News from the Royal Marine Hotel
Royal Golf Hotel in Dornoch Re-Opening (Jan 2010)
The Royal Golf Hotel in Dornoch, which has been closed for three years, is to re-open at Easter, it has emerged. A new company has been formed to run the once prestigious, 22-bed hotel which overlooks the first tee of Royal Dornoch. Up to 30 full and part-time jobs are expected to be created by the move which has been widely welcomed locally.
It is especially good news, coming in the same week as the town reels from the announcement of 29 job losses at the local abattoir.
The Royal Golf Hotel closed in December 2006 after parent company, the London and Edinburgh Swallow Group, went into liquidation.
It was bought shortly afterwards by international businessman Peter de Savary, who gained planning consent for a massive upgrade and extension, with the aim of turning it into a top class luxury holiday complex. But Mr de Savary pulled the plug on the venture in May 2008 and put the 115-year-old building back on the market with an asking price of £5 million. It was then bought by a consortium of North businessmen including David Sutherland, chairman of Highland construction firm, Tulloch Homes Group.
Mr Sutherland is also part-owner of the Royal Marine Hotel in Brora and the Dunain Park Hotel in Inverness.
It emerged this week that Mr Sutherland and his business partner, George Fraser, have now joined forces with Grant Sword and American Mark Parsinen, developers of the Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness, which opened in July last year. Mr Sword is well known in the Sutherland area as he previously owned and operated the Royal Golf for 12 years until 2002 when it was sold, along with another two, to Swallow Hotels. He said earlier this week: "Castle Stuart has just been acclaimed as the best new course anywhere in the Highlands, so we're getting a lot of golf visitors to the Highlands. "But whilst we have plans for a hotel on site, it's not going to come to fruition quickly enough.
"We have reached an agreement with David Sutherland whereby we will help him re-open the Royal Golf and the four of us have formed a small consortium to run it.
"I think it will help the whole of the Highland golf market because a lot of the feed back we are getting from golf operators is that Dornoch is still a huge attraction, yet there is a lack of accommodation."
The formation of the new company has now linked the Royal Golf together with Castle Stuart Golf Links, the Royal Marine and the Dunain Park Hotel.
Work is currently underway to prepare the Royal Golf for opening at the beginning of April. But, according to Mr Sword: "Most of the hotel is actually in very good shape. There was a substantial £1 million investment made to it in 1999/2000 so it is in remarkably good condition."There has also been a caretaker there ever since it closed and he has looked after the place. Still, we do need to bring it up to speed. "It is being totally re-decorated inside and out and new beds will be bought but otherwise it's just general improvements. Some of the flat roof extensions will be demolished."It'll be back to its former glory and we believe it will be a four-star standard facility when it opens on 1st April."
Mr Sword said he had recently contacted over 600 golf and travel agents worldwide to tell them that the hotel would shortly be back in operation. "They are all delighted to have it back after a three year gap. The general consensus is: 'Hallelujah!' Dornoch and the whole of the Highlands have been a lot poorer for its absence. I'm going over to the annual PGA Golf Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, at the end of the month to sell our wares so will be talking about it there."
Chairman of Dornoch Community Council, Yvonne Ross, said she was delighted to hear the hotel was re-opening. "It's brilliant news because we desperately need both beds and employment. As far as I am aware every establishment was booked out in Dornoch last August. You couldn't get a bed in the entire place."
Castle Stuart Golf Links - No.1 Best New International Golf Course 2009
Ten years ago, designer Mark Parsinen and architect Kyle Phillips took a St. Andrews backdrop and created the greatest new course in years, Kingsbarns.
A decade later, Parsinen and another American, Gil Hanse, have moved north and opened Castle Stuart, the emphatic winner as the best new course - anywhere - in 2009.
Genuine linksland and spectacular views of Moray Firth complement a remarkably varied set of holes. Says one panelist, "In 10 years, a round here will be as coveted as a round on the Old Course. This place is unbelievable."
One glimpse and you'll be hard-pressed to argue.
Brora Rangers Football Club Sponsorship August 2009
The Royal Marine Hotel, Restaurant & SPA is delighted to announce it's sponsorship of Brora Rangers FC for the next 2 seasons. This is a welcome partnership between two organisations that are committed to providing opportunities within the community and projecting Brora to a wider audience across the country.
AA Four Star Grading Awarded July 2009
The Royal Marine Hotel, Restaurant and Spa are delighted to announce that they have been awarded a four start grading from the AA. This is a wonderful achievement for the hotel and merits the continual hard work from all the team to keep standards high.
Bedroom Refurbishment January 2009
The hotel completed their bedroom refurbishment programme in December 2008. The bedrooms had a full make over to offer rich colours and textures which hark back to the original period but including all the modern necessities too.
Further to this bedroom refurbishment the Leisure Club refurbishment should take place in 2010 with full plans not yet confirmed.
Development Fund - North Highland Tour Operator Group
Supporting the Local Community
We are fortunate to live and work in a wonderful part of Scotland which we are delighted to share with all our visitors, but like many rural communities our economy is fragile. To help support the local economy, from January 2009 we will donate £1.00 of your daily accommodation rate to an independently managed fund for the development of sustainable tourism in the North Highlands.
Please have a look at www.northhighlandsscotland.com and also feel free to have a look the other hotels in the area that are working with us on this valuable project;
www.dornochcastlehotel.com
www.royalmarinebrora.com
www.mackayshotel.co.uk
Employer of the Year May 2008
In May 2008, General Manager Joan Duncan received on belahf of the company the prestigious Springboard Scotland ‘Employer of the Year’. The Highlands and Island Tourist Industry annually open the competition to all employees to nominate their employer / manager for the award and is based on job satisfaction, training and feeling valued.
