Activities

Gleneagles is an AA top 20 hotel and spa with five red stars, a two Michelin-star restaurant, and championship golf courses designed by golfers James Braid and Jack Niklaus. The hotel, built in the style of a French chateau, is located on an 850-acre estate in Auchterarder, Perthshire, with gardens designed by Capability Brown.

The Scottish hotel has an international reputation for its high standards and extensive sporting, leisure and conference facilities. It belongs to the Leading Hotels of the World and the Great Golf Resorts of the World consortia and is a founding member of Connoisseur Scotland

The historic property has recently moved into the seasonal ownership market and is in the midst of constructing 50 luxury timeshare cottages on its estate. It is also planning a mixed estate of hotel, golf and leisure facilities and holiday and timeshare homes on adjacent land in partnership with Ochil Development.

Timeline

• June 1924: The Caledonian Railway Company opens Gleneagles in Auchterarder. Appropriately, it comes complete with its own railway station.
• 1981: Hotelier Peter Tyrie buys three British Rail hotels - Gleneagles, the Caledonian and North British (now the Balmoral) hotels in Edinburgh and London’s Piccadilly hotel – and develops them to five-star standards. He invests £5m in Gleneagles and extends the opening season from seven to 12 months.
• 1984: Tyrie reluctantly sells Gleneagles after Bell’s Whisky boosts its stake in the company to 51%. Bells is swallowed up in 1986 by Guinness, which merges with Grand Metropolitan in 1997 to create the hotel’s current owner, drinks giant and one-time Burger King parent Diageo. 
• January 2001: Andrew Fairlie, executive chef of Edinburgh’s Michelin-star One Devonshire Gardens, agrees to open a standalone restaurant at Gleneagles on a leasehold basis. It wins a Michelin star eight months after opening (in May 2001) and a second in January 2006 and also becomes Scotland’s first restaurant to hold four AA rosettes.
• 2002: The hotel opens Braid House, a new wing that adds 59 bedrooms to the estate. The £10m development began in September 2001.
• July 2003: The hotel announces plans for a £16m development on the estate called Glenmore that will comprise 50 luxury timeshare cottages. It also intends to seek planning permission for a £300m development on 550 acres of adjacent land, called Gleneagles West, which will house a 180-bedroom hotel, a golf and leisure complex and 250 holiday and timeshare homes. The 10-year project will be a joint venture with Ochil Development.
  

Operating data

Number of bedrooms: 270 (including 16 suites) 

Number of employees: 500-600

Key directors

Managing director: Peter Lederer
Operations director: Patrick Elsmie
Finance director: David Kemp
Development director: George Graham
Human resources director: Janette Scott

Contact

The Gleneagles Hotel
Auchterarder
Perthshire
Scotland PH3 1NF

Tel: 01764 662231
Fax: 01764 662134

E-mail:
Website: http://www.gleneagles.com

Commentary

When Tyrie bought Gleneagles, it was a tired and uneconomic golf-focused hotel open for just seven months a year that was seen to be just for the very rich.

Tyrie and his then general manager Peter Lederer transformed the property into a thriving, year-round resort that has won more than 40 major awards since and has held its five AA red stars since 1986.

As well as expanding the offer for the hotel’s golfing aficionados the team also widened its customer base by adding alternative attractions. They include an equestrian centre, a shopping arcade, fashion shows and a diverse range of activities from falconry and fishing to shooting and off-loading.
 
The hotel has benefited from £58m-worth of investment since 1982 and has continued to adapt to changing times.

It coped with the downturn following the 11 September terror attacks in 2001 by developing domestic family, leisure and short-term breaks and wooing wealthy Russians to fill the gap left by travel-shy Americans.

The bad image that hung over the timeshare sector delayed Gleneagles’ desired move into the market for eight years, but it finally took the plunge in 2003 and, by December 2004, had 26 timeshare cottages completed or under construction on its Glenmore plot.