YORK’S only five star hotel has launched another luxury service for well-heeled guests - a helicopter transfer direct from their home.

The Grand Hotel says the new service - unique in the UK - will give guests the chance to be whisked, VIP-style from their homes to the hotel and back again.

The hotel has joined forces with Sherburn-in-Elmet based Hields Aviation to set up the new service. Hields will use two helicopters – a four-seat Robinson R44 and a five-seat Bell 206 Jet Ranger - to fly guests from their own homes, or nearby, to York Racecourse.

From there, guests can get into Range Rovers from the The Yorkshire Chauffeur Company for the final hop to the hotel.

The hotel’s general manager Philip Bolson said: “As a luxury hotel we try to accommodate all of our guests’ unique requests to ensure an unforgettable stay and recently we have been asked about helicopter landing spots and transfers.

“To fulfil this we have teamed up with a local aviation company who can provide transfers in two types of helicopter depending on how many guests will be staying with us."

He added: “Where possible, our helicopter will pick up guests from the grounds of their homes, or land nearby, and fly them to York where our chauffeur service will collect them from the drop-off point within the grounds of York Racecourse, a five-minute drive away.”

The hotel says prices for the helicopter transfer service are “available on request”, but start from £875+VAT for a one-way trip from Manchester to York.

Hotel staff believe that although other UK hotels have helipads, and helicopter charter companies offer transfers to hotels, The Grand is the only hotel in the UK with its own dedicated helicopter service - putting it on a par with international sites like The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong and the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

The Grand Hotel & Spa is Yorkshire’s only AA-rated five-star hotel. As well as the new helicopter service, the hotel will almost double in size in March with the opening of 100 new guest rooms.

Its £15 million expansion also includes a new luxury Executive Lounge and Arrivals Lounge; a new purpose-built restaurant, The Rise, opened last summer and a redevelopment for its three-AA-rosette fine dining restaurant Hudsons by Craig Atchinson.