Venue review
“The Democratic
Republic of Gleneagles”
V I TA LI V I TA LI E V VISITS AN OLD
SCOTTISH TREASURE AND FINDS IT
DEMOCRATICALLY HOSPITABLE
f asked to name the most
striking feature of
Gleneagles Hotel, I would
say ‘democracy’.
How come, I hear you ask, for this historic
five-star establishment is surely pricey?
Indeed, but democracy cannot be
expressed solely in monetary terms.
Gleneagles’ unique democratic modus
operandi allows each guest to remain in his
or her own comfort zone: those who come
for a meeting or a conference can focus
entirely on the business agenda, unless
they wish to succumb to hedonistic
relaxation – in the spa, in one of the bars
or restaurants, or outside – on over 800
acres with three championship golf
courses, cycle paths and shooting ranges.
Gleneagles adjusts to you by being an
atmospheric mixture of a US-style
convention centre and a quiet British
country inn, where guests are addressed
by their first names and hot water bottles
are left in the rooms of an evening
whether they’re asked for or not.
A discerning guest is likely to
experience a gamut of mutually
contradictory emotions: from complete
isolation - as if caught inside a bubble of an
alternative mini-universe, to direct
Gleneagles
adjusts to you,
by being an
atmospheric
mixture of
a US-style
convention
centre and a
quiet British
country inn.
Above:
There is an eight-
course dinner
tasting menu
including Orkney
scallops
involvement, i.e. feeling inseparable from
the hotel’s magnificently modernised
Adam-style interiors and its
old-railway-station ambience (it is, after
all, one of Britain’s great railway hotels), to
the point when you feel teleported 95
years back in time. Time, in fact, does not
exist in Gleneagles, particularly in winter
when a spark of greyish daylight outside its
bay windows is brief like the final flash of a
dying light-bulb. It can be midday or
midnight – who knows, and who cares?
The only measurable parameters of time
can then be observed in the Strathearn
restaurant, with its décor of the golden-age
-of-railway waiting room: if it’s morning,
they unveil a Lucullan breakfast buffet,
with five types of smoked salmon. If it’s
evening, there is an eight-course tasting
menu, including Orkney scallops and
Scottish halibut.
In Gleneagles, you also become part of
history. It all started in 1910 when Donald
Matheson, the newly appointed GM of the
Caledonian Railway Company, decided to
build a luxury hotel in the Strathearn
Region. His plans were delayed by WWI,
but Gleneagles finally opened in June 1924
(a bespoke railway branch, leading to it,
opened a year earlier) with the ceremony
transmitted live in what became Scotland’s
ever first outside radio broadcast. The hotel
was termed ‘The Highland Palace’ and
even ‘The Switzerland of Scotland’.
The hotel has since changed a number
of owners and tenants, including a short
period after WWII when it functioned as
a rehabilitation centre for miners. For over
30 years, Gleneagles had been owned by
Diageo, and in 2015 it was sold to private
investment company Ennismore, which
has recently completed a multi-million-
pound refurbishment, with an emphasis
on events and meetings spaces (see box).
The result is astounding and the pride
of the 1,100-strong (at peak times) staff is
highly contagious for the guests, each of
whom is likely to leave as a true patriot of
Gleneagles (or, to use my own euphemism,
of ‘the Democratic Republic of
Gleneagles’), with a firm intention to
come back. I certainly will.
ISSUE 104
There are three newly refurbished
Gleneagles meeting spaces:
• The Ballroom
Decorated in Edwardian style
(opulent, with chandeliers and
facing mirrors creating the illusion
of infinity), ideal for gatherings of
up to 250 people.
• The Billiard Room
This can accommodate 80
delegates, theatre-style
• The Parlour
A country house dining room
seating 30 people for dinner or 70
for cocktails.
Other event spaces include The
Barony, able to host 80 people for
meetings; The Terrace, a room with
a country house feel - ideal for
intimate gatherings of up to 30
people, and The Shooting Lodge,
located in the midst of the resort’s
‘Glorious Playground’ nature trail,
is a large log cabin able to host 30
people for a meeting or 100 for an
outside function (weather
permitting). Ochil House’s 380sqm
of event space encompasses six
rooms, each with its own distinctive
flair blending the relaxed
country-house tradition with
contemporary touches.
All events are arranged on a
bespoke basis, but the general
starting rate for an overnight stay
in Gleneagles is £390 per night
based on two people sharing on a
b/b basis. More details:
www.gleneagles.co.uk
/
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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