The West Highland Hotel

Support during COVID-19

Located in the fishing village of Mallaig, the hotel is one of the biggest employers in the area. It incorporates a function suite offering weddings and meetings, meaning it is central to community life for the local area.

COVID-19 has had a serious impact on the hotel and 90% of employees are currently furloughed. The hotel plans to re-open in the summer, but the costs involved in addressing social distancing e.g. reducing capacity will continue to have an impact for some time. It is hoped the hotel may be able to stay open, however, unlike previous years, there will be insufficient cash from the summer trade to support the business in the quieter months.

The grant, approved by HIE, will enable furloughed employees to return to work, support ongoing fixed costs and provide vital help with the purchase of crucial safety equipment to enable them to trade during this period. 

As a HIE account managed business the hotel has also benefited from regular contact during the lockdown with their account manager and is being supported by our innovation team to help adapt their business to deal with the challenges of COVID-19. The business has an existing capital grant approval towards development work at the hotel and discussions are ongoing on how to best use of these funds given the impact of COVID-19.

The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund was managed by Scotland’s three enterprise agencies on behalf of Scottish Government. There was a high demand for the fund which received more than 5,000 applications Scotland-wide. Grants totalling almost £20m have been approved by HIE to 372 businesses across the Highlands and Islands.

A full list of companies to be awarded a grant as part of this funding programmes has now been published on the Scottish Enterprise website.