Turnberry sees turnaround in bookings

Published on Sunday 5 February 2012 00:00

LUXURY Ayrshire resort Turnberry has seen a resurgence in bookings, which new general manager Jordi Tarrida hopes will push operations back towards profitability after four years of disruption and difficult trading.

A stalwart of Starwood Hotels & Resorts – which runs Turnberry on behalf of its owners at sovereign wealth fund Dubai World – Tarrida, joined Turnberry last June amid the UK hotel sector’s continuing struggle against the economic downturn.

With slashed corporate budgets pressuring its traditional markets in business and golf-related entertainment, new strategies were developed to fill the gap.

Those plans now appear to be producing results, though Tarrida, below, is not yet prepared to call an end to the corporate malaise.

“What we have booked for 2012 is significantly up, and when I say significantly, I mean by 100 per cent,” says Tarrida from his seat in Turnberry’s Ailsa Bar, named after the island in the Firth of Clyde.

“Obviously, that includes some things that we did not have last year, such as the Senior Open later this summer, but I would say that more than half of that increase is coming from elsewhere.”

Though Turnberry has not yet filed its accounts for 2011, Tarrida says they will be much in line with the previous year’s figures, when losses were slashed to £8.5 million from nearly £47m.

The hotel was closed for much of 2008 and 2009 for refurbishment and re-opened in time to host the 138th Open Championship in 2009. However, just two months after the dramatic final-day battle between Stewart Cink and Tom Watson, the resort was forced to cut some staff amid the plunge in corporate business.

Tarrida now hopes to reach, or breach, break-even this year, but baulks at giving any firm commitment.

“It is definitely more difficult to answer that one,” Tarrida says in the German-tinged accent of his birth land. “My expectation is that we will definitely improve in comparison with the last few years.”

He speaks often of being “realistic”, a phrase that tends to come up when the conversation turns to guest numbers and financial figures.

Tonight, about 30 of the five-star hotel’s 150 rooms are occupied, but this is regarded as a sound result for a week night in early February.

Tarrida’s challenge is to boost those figures outwith Turnberry’s traditional high season from May to September, when the lure of the resort’s Championship Ailsa course pulls in throngs of visitors.

One way the hotel is tackling this is through its push to become a more family friendly destination, with activities and accommodation more suitable for children.

Staff at Turnberry have also been targeting the wedding market following the opening of a suite specifically for this purpose in 2010.

Somewhat surprisingly, the resort has also noted an increase in corporate activity, albeit from the low baseline.

“At the moment we have a clear increase over past years,” Tarrida says.

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