Member Benefits

About us

Edinburgh is the jewel in Scotland’s tourism crown and as such its hotels need to reflect the city’s status as an elite world destination. With over 50 hotels in membership, from budget to boutique with everything in between, The Edinburgh Hotels Association (EHA) is the trade association behind an important and influential driver of Edinburgh and Scotland’s economy.

Founded in 1974, EHA is a highly organised, democratic and unified voice for Edinburgh’s hoteliers and serviced apartment operators with the current membership represented by General Managers and hotel owners from both independent hotels and national and international chains. Our focus is on those issues within The City of Edinburgh, West Lothian, Midlothian and East Lothian that impact both strategically and operationally on our collective business interests.

Any hotel or accommodation provider participating in the Visit Scotland Grading Scheme, with a minimum of 30 letting bedrooms and located within Edinburgh and the Lothians, is eligible for membership of the Association but applications for membership from smaller properties can also be considered.

Influence

The management of EHA is conducted by our 10 strong council which contains a broad cross section of senior members of the industry in Scotland with representatives who are currently board members of DEMA, The Edinburgh Convention Bureau, Essential Edinburgh and ETAG, the Tram Operations Group, The Winter Festivals and the British Hospitality Association (Scotland), as well as directors and senior officers of private companies. In addition we are represented by local and national members of VisitScotland and other business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce. Our reach and influence is substantial.

Our Aims

Without clarity and vision we can’t possibly hope to make real and lasting impacts on the market, that’s why our aims are focussed on creating a professional, powerful and highly engaged trade organisation.

Changing the name of the organisation (formerly the Edinburgh Principal Hotel Association) and the constitution in 2009 has enabled EHA to work on widening membership so that membership of the Association is inclusive and can credibly exert its influence across all policy and decision making forums in the Edinburgh Hospitality sector. We do this by helping more and more of our council and board members to establish positions on Edinburgh and Scotland’s many Hospitality bodies thus representing the needs of Association members both locally and in the national arena.

Secure funding is essential to the stability of any organisation. We are therefore pursuing a strategy to maximise the revenue available to our members through further development of our online booking service on www.stayinedinburgh.net

Aside from positively influencing tourism and hospitality policy, the Association is a growing network and has set out to create a range of interesting, and enjoyable, networking events for our membership.

Speakers have included Philip Riddle, CEO of Visit Scotland and Kenneth Wardrop, Project Director of DEMA - Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance; events where members had the perfect opportunity to build their networks, share best practice, improve communication and help create a collective body of knowledge and experience that is unrivalled in other UK cities. We hold between four and five events each year.

The truly cosmopolitan nature of Edinburgh’s hospitality sector is a significant melting pot for ideas and initiatives as we have Hotel and Hospitality practitioners from all over the world among our members, each of whom bring their own particular experiences to the group. We hope this will create and develop a spirit of unity, goodwill and fellowship among our members.

Lastly, we have established clear objectives and a co-ordinated approach to the education, training and development of our prospective and existing employees so that we will collectively develop and nurture a better and more professional industry for us all.

Membership Benefits

The Association hosts four or five meetings a year. Most meetings will include a speaker who will address current and relevant topics relating to the hotel industry and hospitality in Edinburgh. In addition the council meets four times a year to agree strategy and plans to address the issues that the membership feels is in need of action.

In 2009/10 the membership has tasked the Council to address the following issues;

Further strengthen collaborative working with the following bodies of influence;

• Destination Edinburgh Marketing Association (DEMA)
• Visit Scotland
• The Edinburgh Convention Bureau (ECB)
• The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC)
• Scottish Enterprises Edinburgh Ltd (SEEL)
• City of Edinburgh Counsel (CEC)
• The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce (CoC)
• The Edinburgh Tourism Policy Group (ETPG)
• Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG)
• Essential Edinburgh
• Edinburgh Hogmanay and Edinburgh Christmas Programmes
• The Edinburgh Festivals
• Support development of the ‘Edinburgh Brand’.

Maintain relevant participation and dialogue on relevant aspects of transport, city cleanliness and other issues affecting the public image of Edinburgh.

Strengthen and improve dialogue with members so that they feel more engaged and valued and to ensure that the issues most relevant to the membership base as a whole are actively pursued.

Identify and, where possible, remove barriers to membership so that the membership base grows and widens to fully represent the complete cross-section of Hospitality business in Edinburgh.

In particular, encourage newly opened hotels to join the Association.

Co-operate with all of Edinburgh’s Festivals and their boards and management groups.

Position the Association’s Council as a vital and active stakeholder organisation and one that is automatically consulted on any tourism issues and initiatives.

Communicate the economic benefits which member hotels bring to the city.

Effectively engage with the membership so that members feel better able to participate and enjoy all meeting discussion topics.

Membership of the Association also benefits members through our increasing commitment to marketing:

Our website gives members the right to access and use our online booking platform www.stayinedinburgh.net

Members may participate in, and view results of, the TNS System3 occupancy survey which is commissioned by Visit Scotland.

The Association is growing its commitment to becoming the focal point for all tourism based media relations in the city and we voice the views of our members to both trade and consumer media through our spokespeople.

What does it cost?

Our aim is to make membership fees affordable and equible. For that reason the annual subscription is made up of a fixed fee of £275 plus £2 per room, with no member paying in excess of £650.

What we will not do

Any profits generated are to be used for the mutual benefit of the members. We do not act as a sales function for any individual member hotels and we shall not act as a source of professional advice to our member hotels.

Interested?

Give us a call or email us at chris.waynewills@macdonaldhotels.co.uk for more information or to request a visit from our membership secretary who will talk further about the work that we do and help give you a more detailed insight into how membership could specifically help your business.

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