Owners of a struggling hotel planned to become a boarding school say they are determined to make it a success after the sale suddenly fell through.

Father-and-son Raj and Amar Gokhool were left “surprised and disappointed” earlier this month after plans to transform their venue, Wards Hotel, into a school were axed.

Bosses at Earlscliffe School in Folkestone had submitted an application to the council to change the 10-bed hotel into a boarding house for their private pupils.

But soon after the application was approved, the school pulled out of the plans.

Now, the owners of the hotel, Raj and Amar Gokhool, have announced they will be keeping the business open and are “determined to make it a success”.

The duo say despite being shocked at the school's decision to pull out, they now see this is an “opportunity for growth”.

The family have owned the Folkestone hotel for the past five years and say since Covid, it has been increasingly difficult to keep it afloat.

“We don't want this hotel to turn into an eyesore for our town,” said Raj, 65.

“That's why we're going to put the energy to bring it up again.

“The only reason we had stepped back over the last few months was because of the school's plans.

“It's been an incredibly difficult few years. That's why when the school approached us we thought it would be best to cut our losses.

“Before Covid, all of the outside benches, our restaurant area and rooms were completely full.

“We are determined to get it back to how it was.”

Amar, 38, went on to explain how the “tucked away” hotel can be easily missed by many in the town.

He added: “It's quite difficult for us to capture the local footfall that visits the town and the harbour arm. We feel like what we plan to offer here could bring people to this part of the town.

“Our focus now shifts towards personally investing in the hotel and enhancing our services.”

In 2025, a new wellness programme, which will include yoga and pilates sessions, will launch.

The owners also plan to run ‘date nights’ on Thursday evenings with live piano music. They also say they will be introducing a new takeaway menu which will be available on Just Eat.

The hotel is located 160 metres away from Earlscliffe’s main campus in Shorncliffe Road, an independent sixth form college for international students aged between 15-19.

According to original planning documents submitted by Lee Tattum, student immigration manager at Dukes Education, which runs the school, the hotel owners had deemed the venue “unviable as a business”.

Mr Tattum stated the hotel has been “operating at a loss” and experienced a “downturn in trade”.

Earlier this month, planning officers at Folkestone and Hythe District Council voted unanimously in favour of the plans. But later the new head teacher confirmed it would no longer be going ahead with the sale.

Mark Love, who took over in September, said: “As the newly appointed head teacher at Earlscliffe one of the first things I did was review the school's existent estate.

“We have a number of excellent buildings across Folkestone. I visited each of them and concluded that they provide exactly what our students need in terms of boarding and teaching facilities.

“The latter, combined with the creation of a new location for our art department led me to conclude that there was no current need for the school to acquire additional premises.”

Wards Hotel is a three-star Edwardian hotel dating back to 1901. It has a rating of 4.5 on Tripadvisor, with rooms starting at £55 a night.