‘Stop killing golden goose’, warns Scottish tourism business boss

What is your business called? Cairngorm Lodges and Cairngorm Bothies

Where is it based? Ballater, Deeside, Aberdeenshire.

What does it produce/do? It provides off-grid, self-catering units for folks to recharge in nature.

To whom does it sell? Mostly Scottish people, but some UK and some overseas customers.

What is its turnover? £450,000

How many employees six (full-time equivalent).

What attracted you to your current role? Running my own business.

What were you doing before? Chartered subsea engineer.

What do you least enjoy? Telling people what to do.

What do you consider to be the main successes of the business? Its environmental attributes.

What are your ambitions for the firm? To turn a big, little company into a little, big company.

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What are the challenges facing the sector and market, and what could be done to overcome or address these? Post-Covid, there has been a barrage of supplementary regulation and newly conceived taxes applied to the self-catering sector. With respect to Scotland’s hospitality sector, we have a reasonably good offering; our natural capital is pretty good, our historic heritage and culture is quite good and service is okay, but it is not outstanding. We must compete with other destinations for tourists’ pounds. The government(s) are using the self-catering sector as a vehicle to provide money. There is a real danger that the visitor levy will be the final nail in the coffin for many businesses. Customers from both home and abroad will stop taking overnight stays due to the extra 5% to be paid as a tax on every booking.

What single thing would most help? Stop killing the golden goose.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learned? Never give up and always stick with it. I think people often think running a hospitality business is easy but it definitely isn’t and you have to realise that you’re going to be dealing with people and what you think they might like they may not – hopefully we have got the balance absolutely spot-on here at both the Lodges and the Bothies!

What was your best moment? We have been very fortunate to win a number of leading industry awards. It’s a team effort and they are for all of us. The highlight was in 2023 when we won the ACSTA (Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards) Climate Action award, coming back from real adversity having suffered the major storm damage in 2022 which had significant delayed the launch of the six new bothies until spring 2023. We were all elated as it had been such a tough time.

How do you relax? Walking in the hills.

What phrase or quotation has inspired you the most? “Whit’s fur ye’ll nae go by ye”.

Where do you find yourself most at ease? In front of a log-burning stove.

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why? I spent a lot of time in the United States, early in my career. There is a lot to be said for the States. Their culture of positivity; I love how they celebrate success in themselves and others and how supportive it is as a business environment. Their focus on customer service is exemplary. Certainly the “have a nice day” may come across as insincere, but it is better than a grunt or a moan. I visited New Zealand and found that to be what I described as “Scotland on steroids”. The mountains were bigger. The waters were clearer. The population more dispersed. All in all, it felt very like home. It seemed all reassuringly familiar. On that basis, it is difficult to say any-thing other than my favourite country to travel in is, of course, Scotland. If my other favourite countries only replicate Scotland, Scotland must be the best! I may have a bias in that my business is Scottish tourism and hospitality. When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal? Fire chief. I think because I had a quite cool red matchbox car that said “Fire Chief” on the side. Obviously, the association with being a hero was probably part of that childhood dream.

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What was your biggest break in business? A recent one that comes to mind was a break that came about due to the extraordinary behaviour of others. We were due to open Cairngorm Bothies on April 5, 2020. The end of March 2020 was of course the first lockdown. So, all my hopes and dreams were dashed. We had lots of stuff remaining to sort out to allow us to open. Specifically, building warrant sign-off, commissioning of the solar farm, installation of all furniture and fittings, handover of the facilities from the builder to me and, and, and. All the stuff that comes at the end that it is traditionally fraught and always tricky. At the very beginning of the pandemic an odd wave of emotions came over everyone. People were all fearful for the future and mankind suddenly pulled together. In a bizarre and limited way we experienced that positivity. It was quite uncanny. Every single person was rooting for a successful outcome with the opening of the Bothies. Everybody whom I asked for help invented new ways of working to make it happen. We got a bunch of green lights, we got our all permits and certificates, many by remote means. Ordinarily such tasks would have been met with the resistance of “we need a wet signature”; “we need to come and visit to sign off”. But, no, instead of being obstructive everybody was finding ways to make things happen. It all went through without a glitch. Green lights, no stopping. As it turned out, the periods between lockdowns when people could travel turned out to be a strong period for bookings for us. I was so grateful to everyone for all of their efforts and how they dug deep to find ways to make it all happen.

What was your worst moment in business? It was a pretty sanguine time between the lockdown: when we were open, we were full on operational and busy. Then Nicola Sturgeon suddenly announced (20-something of December) that everybody was to be home in their own houses by midnight on Christmas Day. Remember that? Everyone was back in lockdown. We gave everyone their money back for their Christmas stay and shut the doors and looked forward into an indeterminate future. I remember walking round the lodges in the spring, three months later, preparing for another reopening and walking into the abandoned lodges and bothies. Beds were unmade, dishes in the sink, but the trauma was, there were Christmas trees completely naked of their pine needles. Their needles formed a carpet underneath them. It was a pretty stark reminder of the abandonment that had left our business looking like something like an apocalyptic scene from a movie. The issue was, it was horribly real! Talking of apocalyptic scenes, in the storms of 2021/22, specifically the night of January 31, 2022, Storm Malik, our forest came down. We lost significant amounts of trees. That was a problem, but the real problem was that they came down on our bothies. We were destroyed, an insurance claim of approximately £1 million. We were essentially closed for a year and we started again. The motivational mantra recited every morning was “Reset, Rebuild, Reopen”. Yes, that is up there with worst moments, existential risk to business and business owner.

Who do you most admire and why? My Dad, now deceased. Why? Because he was my Dad and dads are usually admirable and mine was no exception in that regard. I guess at this moment Elon Musk has a good deal of my respect. No, not for his politics. Respect is for his unwavering self-belief as an engineer. There is no doubt he sets a vison and doggedly pursues it. It is not only resilience, persistence, but it is usually technically brilliant. He is up there with Steve Jobs as a legendary thinker. What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

Usually have a couple of books on the go at one time, novel by bed and textbook by the chair. “Precipice” by Robert Harris, and “The Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek, respectively. JJ Cale – “The Definitive Collection”, as I compose this.