I had the pleasure to interview Iris Marhencke, Guest Relations Manager at the Gleaneagles Hotel a luxury 5 Red Star resort in the heart of Scotland. 

How did you start working at Gleneagles?

I trained in a city centre Leading Hotel in Hamburg for 2 and a half years and after that I wanted to go back to UK where I had been an Au pair near Brighton. I knew I did not want a big city so I looked at all Leading Hotels in the brochure outside London and the one that caught my eye was Gleneagles. So I came up by train for one night and stayed in Auchterarder to have a look around the resort and applied as a receptionist.

5 words that describe Gleneagles best?

Exceptional, personalised, iconic, genuine and energetic

Your advice to a newcomer to Scotland?

Try some Scottish delicatessen : smoked salmon and whisky, see some Highland Games and take in the local atmosphere, spend one day in Edinburgh- open top bus and explore the Palace of Holyrood House, see St Andrews (oldest university in Scotland ) on the East Coast and Oban (Gateway to the Western Isles ) on the West Coast drive the James Bond " Skyfall route " through Glencoe, ancient volcanic landscape explore Loch Tay, one of the most underrated Lochs in Scotland all this within a 2 and a half hour drive from Gleneagles Hotel.

Your favourite dish at the restaurant?

Crab" Gleneagles ", a wonderful cold starter that transports the guest back to the opening of our hotel in 1924, selected (shell free) crabmeat from Scottish Brown Crab arranged in the centre of an art-deco plate surrounded by paper-thin cucumber slices

What should a first time visitor to Gleneagles expect?

Genuine interest in him, highly personalised interactions, positive energy, diversity and being part of the most desirable and iconic resort in the world.

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