Carter's on course
Hoteliers in Scotland are a close bunch. They go to dinner with each other, call each other for advice and share thoughts on trading. It's easy at times to forget that they are competitors, as they appear to be like members of the same club rather than rivals. And if there were to be a chairman of that club, then Stephen Carter, who returned to Scotland from the Home Counties just over two years ago to be general manager of the 209-bedroom new St Andrews Bay Golf Resort & Spa in St Andrews, Fife, must surely be a contender.
Carter is a man known to many, and during his career, which includes the renowned Cliveden, the Caledonian (affectionately known as the Cale) in Edinburgh and the Moat House International in Glasgow, he has made plenty of friends. Mention that you're going to see Carter and everyone has a message for him. Andrew Stembridge, general manager at the Scotsman in Edinburgh, sends his regards - he bumped into Carter getting fish and chips after the rugby recently. Dagmar Mühle, general manager at the Cale, also wishes to say hello - she is going for dinner at St Andrews Bay in a couple of weeks' time. And one of the first calls on Carter's phone as we sit down to talk is from Stephen Leckie, managing director of Crieff Hydro Leisure hotel in Crieff, Perthshire, who's rung to catch up on a few things.
Carter, who says he never wanted to go into any career other than hospitality, clearly thrives on such contact. "There's a real sense of community in Scotland. People get to know you more and it's a good environment in which to work," confirms the Yorkshireman, who is married to a Scot and whose accent is now more Scottish than Yorkshire.
It comes as a surprise with a CV like Carter's to learn that the £58m newly built St Andrews Bay was his first hotel opening - he was 52 when he returned to Scotland to do the job. It was also a job for which Carter made a decision that he wanted to be at the coalface, meeting guests rather than pursuing a more remote role that would involve him sitting behind a desk dreaming up strategy. Before St Andrews Bay Carter worked for country house hotel Cliveden as operations director and general manager of Cliveden House and Club when it was owned by American company Destination Hotels and Resorts.
Key destinations The original intention when Carter took that job had been to expand the Cliveden brand and group into key destinations in Europe. But when, as a result of the economic climate in the USA, this did not materialise, Carter decided to look elsewhere.
"It was very disappointing as I couldn't do what I had been taken on to do," he recalls. "But even while I was in London I had kept a house in Scotland and so when the job in St Andrews came up it was just natural for me to gravitate towards it."
It also seems natural for Carter to be back at the helm, out front with the guests where he is clearly happiest, or maybe even occasionally on one of the hotel's two link golf courses. He is a natural, genial host, warm and full of enthusiasm for what he is doing whenever you meet him. It's an enthusiasm that's needed, as St Andrews Bay has provided Carter with its fair share of challenges.
For a start, competition in the area is stiff - the famed Old Course hotel is a couple of miles away, and within the golf circuit in Scotland there are also Turnberry and Glen-eagles to contend with. "It wasn't easy being the new kid on the block, but fortunately we had the advantage of having the St Andrews golf heritage behind us and being brand new we could also build up our conference business," Carter says.
Then there were the locals who made it clear from the start that they didn't want the likes of St Andrews Bay creating a blot on the landscape and leading to increased traffic through the town.
Has that opposition now been appeased? Carter thinks so, and believes the hotel is now accepted, largely as a result of employing and thus involving local people who constitute 80% of the 200 staff. Staff were hired for their attitude and not for previous experience in the hospitality industry, and have consequently come from all walks of life, including the fishing industry, agriculture and even a fish and chip shop. The hotel also involves itself as much as possible in the community, sponsoring events such as fireworks and a poetry festival. "I have always tried to get involved in the local community wherever I have worked, as any hotel is only as successful as the local community will allow it to be," says Carter.
There were also construction problems. The designers did not get the scale of the open areas right, and so after opening, a further £500,000 was spent redesigning the bar area, the entrance lobby and parts of the atrium around which the hotel is built.
But these niggles have now been sorted out, and nearly two years after the opening Carter is full of plans for the next phase of the hotel's development. St Andrews Bay is owned by US-based Château and Elan Hotels and Resorts, of which there are currently two other properties in the USA, with a fourth about to be built. The man behind the company is Donald Panoz, an entrepreneur who made his money in pharmaceuticals and owns more than 30 companies, including one that produces wine from his vineyard in Georgia.
Working for an American company brings both advantages and frustrations, Carter finds. "They are more sales-conscious than cost-conscious, and are very proactive in marketing and driving the business forward. The decision-making is fast, but things can take a long time to materialise." Even so and with fingers crossed, says Carter, on the drawing board for this year are an 80-seat fine-dining restaurant, self-catering stand-alone houses, a craft centre and maybe even a pub in the hotel's extensive grounds. A stand-alone spa is also planned - the hotel already has an integral spa with an outside membership of about 400. Total investment this year will be between £2m and £3m and more than £20m over the next few years.
Carter may be known to a lot of people in the hospitality industry but it's always gratifying when performance is officially acknowledged. That happened last year when Carter was presented with VisitScotland's Silver Thistle Award for outstanding contribution to the development of Scottish tourism. The award is made annually and is recognised as the highest accolade in Scottish tourism. Typically modest, Carter did not think that award was going to go his way.
"When Peter [Lederer, at Gleneagles] read out the citation I thought it was going to go to Michael Leonard, who has just retired after 26 years at Inverlochy Castle. I was really surprised when my name was read out. But I thought it was a lifetime achievement award, the kind of thing you get when you retire. I made sure I pointed out that I certainly wasn't finished yet."
Does Carter have any other ambitions? "I've got enough to keep me going here at the moment," he replies. "But I would like to get out and play golf a bit more often."
And if Carter has a handicap he's not letting on what it is - either in business or golf terms.
Curriculum vitae
Stephen Carter
2000-present: General manager St Andrews Golf Resort & Spa.
1998-2000: Operations director and general manager Cliveden House and Club, Taplow, Berkshire.
1990-98: Queen's Moat House Hotels, including general manager of the Caledonian hotel, Edinburgh, and general manager of the Moat House International, Glasgow.
1989-90: Area director, Stakis Hotels.
1977-89: Holiday Inns International, including general manager Holiday Inn Birmingham; general manager Holiday Inn Leicester, and general manager Holiday Inn Aberdeen.
1971-77: Thistle Hotels.
Professional qualifications Fellow of HCIMA.
Academic qualifications
Bachelor of Science degree with credit in hotel and catering administration at the University of Surrey.
Factfile
St Andrews Bay Golf Resort & Spa, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Investment: £58m
Rooms: 209
Projected occupancy 2003: 60%
Projected turnover 2003: £13m, £1.5m of which will come from golf and £6m from conferences
Average achieved room rate: £110; Carter would like to raise this to £130
Staff: 200
Stephen Carter - upfront and personal
What is your favourite restaurant? It was Vong in the Berkeley, London (since closed).
What is your favourite ingredient? Tarragon. It's a super herb with lots of flavour.
What would you have to eat at your last supper? Melon and Parma ham; a good piece of Scottish lamb with potatoes and mange-tout, and my wife Morny's bread and butter pudding.
Who would you share your last supper with? Meg Ryan.
Which hotel companies do you most admire? Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Jumeirah International.
What are your hobbies? Listening to classical music and walking on the east coast of Scotland.
St Andrews Bay golf and conferences
Golf and conferences are two key elements of the business mix at St Andrews Bay.
There are two championship golf courses, the Torrance and the Devlin. The Torrance, a 7,020-yard, par-72 course, was designed by the victorious 2002 European Ryder Cup team captain Sam Torrance, while the Devlin, a 7,330-yard, par-73 course, was created by Bruce Devlin, designer of more than 150 courses worldwide. The courses are open to non-residents, with prices starting from £45 a round. A new £2m clubhouse, including a pro shop with PGA training facilities, opened at the start of September last year.
The hotel has the largest conference facilities north of Glasgow and Edinburgh. They have their own entrance and reception area, a 106-seat theatre-styled auditorium with a back-projection digital screen as well as a soundproofed ballroom with staging seating up to 1,000.
Peter Lederer, managing director of Gleneagles, and chairman of VisitScotland, on Stephen Carter at last year's Thistle Awards:
"Stephen Carter is one of the most prominent and respected members of the hospitality trade in the UK. His involvement in many of Scotland's major hotels bears testament to the esteem in which he is held. Stephen was instrumental in launching the St Andrews Bay resort."
