Gleneagles wins top hotel awards

Feb 29 2008 Strathearn Herald

GLENEAGLES Hotel fought off stiff competition from hotels and hoteliers around Scotland to be awarded the International Hotel of the Year Award, as well as the 2008 Breakfast Award (Stathearn Restaurant) and a Gold Medal for Design - Spirit Suite at the 2008 Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards held at five star Prestonfield Hotel in Edinburgh earlier this week

The glittering awards ceremony was attended by over 500 representatives of the Scottish hotel industry.

Now in their fifth year, the Scottish Hotels of the Year awards is the largest event of the year and is now hailed as the ‘Oscars’ of the Scottish hotel industry.

The evening was hosted by BBC presenter Sally Magnuson and attended by guest of honour, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney, MSP.

The event included a surprise performance from Pop Idol star Michelle McManus.

Designed to encourage, recognise and reward excellence in hotels and staff throughout Scotland, the awards are administered by Scottish hotel review website, HotelReviewScotland.com (HRS).

Nominations are made by consumers, industry and HRS reviewers. Final award winners are selected by a proportional combination of online public votes, an awards panel made up of well-known industry experts and critics, and finally, a four-strong panel of award judges, including renowned food writer Wendy Barrie.

The 2008 awards attracted votes from over 20,000 people worldwide. 

Bernard Murphy, General Manager at The Gleneagles Hotel, said: “It continues to be an exciting time for Gleneagles. These awards are a strong endorsement for the £18million investment programme which will be complete in the spring of this year with the opening of our destination spa on March 1, further cementing the hotel’s position as Scotland’s International Resort Hotel of the year.”

Gary McLean, Chairman of the Scottish Hotel of the Year awards remarked: “We are delighted to have been able to award Gleneagles with these three prestigious awards. Gleneagles is truly a world class operation with world-class dedication to innovation and excellence.

“They are an international hotel with national importance to our economy. It was good to be able to highlight and recognise three specific aspects of the successful business. The breakfast operation has universal acclaim. Recent investment in design, using Amanda Rosa, has great favour with their customer base, and indeed, our awards panel.”

Also topping the list was The Four Seasons Hotel in St Fillans which won the Good For the Soul Award.

MSP Roseanna Cunningham congratulated the two Strathearn hotels for their success in the Awards, 2008.

She said: “ I would like to congratulate everybody involved with the success achieved both at Gleneagles and at the Four Seasons Hotel in St Fillans.

“Gleneagles took awards in a range of diverse categories which reflects the pursuit of excellence that permeates the whole business there.

“The Good for the Soul Award won by the Four Seasons really is an enviable title which reflects the calm and tranquillity amidst beautiful scenery which is on offer.

“I hope that the recognition that these two hotels and establishments in other parts of Perthshire have achieved will be an inspiration to other Strathearn hotels, guest houses and B&Bs.

“Tourism and leisure are crucial parts of the modern Strathearn economy and it is essential that everyone involved in the sector is continually looking for ways of improving the product and developing the service provided.”

For more information about the 2008 Scottish Hotel of the Year awards or for a full list of winners, please visit www.scottishhotelsoftheyear.com.