Grantley Hall has been crowned England’s Hotel of the Year at the prestigious AA Hospitality Awards. The Ripon-based hotel has been open for just over three years and used its many high quality amenities including an in-house Michelin-starred restaurant to secure the new title.
The historic building, built in the 1600’s, was purchased by Valeria Sykes in 2015 and underwent a multi-million pound renovation to become the luxury hotel that it is today. Anne Harrison, Grantley Hall’s Quality and Compliance Manager, said: “We had a vision for where we wanted the hotel to be when the renovation was starting, but by the end of one year that initial vision was already much bigger.”
Grantley Hall had already achieved five-star hotel status by the AA in 2020, which is an achievement many hoteliers strive for, but those in charge at the Yorkshire hotel wanted to strive for more.
Harrison said: “The target has always been to be the world leading luxury hotel; we aim for the best. It is quite incredible what Grantley Hall has achieved so far, and we all look forward to seeing what the future holds.”
Grantley Hall offers a spa, a luxury wellness centre, four indulgent restaurants and three luxurious bars. These features have contributed greatly to Grantley Hall achieving such a prestigious award and the impact is not lost on those at the summit. Andrew McPherson, General Manager of Grantley Hall, said: “The service delivery and thefood production has won us so many awards in such a very short amount of time. These accolades are down to the fantastic training of the team, the recruitment of the team and the team themselves. The employees at Grantley Hall all hold the same vision and mission.”
McPherson has spearheaded the hotel’s recent success and understands both the weight of the achievements thehotel has already earned, as well as the weight of the task to push on and continue its exponential growth. He said: “We had set ourselves the target of achieving five stars with the AA when we first started out. Now to achieve Hotel of the Year was absolutely gob smacking. You just wouldn’t expect to achieve something like that just three years afteryou opened. The big challenge we face now is where do we go next!”
McPherson and Grantley Hall employees were invited to the awards ceremony in London where they received their award, during an evening hosted by famous sports and tv personality, Gabby Logan. Having a hotel with such high prestige is bound to attract tourism from all corners of the country, and possibly further afield, to visit the district of Harrogate.
Julia Lumley, place marketing manager for Destination Harrogate, said: “We are delighted that Grantley Hall has been named the Hotel of the Year in the prestigious AA Hospitality Awards 2022. It is a great achievement for them and to be home of the Hotel of the Year is an important accolade for us as a destination. We are very lucky to have so many high-quality hotels and accommodation in the Harrogate district. Grantley Hall is a draw in itself, bringing visitors from far and wide to sample its five-star luxury.”