Strawberry Bank House Receives Four Star Gold Quality Assurance Award from VisitScotland

EDINBURGH, 2017-Mar-20 — /Travel PR News/ — A B&B in Linlithgow has been awarded VisitScotland’s Four Star Gold Quality Assurance Award in recognition of its high standards.

Strawberry Bank House received the upgrade from the national tourism organisation following its latest grading visit.

The award recognises extremely high standards of visitor accommodation with the ‘gold’ part representing the continuing attainment of outstanding customer service and hospitality.

The B&B, which has been run by Gillian and John Caddle for 15 years, offers a prime location to explore the historic Royal Burgh’s many attractions including Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.

A fully modernised Victorian villa, the four room property also boasts a Taste Our Best award for its use of local and quality Scottish produce.

Gillian and John Caddle, Owners of Strawberry Bank B&B, said: 

“We are delighted to have been recognised by VisitScotland with the award of our Four Star Gold status, which for us is recognition of the hard work done every day to maintain and improve on our standards.

Manuela Calchini, VisitScotland Regional Director, said:

“Congratulations to Gillian and John on achieving their Four Star Gold Quality Assurance award. Strawberry Bank offers guests an exceptional standard of accommodation and welcome in one of central Scotland’s most picturesque towns – their Gold award is well and truly deserved.

“This award, coupled with their Taste Our Best accreditation, ensures guests will also enjoy the very best in quality local produce during their stay in Linlithgow.

“Our Quality Assurance scheme is world-leading and provides a trusted, independent and impartial source of information for visitors. It is about much more than just a star rating – it is about the entire visitor experience and investing in the business to make it as economically sustainable, and profitable, as it can be.”

VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance schemes 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.

Launched in September 2013, Taste Our Best is a joint initiative between the national tourism organisation and the Scottish Government. Assessors rate the overall eating experience, the extent to which Scottish produce (at least 40%) is used and promoted, and staff knowledge of the produce on the menu and its provenance.

For find out more about Strawberry Bank, visit www.strawberrybank-scotland.co.uk

For more information on the VisitScotland Quality Assurance scheme, visit www.visitscotland.org

 

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:
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
  5. 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
  6. Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
  7. 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
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2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology

• 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
• The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
• The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
• The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
• The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
• For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017

SOURCE: VisitScotland

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Stewart Ross

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Sports Tourism, Events Tourism, Edinburgh and Lothians, North Coast 500
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