John and Heather Vernon are pictured with Kirsty Ferguson, Regional Quality and Tourism Manager at VisitScotland
Edinburgh, Scotland, 2016-Aug-09 — /Travel PR News/ — A Highland 4-Star Bed and Breakfast with beautiful views across Loch Linnhe to the scenic Ardgour Hills has achieved its ‘Gold’ award from the national tourism organisation in recognition of its excellent customer service.
Morvich B&B in Fort William, was already a 4-Star B&B but has now been awarded the added ‘Gold’ status from VisitScotland, representing the continuing attainment of outstanding customer service and hospitality for guests.
The B&B has two premium king bedrooms, a standard king and a smaller king. All bedrooms are ensuite and each one looks out across Loch Linnhe. All rooms have free Wifi access, quality branded beds, ensuite showers, shaver points, flat screen TV/DVD/radio, tea and coffee making facilities, a hairdryer, alarm clock and complimentary toiletries.
A traditional cooked breakfast is available each day and a ‘specials’ menu is also available, featuring croissants, smoked salmon, haggis and malt whisky bread and butter pudding.
Morvich B&B is a level 15 minute walk from Fort William’s high street, with no steep steps or hills to climb to get back to the accommodation.
The property also holds a Taste Our Best award, which means they aim to minimise food miles and waste while maintaining a reputation for quality. They aim to source Scottish food and ingredients when possible and when not available they will buy British before looking further afield.
Fort William is located in Lochaber, Outdoor Capital of the UK, which boasts a plethora of activities including climbing, hiking, sailing, mountain biking, walking, winter snowsports, watersports, fishing and horse riding.
John and Heather Vernon, owners of Morvich B&B, said:
“It is lovely to be recognised for something that we really enjoy doing. We are very fortunate to be living in such a beautiful spot and we do try to make sure that our guests enjoy their stay with us as well getting the most out of their stay in Fort William and Lochaber.
“When we got our 4-Star Gold B&B award confirmation, we put it on our Facebook page. We were very surprised by how many past guests are still watching Morvich B&B and how many of them took the time to write messages of congratulations.
“Relying on reviews is one way of marketing your business, but getting an award from an independent authority such as VisitScotland is a big help. Customers can book with confidence.”
Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director, said:
“It is fantastic to see Fort William’s tourism offering enhanced by Morvich’s well-deserved achievement. High-quality B&B accommodation is vitally important to our visitors, which is why VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance gradings are so important to the tourism industry as a whole.
“Developed and improved over the past 25 years, our Quality Assurance schemes are world-leading and provide a trusted, independent and impartial source of information for visitors. They allow you to not just meet visitor expectations, but exceed them.
“Quality Assurance is about much more than just the ‘stars’ on your door – it’s about the entire visitor experience, investing in your business and making it as economically sustainable, and profitable, as it can possibly be.”
VisitScotland’s 4-Star Gold Quality Assurance Award recognises serviced accommodation businesses which consistently achieve the highest levels of excellence within their VisitScotland star grading. Businesses that achieve the award excel in areas of customer care and hospitality, showing evidence of a real commitment to development and training.
QA can open the door to new customers. It is a powerful marketing tool and works well with online review sites in using an independent perspective to measure visitor experience against tried and tested criteria, so visitors know exactly what to expect.
For more information, visit www.morvich.com
For more information on VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance scheme, visit www.visitscotland.org/quality_assurance.aspx
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
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- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design begins on 1 January 2016 and ends on 31 December 2016 and will build on the momentum generated by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
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SOURCE: VisitScotland