Gleneagles named Best British Luxury Brand of 2022

Gleneagles Estate won Best British Luxury Brand of 2022 – the highest honour at Walpole British Luxury Awards ceremony.

Since 1924 Gleneagles has been one of Scotland’s most iconic hotels and sporting estates. Gleneagles won the Best British Luxury Brand trophy for 2022 at the Walpole British Luxury Awards ceremony. The Walpole British Luxury Awards 2022 took place at The Dorchester in London on Monday 21st November 2022.

The winner of Walpole British Luxury Brand of the Year 2022 accolade encapsulates everything it is to be a progressive, innovative and sustainable high-end marque. UK born and globally minded, the winner is ultimately chosen by the Walpole Academy – a hand-picked selection of luxury influencers, media and other stakeholders, as well as every Walpole Member organisation – making this truly the highest honour at the Walpole British Luxury Awards.

Originally opened in 1924, Gleneagles began a significant brand reposition in 2016, launching the biggest investment programme in its history and setting out an ambitious six-year vision. The aim of this plan was to reinvigorate (and surpass) the spirit of glamour and adventure that had first put the ‘Palace in the Glen’ on the map: to enhance the guest experience, make the luxury brand relevant to a new generation of discerning travellers, and ensure it took its place among the very finest hospitality destinations in the world.

The past 12 months have seen the culmination and realisation of that vision, with the finishing touches put to its renovation programme in Auchterarder, and the expansion of the brand beyond the Perthshire hills for the first time in its history through the launch of a new city hotel, Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh.

The hotel has launched a range of new luxury experiences.

From wild swimming in the local hills to a children’s adventure programme and sensory ‘Little Garden’, all these new experiences have increased opportunities for guests to make the most of the beautiful countryside on their doorstep while enjoying the highest levels of service and luxury.

The past year at Gleneagles has been characterised by the continual pursuit of innovation and new growth opportunities. The hotel has partnered with a range of luxury British brands to create exciting new experiences for its guests. These include seasonal pop-ups like the Tropical Garden Bar, Moët & Chandon champagne terrace bar, an Italian Riviera-themed bar and restaurant on the hotel’s lawn, and the creation of star-gazing pods in partnership with The Macallan.

With two large properties, three golf courses and around 1,500 staff, Gleneagles is a big operation and aware of its impact.

In the past 12 months, Gleneagles has been recognised with an ‘excellent’ score in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s Compliance Assessment Scheme, for Water Use and Wastewater Management. It has also been awarded Gold status by Green Tourism, an accreditation organisation that seeks to make the travel and tourism industry more sustainable, garnering praise for its robust energy and waste management system, electric vehicle charging facilities and use of water conservation technologies.

When Gleneagles reopened in April 2021, Covid, Brexit and the ‘Great Resignation’ had destabilised the labour market in unprecedented ways. Gleneagles tackled this challenge through a range of initiatives that have transformed its People journey. These include moving its baseline pay from National Minimum Wage to the Real Living Wage in April 2022, introducing complete pay transparency in all job listings to attract more qualified candidates, and providing its people with greater autonomy to choose the working patterns that work for them.

The hotel has also launched a suite of early careers training programmes – including The Gleneagles Apprenticeship Programme, the Gleneagles Gap Year, Management & Graduate programmes, and new Culinary Academy for trainee chefs – to nurture the next generation of luxury hospitality talent. It has also created 50 Kickstarter placements for young people at risk of long-term unemployment.

Faced with the most challenging hospitality recruitment landscape in living memory, Gleneagles has on-boarded 1158 new people since reopening in April 2021, recruiting a further 232 people for its new hotel in Edinburgh.

“Gleneagles’ heritage, spirit of adventure and warm, Scottish approach to hospitality will always remain at the core of everything we do,” said Conor O’Leary, Managing Director of Gleneagles. “We are hugely proud of our near 100-year history and our location here in the heart of Scotland. From our plentiful pursuit offering encouraging our guests out into the rich, bountiful surrounds to celebrating the wealth of local craftsmanship through our recent renovations and the opportunity to serve up the very best of Scottish produce daily in our restaurants, we feel so fortunate to show off the very best of Britain to our guests from around the world.

“Plus with the recent opening of our first city outpost, Gleneagles Townhouse, our guests now have the chance to stay in both the heart of Edinburgh’s old town and the heart of the Scottish highlands.”