Leading Scottish 4-star hotel group, Morton Hotels Ltd, will this month unveil its £2.5m investment in the highly acclaimed Westerwood in Cumbernauld. The launch, which symbolises a major boost to the leisure, golf and conferencing market in the central belt of Scotland, celebrates a significant restoration of the existing golfing facilities and the opening of 51 rooms in a new wing of the hotel.
The 18-hole, par 72 championship golf course, originally designed by Seve Ballesteros and Dave Thomas, will benefit from the expertise of The Scottish National Golf Centre (SNGC), based at the golf practice and training facility at Drumoig near St Andrews. The course will continue to benefit from an on-going investment plan.
Grant Sword, managing director of Morton Hotels Ltd explains: “Our partnership with the SNGC is proving extremely successful. The team, led by golf operations manager and head professional, Alan Tait, has been able to provide the insight and expertise needed to put Westerwood back on the map alongside other top Scottish golfing challenges. Combined with our additional accommodation offering, we will now be able to cater for a dramatic increase in corporate and leisure users alike.”
Set at the foot of the Campsie Hills only twelve miles north of Glasgow city centre and within a short driving distance from Edinburgh and Stirling, the hotel offers an ideal venue for either corporate events or leisure short-breaks. The SNGC co-ordinates tailor-made corporate and leisure golf days by creating golfing packages which offer either individual or group coaching, golfing clinics and the use of video camera teaching facilities.
Morton Hotels Ltd has the greatest golf presence of any other hotel group in Scotland. Their portfolio of 4-star properties includes The Golf View Hotel & Leisure Club and The Newton Hotel & Highland Conference Centre, both at Nairn, and The Royal Golf Hotel in Dornoch.
The Company acquired Westerwood in March 2000 when the hotel and golf course fell into receivership and thus offered the company an opportunity to extend its portfolio from the highlands of Scotland to the central belt.
Westerwood Hotel www.morton-hotels.com