/ Sep 11, 2026

Highland Coast Hotels has launched a £1m renovation campaign across four of its northern venues, expanding capacity and upgrading guest facilities ahead of the autumn and winter seasons.
The investment forms part of an ongoing capital programme by the hospitality group aimed at strengthening regional visitor infrastructure and sustaining year-round tourism across the North Highlands and Wester Ross.
At Kylesku Hotel in Assynt, four new guestrooms have been added to the main building, while seven bedrooms at Kylesku House have been integrated under the core brand. The venue now offers 22 rooms to tourists over the winter period.
In Wester Ross, 10 guestrooms at The Haven in Plockton Inn have received interior refurbishments, alongside upgraded public areas. Existing furniture and beds were restored and reupholstered to minimise waste, with renovations for the remaining bedrooms and guest lounge scheduled for early 2027.
Lochardil House in Inverness underwent interior updates across all 12 guestrooms in the original building and garden wing. The lounge now features artwork by local artist Joanna McDonough depicting Highland landscapes. The updates follow earlier works at Tongue Hotel, where the group refurbished the Brass Tap pub and added an outdoor terrace overlooking the Kyle of Tongue.
Kenny McMillan, managing director of Highland Coast Hotels, said: “Our latest £1m makeover across four of our six hotels is yet further evidence of how we’re elevating the visitor experience, as well as helping to boost the regional tourism economy throughout the year.
“As Scotland’s newest luxury boutique hotel collection, Highland Coast Hotels is already establishing its reputation for showcasing world-class Highland hospitality across the North Coast 500 and Wester Ross.”
He added: “We’re also committed to providing year-round employment opportunities and community-led hospitality. Our aim is to create lasting professional careers in hospitality that will benefit our small and remote Highland communities.”
News Analysis
Today’s works revisit properties acquired at different stages of Highland Coast’s expansion. Kylesku was among the first hotels the group acquired in May 2021, when it said modernisation would extend the traditional season and create full-time careers. Plockton followed in April 2022 with a winter refurbishment already attached to the purchase; Tongue joined the following month with public areas and bedrooms marked for work. Those promises explain why the present programme reaches across both old and newer holdings.
The first refurbishment cycle was substantial, but it did not finish either property. In April 2023, Highland Coast reopened Tongue and Plockton after spending £1.8m. At Plockton, it reduced the bedroom count from 14 to 12 so that selected bathrooms could grow. Returning to both sites now shows how the group handles acquisition refits: it establishes the core hotel, then releases further capital for particular spaces rather than treating the reopening as the end of the job.
Lochardil changes the comparison because it entered the portfolio after that first cycle. Highland Coast added its first Inverness hotel in February 2024 and transferred Robert Ratcliffe from the Royal Golf in Dornoch to run it, tying the acquisition to an existing management bench before undertaking the present interiors. Its stated test for the property went beyond bedrooms: the company planned a local community hub, with the restaurant and bar serving residents throughout the week.
Highland Coast Hotels has launched a £1m renovation campaign across four of its northern venues, expanding capacity and upgrading guest facilities ahead of the autumn and winter seasons.
The investment forms part of an ongoing capital programme by the hospitality group aimed at strengthening regional visitor infrastructure and sustaining year-round tourism across the North Highlands and Wester Ross.
At Kylesku Hotel in Assynt, four new guestrooms have been added to the main building, while seven bedrooms at Kylesku House have been integrated under the core brand. The venue now offers 22 rooms to tourists over the winter period.
In Wester Ross, 10 guestrooms at The Haven in Plockton Inn have received interior refurbishments, alongside upgraded public areas. Existing furniture and beds were restored and reupholstered to minimise waste, with renovations for the remaining bedrooms and guest lounge scheduled for early 2027.
Lochardil House in Inverness underwent interior updates across all 12 guestrooms in the original building and garden wing. The lounge now features artwork by local artist Joanna McDonough depicting Highland landscapes. The updates follow earlier works at Tongue Hotel, where the group refurbished the Brass Tap pub and added an outdoor terrace overlooking the Kyle of Tongue.
Kenny McMillan, managing director of Highland Coast Hotels, said: “Our latest £1m makeover across four of our six hotels is yet further evidence of how we’re elevating the visitor experience, as well as helping to boost the regional tourism economy throughout the year.
“As Scotland’s newest luxury boutique hotel collection, Highland Coast Hotels is already establishing its reputation for showcasing world-class Highland hospitality across the North Coast 500 and Wester Ross.”
He added: “We’re also committed to providing year-round employment opportunities and community-led hospitality. Our aim is to create lasting professional careers in hospitality that will benefit our small and remote Highland communities.”
News Analysis
Today’s works revisit properties acquired at different stages of Highland Coast’s expansion. Kylesku was among the first hotels the group acquired in May 2021, when it said modernisation would extend the traditional season and create full-time careers. Plockton followed in April 2022 with a winter refurbishment already attached to the purchase; Tongue joined the following month with public areas and bedrooms marked for work. Those promises explain why the present programme reaches across both old and newer holdings.
The first refurbishment cycle was substantial, but it did not finish either property. In April 2023, Highland Coast reopened Tongue and Plockton after spending £1.8m. At Plockton, it reduced the bedroom count from 14 to 12 so that selected bathrooms could grow. Returning to both sites now shows how the group handles acquisition refits: it establishes the core hotel, then releases further capital for particular spaces rather than treating the reopening as the end of the job.
Lochardil changes the comparison because it entered the portfolio after that first cycle. Highland Coast added its first Inverness hotel in February 2024 and transferred Robert Ratcliffe from the Royal Golf in Dornoch to run it, tying the acquisition to an existing management bench before undertaking the present interiors. Its stated test for the property went beyond bedrooms: the company planned a local community hub, with the restaurant and bar serving residents throughout the week.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making

The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
Copyright BlazeThemes. 2023