Coronavirus: 'Five-star hotel visit will feel normal'

The hotel has spent £4,000 on ecostatic foggers to sanitise rooms after each guest's stay

The manager of one of the UK's most prestigious five-star hotels believes behind-the-scenes coronavirus precautions will allow guests to feel normal during their stay.

Alan McGuiggan, of Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh, said guests would be unaware of the work to fumigate rooms after each stay.

He has spent £4,000 on ecostatic foggers to sanitise rooms.

He also has installed a £2,000 thermal recorder to read guests' temperatures.

Mr McGuiggan said: "I have received a lot of calls from people asking if their trip would feel normal as they didn't want to come otherwise.

"Apart from having their temperature taken at the door and some rules given to them they will feel absolutely like it is a normal trip and they don't have to wear masks.

"It has been a real challenge getting the hotel ready to reopen and it has cost a lot of money to implement the changes."

He added: "I've spoken to a lot of my 141 staff this morning who said they were relieved to be back at work because they had feared during the lockdown that they would not have a job to return to."

The first guests at Prestonfield House Hotel since it reopened on Wednesday

The 23-bedroom hotel, set in 20 acres of grounds in Edinburgh, opened its doors following the lockdown on Wednesday.

Mr McGuiggan said: "I am very excited that we have reopened as it has been very stressful during the lockdown.

"It took 70 hours alone just to contact every member of my staff during the lockdown.

"Normally we would be feeding 750 people a day at this time in our events stables area but now we are down to feeding 100 people.

"We will be half full this weekend. It is all local people who want to support us that are booked in."