75th anniversary is celebrated in print
What a fantastic whirlwind the past six weeks have been. We are in the middle of our busiest season and the car park and rooms are a hive of activity. At this time of the year, many of our guests play golf and have breakfast as early as possible so they can fit in two or even three rounds in a day. The "Visitor Golf" twilight price of £55 a round is proving very popular in the long evenings - you can play until 10:30pm.
This week we are conducting an external sales and marketing audit. We have decided to get an independent consultant to look at how we market Gleneagles. This will tell us what we should stop doing, start doing, do more of and do less of.
Since my last diary, we have launched our 75th anniversary book with a birthday party on 10 June. There were 200 guests from the extended Gleneagles family of past and current staff, guests, members, suppliers and business partners. It was a great success and many people bought the book on the night. Sales have continued every day since. The book is available to buy at Gleneagles and from our Web site (www.gleneagles.com) until September, when we will launch it to the book trade in London.
The Web site has been a success since its relaunch in April, with many bookings being made direct and goods being bought from the shop. The latest addition to the site is a chat room with our golf professional. Guests ask questions which the professionals will answer each day on line.
The quest for sponsorship of the University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret University College mentoring programme is progressing nicely. We will receive confirmation by the end of July. The 1999/2000 programme is recruiting mentors over the summer and when the students return in the autumn, they will be recruited. It is an excellent opportunity for mentors and mentees. I only wish such programmes existed when I was a student.
We also announced the joint sponsorship of a new European Golf Tour event with Carnegie Marketing Group. The Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles will be held on the Monarch's course on 27-30 August with a prize fund of £250,000. n
