Hotelier who led transformation of Turnberry Hotel

Born: August 20, 1941;

Died: March 3, 2018

CHRIS Rouse, who has died aged 76, was a popular and influential hotelier who, as director and general manager of Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire for many years, helped transformed the property into a leading hotel, spa and conference centre with championship golf courses. He also held senior positions in many of the organisations promoting British and Scottish tourism.

Mr Rouse started his career at the hotel and catering college at Fylde near Blackpool and entered the industry in the 1960s as a trainee manager for British Transport Hotels. He worked with BTH in Paris, Wiesbaden and Madrid before returning to the UK as assistant and house manager at Gleneagles in Perthshire, taking over as deputy general manager in 1969.

It was at Gleneagles that he studied and worked very closely with the manager Dennis Aldridge who had an uncompromising eye for detail and perfection - a trait that was to become a Rouse hallmark. He dutifully followed his boss every working day around the hotel to ensure it was kept in perfect order and that the staff were doing the work to his satisfaction.

On leaving Gleneagles, Mr Rouse undertook a number of management roles at the Old Course Hotel, St Andrews and the Welcome Hotel at Stratford-upon-Avon before moving to Turnberry and signalling the start of the 25-year Rouse revolution. This was in 1977 when Turnberry was owned by the Orient Express Hotel Group. However, they were not to stay long and Mr Rouse oversaw the transfer from them to a Japanese hospitality family Nitto Koyko. He immediately set about persuading the independently owned group to invest £20million.

Central to Mr Rouse's style was his focus on customer satisfaction. He was quoted as saying at one point "We have to put ourselves in our customers' shoes and anticipate their needs." Every guest was greeted at the front door by Mr Rouse or one of his deputies.

Mr Rouse told a trade magazine in 1996: "It's easy to be defensive when a problem arises ... but the client is not interested in our problems. If we get it wrong, we do so with a smile and put it right as quickly as we can." When a hotel printer asked him to sign off the afternoon tea menu, he replied "You will get it when I have sampled the consistency of all the sandwiches that come out of the kitchen and only then will I give you the go-ahead. Many of our gentleman customers wear silk ties and the cost of replacing them far outweighs the price of the tea. A costly replacement if we make a mistake."

Mr Rouse was always aware of the demands he made on his staff but he continually rewarded their efforts with surprise away-day treats, one of which was taking nearly all of them to the opening of a refurbished cinema in Newton Stewart with popcorn and soft drinks thrown in. There were days and nights away to sample other hotels and "boat away days" on the Clyde.

For Mr Rouse there were frequent (first class) flights to Tokyo to get his new plans signed off by the owners and indeed the Nitto family were so proud of their manager that they made him a director of the parent company.

One of the highlights of the Turnberry year was the Hogmanay celebrations which the owners attended. The New Year’s Day brunch was also spectacular and a first for a Scottish hotel. The main dining room and corridor were transformed to a shopping arcade complete with a butcher, baker, fishmonger, dairy, chocolatier and a beverage counter.

A huge supporter of British and Scottish tourism, Mr Rouse was a member of the Scottish Committee of the British Hospitality Association, the Scottish Committee of the Institute of Directors, founder member of Connoisseurs of Scotland and the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and Master Innholder. He was named hotelier of the year in 1996.

When Mr Rouse left Turnberry after 25 years, 20 of his long-standing friends got together to present him with a silver salver personally inscribed by all those who attended and it included a sketch of the famous Ailsa Course and scorecard. It was a very emotional afternoon for a great leader and manager and inspiration to so many.

When the Japanese economy faltered and the Nitto family were forced to part with Turnberry, Mr Rouse declined the opportunity to continue with the new owners Leisure Corps of Dubai and moved south working for some time with the Leading Hotels of the World group.

Mr Rouse died in a Bristol nursing home, where he had welcomed visitors in the lobby as though they were hotel guests until six months ago. He is survived by his two sisters. He was suffering from dementia.

IAIN BROWN