"It was to be an hotel to end all hotels", wrote Nina Nelson "... With plenty of money at their disposal, it was enlarged yet again and the Locke Kings set about turning it into the quintessence of comfort [including fire-places to warm up the cold winter nights], but with fittings, architecture and decoration remaining oriental in design".A friend of the Locke Kings, Alice Gress, visited the hotel shortly after its opening; Alice thought the area to the south would be wonderful addition to the grounds as a golf course and sketched a rough course plan on a napkin.