Stewart Spence, one of Aberdeen’s best-known and loved hoteliers, died last month, aged 77. He had a remarkable career in hospitality and only stepped back three years ago, having handed over the responsibility of running the family-owned Marcliffe Hotel & Spa to his son, Ross and the hotel was sold last year.
However, this had not been Stewart’s original plan. He had intended to retire much earlier, but after plans to originally sell the hotel to developers fell through in 2018, he decided enough was enough, had a change of heart, and set about revitalising the hotel instead.
To say his customers were relieved would be an understatement. In fact, I interviewed him just after he made that decision, and during the two hours I spent with him, we were frequently interrupted by ladies expressing how delighted they were that the Marcliffe was staying open.
At the time, Stewart told me, “The sale has been hanging over the hotel for seven years. When it looked like it wasn’t going to happen, I decided to take it back into the family.”
However, he eventually retired in 2021 after 60 years in hospitality, that began when he was 15 and took a job at the Station Hotel in Aberdeen in 1962 as a waiter and trainee chef.
He then worked in Paris for two years at Fouquet’s as a barman and waiter before returning to the UK and London in 1967 when he joined the Great Northern. He moved back to Aberdeen the following year as Assistant Manager at the Treetops and afterwards at the Commodore in Stonehaven, where he got his first role as General Manager.
In 1972, he and his family took the decision to buy their first hotel – The Atholl in Aberdeen. Since then, they have owned and operated six hotels and one restaurant – The Capitol, in Aberdeen.
But The Marcliffe Hotel and Spa was the jewel in the crown. It was opened in 1993 by former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and became Aberdeen’s only five-star hotel.
He ran his businesses through two recessions, in 1986 and 1998, and although he embraced the oil industry, he soon realised that Aberdeen needed to champion tourism if the industry was to have longevity.
He practiced what he preached and embraced tourism by marketing the hotels as the gateway to Royal Deeside.
He told me, “I didn’t want to have all our eggs in one basket.” He also kept his room rates the same for 52 weeks of the year, telling me,
“You can’t build your business and attract tourists if you keep changing your price.”
He ran the business for 25 years with his ex-wife, Sheila, and after meeting his partner Doreen in 2000, they spent two decades working together. One of his deepest sorrows was the death of his daughter Jackie from cancer in 2009, after which they set up a trust in her name, which they fundraised for over the years.
He also had three sons: Greg, Craig, and Ross, who supported their family over the years. It was Ross who became a chef and took on the position of Managing Director of The Marcliffe after his father retired in 2012, with the family selling the hotel to Sir Jim Milne and Balmoral Group last year.
When I interviewed Stewart, he told me, “Ross, my son, who is also the Head Chef, is a huge asset, and my other two sons – Greg, who works offshore, and Craig, who is a landscape gardener, are also very supportive.”
Stewart picked up many accolades over the years, but one of his proudest moments was receiving the MBE in 2015 for services to tourism. He was also given a Master Inn holder title and became a Freeman of the City of London in 2007.
He received the CIS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, the Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, the Grampian Awards for Business Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014, and the Aberdeen City and Shire Hotels Association Lifetime Achievement Award, also in 2014. Both Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen gave him honorary doctorates.
He was also a board member of Prestige Hotels and Small Luxury Hotels of the World from 1988 to 1996, a board member of Grampian Enterprise from 2000 to 2008, a board member of ACSEF from 2008 to 2012, the Chairman of Hospitality Training from 2001 to 2015, and a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality (UK).
Aberdeen City and Shire Hotels’ Association chairman Frank Whitaker described the news of Mr Spence’s death as “truly the passing of an icon.”
He said, “The hotel community in Aberdeen and the north-east is saddened by the loss of a truly inspirational hotelier. Stewart was a real professional, recognising at an early stage that Aberdeen needed to work hard together to have legacy success from a burgeoning oil industry.”
He said Mr Spence positioned The Marcliffe as “Aberdeen’s luxury place to stay.” Mr Whitaker concluded, “He was a towering figure in the region’s hotel world, and many of us in the industry would be proud to leave a fraction of the legacy that he has.”
Robin Macpherson, Head of College at Robert Gordon College, said, “His passing marks the end of an era for Aberdeen’s hospitality scene, and he will be remembered as a true legend in all that he achieved in his career. We are so grateful for all the support he gave RGC over the years, and we’ve enjoyed many brilliant events at the Marcliffe.”
Stewart didn’t have a long retirement, but I hope he got to stay at some of the great hotels that Doreen and he would escape to, as he told me, “keep the romance alive.”
The Aberdeen hospitality scene may have lost a legend, but his legacy will live on. I, for one, will remember his charm, his honesty, his love for hospitality and the pride that he showed in his family. He really was inspirational.