Turnberry Hotel opens with a real swing

Jul 17 2009 by Yonnie McInnes

IT WAS undoubtedly a challenge but Turnberry Hotel opened on Saturday to welcome its first guests – just in time for the Open Championship.

The Ayrshire Post was given a tour of the completed phase one of the refurbishment following a £43 million investment, nine months after it closed.

All the public areas of the hotel have been completed on time after new contractors were brought in to help finish the job earlier this year.

When we toured the hotel 40 bedrooms had been given a new retro look by acclaimed interior designer Mary Fox Linton, with seven more due to be finished by the time the first guests arrived.

The remaining 60 bedrooms in the hotel will be completed in the second phase, as planned, which will also include the total upgrading of the spa.

Given that the Open starts at Turnberry on Thursday, the relief must have been considerable for Dubai-based owners Leisurecorp, who are now marketing the resort as part of the hotel operators Starwood Luxury Collection portfolio.

As workmen and staff were putting the finishing touches to the hotel, including the continual arrival of furniture, we were shown around it by Stephen Walker, director of sales and marketing at Turnberry.

He said: “A lot of the money we have spent is hidden as we have installed what is possibly Europe’s most modern, eco heating and air conditioning plant, along with new plumbing, electric, and lighting systems.

“We have totally resurfaced the existing tiles to Turnberry’s famous fountain forecourt entrance and re-landscaped both here and the front of the hotel with plants which are more indigenous to Scotland.”

The original vision of Turnberry’s architect, Glaswegian James Miller, has certainly been recaptured.

As soon as you enter the hotel you are in The Grand Tea Room.

The original pillars stand revealed, but there’s now also a huge fireplace at one end of the room where welcoming log fires will burn in the winter.

Stunning views out to Ailsa Craig can also now immediately be seen, thanks to the removal of an internal wall.

This will be a lounge for residents and visitors alike to use and where light lunches and Turnberry’s new ultra special afternoon teas will be served.

The main, 160 seat, dining room is now called simply – 1906 – in homage to the year Turnberry Hotel first opened.

Its original, ornate, ceiling plaster features and distinctive pillars have been retained, but it now has a more contemporary feel, thanks to a modern retro decor and furnishings. New lighting systems have also been cleverly installed within the ceiling around the room, giving it a much brighter, and lighter, feel.

The design of the original 1906 windows has also been carefully replicated in the new double glazing.

Beside the dining room is the James Miller Room (private dining room).

Adjacent to that, what was the Arran Room is now Turnberry’s main bar – The Ailsa Bar and lounge – which has a new fireplace, a 30s-style cocktail bar, and retro style seating. Scottish themed tapas size dishes, featuring haggis, salmon, and burgers, will be served here.

Walking along the long central corridor – with wood panelling retained but now stained a darker colour – you pass the Grand Tea Room to reach the former Kintyre Room.

It’s now a golfers bar appropriately named – Duel in the Sun – after the epic Open battle at Turnberry in 1977 between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus.

This now houses a snooker table, a bar, and several black, red, and yellow, large, soft, leather seats and sofas along with four plasma TVs showing Sky Sports channels.

Here golfers can enjoy snacks.

“It’s the first floor which has seen the most radical changes, as we reconfigured it completely, knocking all the walls down, and starting again,” said Mr Walker.

“At the end of each bed is a new Turnberry tartan cashmere throw which we commissioned from Ayr firm Alex Begg and Co.”

Each bedroom now has a large bathroom with black slate dressing table, large bath, state-of-the-art shower, and toilet, while each suite also has a TV in the bathroom.

Stewart Selbie, general manger, Turnberry, added: “We do have one or two minor snagging issues but generally, everything for the Open is going great. With the reopening of the hotel, it’s true to say that very exciting things are happening both sides of the road!”