They were built on the premise that the Trump name symbolises lavish hospitality, but are now trying to survive in an era in which it represents the opposite of hospitality to many in the United States and abroad.

Since Trump took office, his name has come down from Trump-branded hotels in New York, Panama and Toronto. (Trump’s other golf course in Scotland is near Aberdeen).

Trump has poured more than US$205 million in cash into Turnberry since 2014. But the richly appointed resort had lost millions of dollars as of 2016, according to public records, and it now appears weighed down by its connection to the US president, who is deeply unpopular in Scotland and Great Britain at large, polls show.

The club has so far failed to attract a prize that Trump covets: the British Open, a landmark tournament awarded by the tweedy, risk-averse inner circle of British golf.

During one recent visit at the height of the tourist season, the club’s restaurants were one-third full and prime rooms were still available with short notice.

Trump’s foreign policy stances – including his support of the “Brexit” vote to split Britain from the European Union, which was broadly opposed by Scots – has contributed to his unpopularity, according to residents.

“The majority of people here don’t like the man. Especially the women. They were appalled about him taking the Mexican children away from their parents at the border,” said Gary Fanning, editor of the Ayrshire Post, the local weekly newspaper in the Turnberry area.

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Fanning said he expected protests when Trump visits this weekend. A report in The Scotsman newspaper said they had already begun on Wednesday, with a small group holding a sign reading “Trump Not Welcome” outside the course.

“We’re not exactly rolling out the red carpet,” Fanning said.

“There’s no Trump mania.”

Trump is expected to arrive at Turnberry on Friday night after meetings with British government officials.

He leaves Sunday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit in Helsinki.

“Whether the president plays golf or not, I’m not sure,” said Robert “Woody” Johnson, the US ambassador to Britain, in a call with reporters.

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“He’s going to spend a lot of time preparing for Helsinki.”

The Trump Organisation did not respond to questions about the resort’s finances and whether it was making a profit, but extolled Turnberry in a brief statement.

“There is truly nothing like Trump Turnberry. It is exceptional in every way,” wrote Amanda Miller, a Trump Organisation spokeswoman.

“We are incredibly proud of its continued success.”

The Turnberry resort – which is open to both guests and members who can pay US$653 for access this summer – was originally built by the railways to lure city dwellers on the trains to Scotland’s Southwest coast, offering sweeping island views. It has a place in golf history, as the site of four British Opens.

It even has ruins: from the ninth hole, golfers can see the remains of a castle where Scottish King Robert the Bruce is believed to have been born in 1274.

“If you don’t focus on the man and the politics,” said John McDowall, a long-time caddie at Turnberry who stayed on to work after Trump took over, “you can’t say a bad word against the course.”

Trump bought the course for US$67 million in cash from Dubai-based Leisurecorp, which had lost money for at least four years, according to British government filings.

Trump then spent at least US$137 million more in cash to renovate and operate the place, according to the filings.

That makes Turnberry the most expensive example – by far – of Trump’s broader turn toward buying properties without taking mortgages during the nine years before he ran for president, defying both the practices of the real estate industry and his own history as self-proclaimed “The King of Debt”.

“Mr Trump took his wallet out,” said Alec Clark, a councillor on the South Ayrshire Council, a local government.

“He secured employment for a lot of people. The work is paying a lot of people’s mortgages.”

In 2016, Trump flew back for the club’s grand reopening.

“What we’ve done is what everybody’s wanted to do for many, many decades,” Trump told reporters, adding that he felt a kinship with Scotland because his mother was born there.

At times that day, Trump’s message seemed to be tailored to one narrow audience: the R & A, the governing body that decides where the British Open will be held. He mentioned the group or its top executive eight times.

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“We did what they wanted us to do,” Trump said of the group. He noted that miles of TV cables had been laid underground on the course, to prepare for a telecast: “It’s all ready to go from that standpoint.”

So far, the R & A has chosen venues for the British Open through 2021. Trump’s course has not been among them.

“It would be very complex having an Open at Turnberry at the moment,” R & A chief Martin Slumbers told reporters earlier this year. He said 2022 wasn’t looking good, either.

“You’ve got the ownership issue of the course and the staging there.”

The club has not yet reported making a profit, although Trump’s financial disclosures did offer some good news. Last year, after both of Turnberry’s major courses had reopened, revenue at the club nearly doubled, from US$11 million to US$20 million. The disclosures did not say if that was enough to make money.

Inside the clubhouse, a 2009 Time magazine cover that once hung in the bar, adorned with Trump’s face, disappeared last summer.

It was fake: Time magazine never put Trump’s face on its cover in 2009. But a bartender said that wasn’t why it came down.

Rather, she said then, the club was taking down Trump’s photos because American visitors reacted poorly to them.