a 48-bedroom hotel at the Fringe, on an empty site next to the city’s Waverley Station. The temporary hotel will return to the site this year, but will treble in size.

Fusion Group managing director Alex McKie said the Archerfield and festival deals will generate about £1.3 million of turnover this year.

If the 500-bed hotel is moved to Edinburgh after the Commonwealth Games then that figure could rise to more than £5m in 2014.

McKie told Scotland on Sunday: “We didn’t make any money from the Snoozebox hotel at the Edinburgh festivals last year but it was great for publicity and for generating enquiries.

“The Snoozebox will be at Archerfield for seven or eight nights, right next to the walled garden, where there will be a cafe and restaurant and the micro-brewery.”

Fusion Group also runs an events business – that counts Heineken and Tesco Bank among its clients – and a venue management unit, which operates Carphin House near St Andrews.