Scotland's five-star Gleneagles hotel is launching into the timeshare market this summer in a scheme it has dubbed "seasonal ownership".
The first eight of a planned 50 luxury timeshare holiday lodges are about to open on the £16m Glenmore development, sited on moorland north of the hotel on the 850-acre estate in Auchterarder, Perthshire.
The remaining homes will be phased in over the next three to five years.
Gleneagles managing director Peter Lederer conceded that "timeshare" was still a dirty word to some people. But he added that its image was changing dramatically, now that quality operators such as Gleneagles, Four Seasons and Hyatt were moving into the market.
"We have been looking for seven to eight years at this type of development but have always said 'no' in the past," Lederer said.
He predicted that more top-end players would come on board. "There will be increasing demand for this sort of development as people change the way they use their leisure time," he forecast. "Rather than buy one or two holiday homes, people will have different real estate products in different locations."
Glenmore will be managed by Gleneagles and will, Lederer said, offer added benefits to the experience of staying at the hotel, as the homes are larger and self-contained. All come with a modern kitchen and are supplied with two bicycles. Guests will have full access to the resort's golf, sports, leisure and restaurant facilities.
Prices range from £9,900 for a two-bedroom house to £44,700 for four bedrooms over a chosen seven nights each year, for the 55 years up to 2058. Annual maintenance costs will add between £850 and £1,050.
The concept has been embraced by the hotel's guests, who have already snapped up 250 tenures worth more than £5.5m and with an average price of £21,000. The most heavily booked periods include Christmas, New Year and September, when golf's Ryder Cup will be hosted at Gleneagles in 2014.
Gleneagles is also a joint partner with Ochil Developments in a second, £300m, 10-year development called Gleneagles West, proposed for a 550-acre area adjacent to the existing Gleneagles estate.
If planners give the go-ahead, the new resort will include a 180-bedroom hotel, golf and leisure facilities, and 250 residential, holiday and timeshare homes. Gleneagles would manage both the hotel and the timeshare homes.
By Louise Bozec
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 17 - 23 July 2003