Edinburgh gets new four star hotels Two hotel groups have struck deals for developments in Edinburgh’s Waterloo Place. The deals are good news for the city, which has an estimated shortfall of 1,400 four-star hotel beds, according to the Scottish Executive.

The Fitzpatrick Hotel Group will work with property company Beaghmor on the development of a 63-room boutique hotel and restaurant-bar. The hotel is scheduled to open its doors to guests in 2009 pending a successful planning application.

The second-generation Irish hotel operator currently has five hotels in its portfolio, three in Dublin, including design hotels The Morgan and The Beacon and the traditional Fitzpartick Castle Hotel, and two in New York – the Fitzpatrick Grand Central and Fitzpatrick Manhattan.

Apex Hotels has also secured planning permission for its fourth Edinburgh hotel, a £30m 180-bed development on the same side of Waterloo Place. The development, when completed, will bring Apex’s portfolio to seven, with hotels in Dundee, London and Edinburgh.

Apex Hotels is owned by Norman and Dorothy Springford and their family. The company is also redeveloping two hotels in the City of London with a combined budget of £31m.

Colin Finlayson, associate director of Jones Lang LaSalle, the agents in charge of the property acquisition, said: “Waterloo Place’s proximity to Waverley station and easy access to the major tourist destinations in Edinburgh make it an obvious choice for a hotel development.”

The Scottish Executive is aiming for a 50 per cent increase in Scottish tourism by 2015.