If tourism, one of Scottish Enterprise's priority sectors for the economy, is to keep pace with a changing world, hoteliers such as Ann Murray Smith will be critical to that success.
Taking over an ordinary two-star hotel in St Andrews from her parents 31 years ago, Murray Smith has turned Rufflets Country House Hotel into a five-star flagship, named one of the AA's top 10 hotels in Scotland every year since 2003, now embarking on a £1.3m expansion.
She is a key player in the St Andrews World Class initiative, which has so far raised £120m of private and public cash to drive the historic golfing resort's reinvention.
Murray Smith drove her business forward in the 1990s to win national large hotel awards for both customer care and company training, while joining the board of Scottish Enterprise Fife and the kingdom's tourist board, and chairing the British Hospitality Association in Scotland.
When in 2001 she was elected by her peers to the hotelier elite of Master Innholders, and that summer brought sons Mark and Christopher into the business as partners, the hotelier appeared to have achieved all her aspirations.
"After reaching the peak in 2000, we sat back and thought we had done quite well, " Murray Smith recalls. "I thought everything was in place, we were successful, we had a good team, and I began to sit back, I was slightly complacent - and you get your comeuppance."
The world changed on September 11, 2001, and Scotland's golf-related tourism was caught up in the aftermath.
"St Andrews did depend on the American market… partially it was our own fault, we had too many eggs in one basket - 48 per cent of our guests were from the US and mainly over the summer months."
When 9/11 prompted wholesale cancellations at the 24-bedroom hotel, Murray Smith was glad of the solid business experience (including internet marketing in the US) of her partner sons.
"We have changed our marketing focus towards the UK and short breaks. The good thing about that is you can make (cancellation) changes immediately - you are not going to get an American to come next week, but you will get somebody from England or Scotland."
The US now accounts for just 18 per cent of guests, and the repackaging of St Andrews for UK escapees wanting themed breaks and activity holidays has seen the hotel back on a growth path after what she admits were "two extremely bad years".
Murray Smith grew up at Rufflets, which her parents bought as a private house in 1952, a time when country house hotels had yet to be thought of and ration books were still in use.
"It was seven guineas a week full board - breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner - and in those days everyone went for a week.
"My holidays were spent working - baking scones, making beds. I learned the trade from my parents, but I didn't want to do it."
However, in 1976, Murray Smith relented and went into partnership with her father, later taking a business management degree at what is now Abertay, and becoming sole proprietor in 1986.
"At that time I felt suddenly the great weight of responsibility, for the staff we had, and the direction of the business. Things had to change, we had to get better staff, pay more for staff, and invest in people, technology and facilities. We wanted our hotel to be among the best in Scotland."
