Diageo checks out of Gleneagles

Gleaneagles is seen as being one of the traditional Crown Jewels of Scottish tourism

Gleneagles occupies a sizeable chunk of Perthshire, and uneven terrain between private opulence and national institution.

Others vie with it to be the best hotel in Scotland. None of them can touch it for being the best known.

Without a coastal links golf course, it's not on the circuit for the Open. But hosting the Ryder Cup last year was the kerrching factor that seems to have persuaded its owner to sell.

Diageo, with its predecessor companies, has owned Gleneagles for 31 years. It is currently investing heavily in its Scotch whisky assets, and fighting to boost its drink brands around the world.

That's a task which has become significantly tougher in the past couple of years. When it says that running a hotel is not its core business, it's not kidding. It tried to sell before, but failed to get the price it wanted. But post-Ryder, with the valuation seemingly running high, Diageo is checking out.

Summitry to gun dogs

In 1977, Gleneagles was host to a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, lending its name to a sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa.

Ten years ago, it was the venue for the G8 summit, which again focussed on Africa - this time on tackling poverty.

It's hard to believe now, but until 1984, this was an arm of the railway industry. Having opened in 1924 under the ownership of the Caledonian Railway Company, it was taken over at the nationalisation of private railway companies in 1948. It has its own railway station, refurbished last year for the golf extravaganza.

It was, therefore, publicly-owned for 36 years, as were other railway hotels in many of the most valuable locations.

In Scotland, these included hotels in Glasgow Central, Edinburgh's Caledonian and what is now the Balmoral, station hotels in Perth, Dornoch, Kyle of Lochalsh, Strathpeffer and Dumfries, and the Turnberry golf hotel in Ayrshire.

Gleneagles survived the famously bruising boardroom battles over Guinness and the distilling interests it bought to create Diageo.

And under Peter Lederer's management, it operated on a long leash from the distilling giant's headquarters in London.

The company retains its own private lodge on Speyside, but there's nothing much boutique about Gleneagles. Its grounds sprawl over 800 acres, and around its unpretty exterior, it offers guests four golf courses, large stables, a shooting range, gun dog training, falconry and a substantial spa.

With turnover of more than £40m in the year to last June, and 900 staff, that's a significant amount of income into the local economy in and around Auchterarder. And with a commitment to training, it spins out high-end tourism skills throughout the industry.

Path less travelled

So, for around £150m, Ennismore, the private investment group in the hospitality industry, has bought itself a national institution.

Founded ten years ago, what the new owner currently does is take rather ugly buildings in central and east London and give them a cool boutique vibe as hotels and restaurants.

It has the Hoxton hotel, which it plans to scale up to a branded chain, already including an Amsterdam property.

The cross-over clientele will probably be limited. But what Ennismore offers is a bit more imagination. It professes to be about design, and "taking the path less travelled".

That could be just what Gleneagles needs next. But it also needs a company that understands how to apply the most modern marketing to a doggedly traditional tourism product, clad in sober tartans and flavoured with single malts.

What Ennismore has yet to prove is its ability to market a hotel as a resort. Gleneagles' prestige is established, which is why it paid quite a prestige price. Diageo's ownership has shown that it doesn't need to be part of a chain, but it does need an owner with the means and the willingness to invest and keep its five-star status.

It is important to the wider economy that the new owner succeeds with one of the Crown Jewels of Scottish tourism.

It may also be a relief that the Perthshire hotel and resort hasn't fallen into the hands of Donald Trump, who is investing a lot of money, ego and his bling-laden brand into Turnberry, another Scots luxury golfing jewel - while his brand is currently taking a battering in his American homeland.