Speaking to Auchrannie Resort’s finance director this week, one thing which came across very clearly was the array of challenges facing a Scottish island hotel business.

Chief among the hurdles in recent times for Auchrannie has been the degree of disruption to ferry services to Brodick.

You would probably have had to be living on the moon not to know about this ferry disruption. And the degree of publicity around it has certainly, as Auchrannie finance director and company secretary Colin Morrison observed, “amplified” the matter.

“Amplified” is perhaps putting it mildly.

Part of the problem has been that even when ferry services have been operating normally, this has been drowned out a bit by all the noise about problems faced on the route.

It all ties in, of course, with politics.

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There is absolutely no doubt that the huge delay to the arrival of the Glen Sannox on the Brodick route, which finally happened earlier this month, has been an enormous challenge for people on Arran and difficult for many wishing to visit the island.

However, what is also beyond question is there has been no shortage of politicians and others with axes to grind keen to maximise the noise around the long delays and cost overruns in the building of the Glen Sannox at the Ferguson Marine yard in Port Glasgow for their own ends. Ferguson Marine is now owned by the Scottish Government. And the contract for the ferries was awarded by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited, which is also controlled by the Scottish Government.

The employee-owned Auchrannie Resort at Brodick saw its pre-tax losses widen to £474,260 in the year to March 31, 2024, from £111,447 in the prior 12 months.

The results were revealed in accounts for Auchrannie Holdings filed with Companies House.

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Commenting on the increase in losses in the year to March 2024, Mr Morrison said: “Probably ferries have been a bigger impact than the economic climate. There has been a lot of ferry disruption over the last few winters. It has obviously knocked consumer confidence a bit. If people have come one winter and have been hit, they are less likely to come the following winter.”

The hospitality........

© Herald Scotland