Dunston Hall, in Norwich, is reaping the rewards of a seven-figure investment with an upsurge in business across all sectors at the venue.
QHotels, which owns Dunston Hall, invested more than £2m in the property in 2016 and is seeing an immediate return with increased hotel and corporate bookings, and a sharp rise in the number of wedding and membership enquiries.
The largest tranche of money – more than £1m – went on upgrading the hotel rooms, while in excess of £500,000 was spent on the resort’s leisure club. The remainder of the investment went on smaller projects, but included a six-figure sum to improve the drainage on the golf course and a not dissimilar figure to upgrade the car park.
General manager Calum Colquhoun explained: “Since the new bedrooms were finished, we have been delighted with the upsurge in both corporate and leisure guests, who have noticed and commented on the upgrades across the resort. Our director of sales says she’s never shown so many people around in all her time here.
“Corporate room nights are increasing month on month and 2016 was the highest number of conference bedrooms that the hotel has ever sold.
“And, at our recent wedding fayre, we received 47 new enquiries to book for 2018 with two more wedding fayres to come this year. That will, hopefully, give us a record year for weddings in 2018. All in all, the investment appears to be reaping its rewards both in the short and medium-to-long term.”
Part of the multi-award-winning QHotels group, Dunston Hall’s Elizabethan-style mansion, dating from 1859, has been lovingly restored to all its former glory as a four-star hotel. Built against 150 acres of stunning wooded Norfolk parkland, the setting is just as unique as its history.
The golf course is a 6,275-yard, par-71, USGA-rated layout which contours around the estate, with magnificent parkland fairways dotted with trees and strategically placed bunkers. And, in 2016, Dunston Hall completed a £500,000 expansion of its health club facilities.
Dunston Hall also features a QGolf Academy – available at seven QHotel golf resorts – which offers a range of packages designed to suit all abilities and budgets, with the latest state-of-the-art technology providing instant swing analysis and all individual lessons receiving online feedback and a development plan.
The academy at Dunston Hall made headlines recently when it was featured on both BBC and ITV after 90-year-old Brenda Chapman added a further 15 yards to her driving distance while working with coach Caroline Grady.
Dunston Hall also offers the points-based QFairway, said to be ‘the country’s most flexible golf membership’ – the latest element of which offers a five-day membership from just £295. It comes with 100 points which may be exchanged for golf, buggy hire, driving range tokens and spa treatments. And, among the scheme’s many benefits, players can hold a handicap and playing rights for club competitions, enjoy discounts on food and drink, shop purchases, tuition and hotel bed-and-breakfast rates.
The multi-award-winning, four-star QHotels group offers championship-standard courses in unique resort locations including Slaley Hall – voted ‘Best Golf Hotel/Resort in the North of England’ for the third successive year in the 2017 Today’s Golfer Travel Awards and host of 18 European Tour and European Seniors Tour events – Belton Woods, Oulton Hall, Mottram Hall, and Forest Pines Hotel and Golf Resort.
QHotels www.qhotels.co.uk
Dunston Hall www.qhotels.co.uk/our-locations/dunston-hall