The Inverurie Executive Suites hotel has reopened two weeks ahead of its target date.

The hotel, on Harbour Road in Paget, reopened just before Cup Match after it had scheduled an August 16 date to throw open its doors again.

Owner Philip Akeroyd said the earlier restart was owing to custom from residents.

He added: “It kind of just crept up on us.

“We didn’t think we would get any customers until the middle of August, or later, because our main client base is business customers.

“But we got some inquiries, and they all turned out to be locals.

“We have had six or seven locals come for two or three days, and others for a week or so.

“We took a few guests and have stayed open since then.” The hotel, which has ten standard rooms and five suites, has three staff, all of whom were laid off in March and returned to work at the end of July.

Mr Akeroyd said the property’s usual guests were was repeat business people.

He added: “We rely on them, but I don’t think professional people are coming here in a big way at the moment.

“I thought when the airport opened, there would be more business people coming, and there may be, but they are not staying with us.”

Mr Akeroyd admitted that advance bookings were few and far between.

He said: “I don’t think we are going to be more than 30 per cent full for quite a long time. We don’t have a lot of enquiries for the next few months.”

But he added: “We don’t need a lot of people to make the thing profitable.”