PS - if you are in to golf (?!), you could stay for a bit at Turnberry, owned by the world's greatest living Scotsman.
Review from
The Daily Telegraph:
‘Maga hats fly off the shelf’: What it’s really like to stay at Trump Turnberry
As Scotland’s first golf resort celebrates its 120th birthday, our writer checked in to assess the impact of its controversial owner
President Trump is rumoured to have invested over £200m in Turnberry
At Trump Turnberry, this second term feels palpably different. Renewed presidential confidence surges through the grand statement ballroom and Maga caps are flying out the new Trump store. Whether you’re a Trump fan or not, his stamp is irrepressible at a resort that for over a century has shone as one of Scotland’s finest.
I’ve been writing about Scottish hotels for over three decades and although other foreign billionaires own hotels here (including Scotland’s richest man, Dane
Anders Holch Povlsen), I cannot remember as much furore, as many tales as tall as the distant hulk of
Ailsa Craig across the water. But what is staying at the country’s most controversial hotel actually like?
Gold taps and the ‘Hall of Fame’
Turnberry opened as Scotland’s first dedicated
golf resort in 1906. This is my fifth visit, and I’ve seen owners and half-hearted refurbishments come and go. So has the resort’s director of golf, Ricky Hall: “When Trump took over in 2014, he listened to what was needed and made things happen on a scale I’ve never seen in my 26 years. He really went for it and his family has carried that on, with son
Eric very hands-on.”
The grand interior of the clubhouse at Turnberry is typically maximalist in style
Pulling up to reception, a hulking, Trump-planted baroque fountain rears up, a clue to the opulence beyond. Think marble. Think gargantuan chandeliers. Think gold taps in the bathrooms. Then there’s the Donald J. Trump Ballroom, a cavernous space that comfortably seats 500, with views out across the Firth of Clyde. It’s rumoured that the new ballroom emerging at the White House was inspired by its grand design.
It’s not just the sheer investment – rumoured to be upwards of £200m – that the Trump Organisation has lavished on Turnberry, but the memorabilia. Last year, a dedicated Trump store joined one of Europe’s largest golf shops, focusing on Trump-themed memorabilia: golf shirts, books and, of course, those Maga caps.
Hall notes: “We saw much more appetite for Trump products in 2025 than during the first term.” And down at the Golf Academy a member of staff tells me: “We only started selling the caps last year, but they flew off the shelves, with over 50 sold in the first week”.
In the main hotel, cabinets display Trump books and I wander the “Hall of Fame”, a corridor to the spa extension filled with photos of dignitaries – both golfing and otherwise. Even in my bedroom Donald is there: my slippers (on sale in the shop, of course) have “TRUMP” emblazoned on them. Mr Trump, naturally, usually takes one of the suites, but my standard double is still very comfortable.
A love affair with Scotland
Any lazy temptation to think of this as a Trump
Americana takeover, though, misses the spirit of a hotel and nation that has always resisted takeover, the Romans building two walls to keep us Scots out. Perhaps it’s no surprise given Trump’s heritage (
his mum Mary hailed from Lewis) that he has let Scottishness flourish – as dramatically attested to by the biggest Saltire I’ve ever seen fluttering outside.
“Trump really embraced Scotland,” explains Hall. “He was astounded we didn’t tell the tale of the ruins of Robert the Bruce’s ancestral castle lying by the iconic Stevenson lighthouse. We now have the King Robert the Bruce Course. He understands the importance of heritage and tradition.”
Trump also demonstrably gets golf. “In 2014 the first thing he did was replace the machinery in the maintenance shed,” says Hall. “He brought the Ailsa, one of the world’s best golf courses, back to its best. He constantly asks how we can make things better. He spent a lot of time here before his first presidency in 2017. I’ve had the privilege of playing with him, and his passion for golf and Turnberry is clear.”
Ailsa Craig provides a spectacular backdrop to the ninth hole at Turnberry
Over my weekend it’s clear how much effort goes into catering for non-golfers too. One minute I’m shooting arrows at the activity centre (Donald Trump Jr’s family are said to be fans of the activities), the next enjoying a tutored whisky tasting. I could ride a horse, bash in a boat out to Ailsa Craig or catch a film. The spa – as Turnberry sensibly has always done – makes the most of the location, and I can see Ireland from the infinity pool. Judged purely as a hotel, Trump Turnberry is a winner.
‘We’re here for the hotel, not the president’
So who actually stays here? The neighbour who warned me I’d only find “hardline Republicans” will be disappointed. In the clubhouse, tucking in to the fish and chips said to be a favourite of Trump’s, there are golfers, of course, but also local families, and couples cosied up for weekends. The majority of guests are Britons, and the ones I talk to tell me unanimously that they dissociate politics from a resort they clearly adore.
In the stately 1906 Restaurant, over another of Trump’s rumoured favourites (Dover sole), I meet a couple from Manchester who are “here for the hotel, not the president”. In summer, Turnberry is indeed invaded by North Americans, but they are more lovers of the game Scotland invented than Trump fans.
Those local families don’t just dine at Trump Turnberry. The resort employs up to 400 people in summer, not to mention the taxi drivers, and the Ayrshire farms and fisherman who supply Turnberry’s bountiful fresh produce. My taxi driver tells me: “The Turnberry jobs are so welcome, this is a part of Scotland that has sometimes struggled”.
There may be plenty of speculation on Trump’s presidential future, but what is certain is the family’s devotion to Turnberry, a resort he apparently coveted for years before finally securing. I leave one of the most spectacular stretches of Scotland’s coast hearing talk of revamped spas, enhanced restaurants and the new “Trump’s 12” course opening this summer. Whatever you make of the man, this spectacular resort remains hard to ignore and strikingly unique as it celebrates its 120th birthday.
