Malmaison and Dakota hotel group founder Ken McCulloch dies aged 76

He began his career with British Transport Hotels as a young commis chef, working in the kitchens at The Malmaison restaurant in Glasgow’s Central Hotel and then at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.

(Read more: Ken McCulloch: the man who made Glasgow a global destination, published 2018)

Scottish Hotelier Ken McCulloch has died aged 76 (Image: Supplied)After a short period with Stakis Hotels, he stepped out on his own and opened La Bonne Auberge, a wine-bar in the Park Circus area of Glasgow, before making his way to Royal Exchange Square where he opened the famous Charlie Parker’s wine bar and restaurant.

In 1986 he put Glasgow’s name on the map as a global destination when he opened the city’s first boutique hotel, One Devonshire Gardens, with his award-winning interior designer wife,  Amanda Rosa. It was, at the time, the most luxurious hotel in Scotland. With Andrew Fairlie as Head Chef, the hotel gained a Michelin star in 1996. 

He then went on to create the Malmaison Hotel Group, whose first hotel opened in Edinburgh in 1994.

After just 4 years, he sold up and moved to Monaco, where he and Amanda bought the Abela Hotel with business partner, racing driver David Coultard. 

This became Columbus Hotel, which opened to international acclaim.

(Read more: Saturday interview: Ken McCulloch, published 2015)

He and Amanda then created Dakota Hotels, launching the now hugely successful hotel group in 2004 before returning home to Glasgow in 2009. 

An independent thinker, his passion for creating ‘hotels with a difference’ saw him become an ambassador for Scotland and for Scottish talent, continually achieving critical acclaim for his innovative thinking, his meticulous attention to detail and focus on the guest’s experience.

In 2018, he was recognised with the Very Special Achievement accolade at the Scottish Style Awards for outstanding and enduring contribution to style.

Mary McGowne, founder of the Scottish Style Awards, said: “Few have challenged the way hotels operate like Ken McCulloch.

“In a notoriously competitive environment he has remained at the top of his game. Time and again he has been at the helm of hospitality style revolutions, with benchmarks of excellence that create the zeitgeist, rather than capture it.”

McCulloch once said that the best advice he ever received was from Fernand Point, chef of the Michelin-starred Le Pyramide near Lyon, who said: “Success is the sum of many small things correctly done.”