Scotland international Jim Hamilton says staying at Novotel Hotels while on international duty is like a ‘home away from home’ and welcomed the news that Scottish Rugby has announced a new two-year, six figure sponsorship deal with the multinational chain. The giant lock forward, who is almost seven foot tall, admits trying to find hotel beds that are both spacious and comfortable is incredibly difficult while on 6 Nations or World Cup duty.Scotland international Jim Hamilton says staying at Novotel Hotels while on international duty is like a ‘home away from home’ and welcomed the news that Scottish Rugby has announced a new two-year, six figure sponsorship deal with the multinational chain. The giant lock forward, who is almost seven foot tall, admits trying to find hotel beds that are both spacious and comfortable is incredibly difficult while on 6 Nations or World Cup duty. But the 25-year-old, who joined Edinburgh from Leicester Tigers in the summer, revealed he fits right in to the rooms at Edinburgh’s Novotel Hotel and, as a result, no longer dreads long spells away from home in the build up to international matches at Murrayfield. Hamilton said: The most important thing any Scotland player needs before a big Test match is a good night’s sleep and I always get that when I stay at Edinburgh’s Novotel Hotel.. Novotel’s beds are always comfy and that is something less for me to worry about, so I can totally concentrate on the game. The build up to a test match is vitally important and players are away from friends and family for long periods of time. So it is really important that the hotel that the squad stays in is comfortable and provides top-class facilities; Novotel fits the bill. Scottish Rugby Chief Executive Gordon McKie also welcomed the news of the commercial relationship with Novotel Hotels and highlighted the need for recruiting new partners to fund the development of the nation’s grassroots game. McKie said: we’ve made significant progress in establishing new commercial relationships with partners like Novotel which contribute to our vision of providing increased support and development funding to our clubs. In order to achieve our ambitious growth targets (38,000 players by 2012 from a starting point of 27,000 last year) we recognise the importance of a well-resourced and better funded club game and there is no doubt that successful business partnerships will help us to achieve these targets and cultivate the grass-roots of the game. In addition to the commercial sponsorship, the deal with Novotel means that preferential rates will be offered to Scottish Rugby’s many national teams – the Scotland team, Scotland A, Scotland 7s, Scotland Women, Scotland under-20, Scotland under-19, Scotland under-18 and Scotland under-17 – potentially enabling the union to make significant cost savings. The National team will stay at a Novotel Hotel when in Scotland and endeavor to stay in a related group or Novotel hotel whilst on tour and also during the 6 Nations competition. Inge Van Ooteghem, Area General Manager for Novotel Hotels, said: We are delighted to announce this link with Scottish Rugby and look forward to supporting its players and staff, particulary the national squads. Novotel has a firmly established presence in Scotland and we are proud to have two venues in Edinburgh – Scottish rugby’s home town. Jim Hamilton is obviously a fan of our larger sized beds so we hope his team mates and contemporaries will be as enthusiastic about our hotels! We look forward to helping Scottish Rugby to cultivate success from the youth teams right up to the Scotland first team.