Teeing up for an American experience in Fife

Julie Bain, Scotland on Sunday, 24 Decenber 2000

American leisure entrepreneurs Don and Nancy Panoz, developers of the £50m St Andrews Bay resort, are recruiting some of the top players in the European hotel industry as they move to bring an American style of service to their Fife resort.

Stephen Carter, a veteran of over 25 years in the industry, has been brought in to head up the 520-acre complex’s management team and he is already in the throes of recruiting some of the 275 staff who will work at the resort when it opens in June.

Carter, a former manager of Edinburgh’s Caledonian Hotel and more recently operations director and general manager at the exclusive Cliveden House and Club in Berkshire, is overseeing all aspects of work at the resort.

In an effort to instil employees with US standards of customer service, a number of staff recruited locally were sent on year-long internships to one of the Panozs’ top US resorts operating under the Chateau Elan brand.

The emphasis at the exclusive St Andrews Bay resort, which will incorporate a conference centre, will be on the business market where golf and conferencing are often twin and complementary passions.

"St Andrews Bay is the first venture of its kind outside the US and the biggest hotel project in Scotland right now," said Carter. "It was the challenge of establishing such a big development with two championship golf courses that attracted me."