Gleneagles | WOW 5-star golf resort

This is the view from our room in the front of the hotel, overlooking the great lawn, pitch and putt course, and hills in the background. Gleneagles is everything the most discriminating guest would expect of a great five star resort. Large, impressive lobby with high ceilings, detailed wood moldings, and all the character you'd expect from a resort built 90 years ago but with completely up-to-date furnishings and amenities.

Our Estate Room is extremely spacious with high ceilings, two large Colonial windows admitting wonderful natural light into the room. A somewhat long and narrow bathroom provides dual vanities (the first we've had in Scotland!) and a rain shower in the tub. We are in one of the non-renovated rooms per our own request, while Josh and Jessica are in a renovated Estate Room. Their bathroom includes a separate soaking tub and step-in shower as well as dual vanities. Virtuoso guests at Gleneagles receive an upgrade (if available) at the time of booking, so book a room at the Classic rate to end up in a Sovereign room, or book a room at the Sovereign rate to end up in the top category Estate room.

Gleneagles offers a myriad of activities including three 18-hole golf courses, a full spa, falconry, fishing, horse riding, shooting, and tennis ... and four restaurants from which to choose, including Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie.

After spending two nights in a wonderful B&B in Oban with just 12 rooms, it was actually a bit of a culture shock when we arrived this afternoon to this incredible resort set on 850 acres with 232 rooms — but we quickly acclimated. If you are a discerning golfer seeking a no-compromise luxury resort in Scotland, come to Gleneagles. You'll be a happy camper!

Virtuoso guests enjoy a great set of amenities: guaranteed room upgrade at time of booking (if the upgrade is available at that time), daily full Scottish breakfast for two, Afternoon Tea for two once during your stay, and a complimentary round of golf on the King's or Queen's course with a two night stay.


UPDATE: Gleneagles has a really nice spa, The Spa by ESPA. There is an outdoor hot pool set to 98º with very well positioned jacuzzi jets, and my massage from Elsa was WOW!

copyright  (c)  2015 by David Ourisman LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

... and I'll be in Scotland afore ye

O ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road,

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye

Just fifteen days until my next trip, so it's time to start getting excited! I'm headed to Scotland, still part of the United Kingdom, and I'm looking forward to the beautiful, rugged scenery and the opportunities for landscape photography. Photography has been my avocation since childhood, and travel photography is my primary reason to see the world's beauty and capture it on film on my digital camera. I'll be sharing my best shots on Travel Horizons and on Facebook, so ask to friend me if you'd like to see what I see.

My trip to Scotland is also an opportunity to inspect hotels and gain familiarity with the destination so that I can help clients plan their trips. Here are some of the anticipated highlights:

Flying on an Airbus 380. Never before flown on one of these double-decker behemoths, and I'll be on Air France's version, flying business class from SFO-CDG (and connecting on a smaller plane to EDI). I've heard the 380 is eerily quiet — and that AF's 380 business class seat product is flat but not completely horizontal — but I was able to use DL miles for a complete roundtrip in business.

Our itinerary in Scotland starts in Edinburgh where we'll be staying at The Caledonian, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel. From there, we'll take the longer coastal drive to St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf. Due to a tournament going on during our stay, we are not able to stay at the Old Course Hotel. We then we take the high road into the Scottish Highlands, spending two nights near Inverness and another two nights in Wester Ross.

Going south, we head to Oban in the Argyle and Bute region of Scotland. Why Oban? It's the home of Susannah — leisure travel sales manager for Four Seasons London. Her husband owns a B&B on the coast (and they've offered to do our laundry). Our penultimate stop will be the Gleneagles Resort which, I'm told, is the nicest resort in the U.K. Looking forward to being pampered at Gleneagles before our final two nights in Glasgow.

One final day in London where we'll spend the night at The Goring (home to the Middletons the night before the Royal Wedding) and have site inspections of the Rosewood London and newly reopened Lanesborough.

Flying back on Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow to San Francisco, it will be my first experience of Upper Class. If anyone has any tips on how to ensure your limo driver can access Virgin's Upper Class Wing (or anything else I've discussed), please let drop me a note.

copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

$19.28 for a 5 star hotel room

Leading Hotels of the World was founded in 1928, and they are celebrating their 80th anniversary with a special $19.28 rate for a two night stay in a select group of their properties.

How to take advantage of this promotion? First, click here to pre-register. Then, put a memo on your calendar to log in to the Leading Hotels of the World website at 8 a.m. EST on October 1, 2008. A limited number of rooms will be released at the $19.28 rate, and registered consumers will have 80 minutes (until 9:20 a.m. EST) to book available rooms at a single participating hotel for travel between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15, 2008. Naturally there are terms and conditions of the promotion, but this is a fabulous bargain for those who can take advantage of it.

Not every LHW property is participating, but some of the world's finest hotels are on the list: The Nam Hai in Vietnam, Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires, The Hay-Adams in Washington, DC, Villa D'Este on Lake Como, and Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. There are dozens of other travel possibilities, all at $19.28 per night for a two night stay.

After booking your two night stay, contact a Virtuoso travel consultant to build an entire itinerary around those two nights. In addition to dozens of the Leading Hotels of the World that are a part of the Virtuoso network, you'll have a collection of nearly 800 five star luxury hotels and resorts around the world to choose from. For the rest of your vacation, you'll enjoy superb luxury values with special negotiated rates and valuable amenities at each hotel you select (complimentary daily breakfasts, room upgrades if available at check-in, and special perks unique to each property).

Virtuoso travel consultant (search here on Google)


[Thanks to FlyerTalk for discovering this promotion].


copyright (c) 2008 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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