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"It must be the only raffle in the Lardon Media, Berlin When a conservative and responsible major German publisher "It's totally above board and everything will be scrutinised by independent auditors.
Ten winners will net either a The Majorca Times
The offer in a nutshell ... You take part in our raffle. The raffle plays out and you win a prize worth up to 500,000 euros. But maybe you don't win one of the ten grand prizes. In that case, you get back the exact value of what you put in. In fact, you don't even have to wait for the raffle in order to get back what you put in. Let us tell you the details.
The origins of this offer ... Dear International Living Reader: My name is George Scott and for the last 18 years my very conservative and respected and respectable company has been running luxury boutique hotels, upmarket restaurants, and doing house renovations on Mallorca. All proper and unexceptionable. Last year my doctor suggested I should slow down, divest myself of at least one of our properties. Our little artists colony complex of houses and studios up in the mountains was the most logical candidate for our downsizing. So I put it on the market in the conventional way, using several of the most prestigious estate agents in the business. Being conventional didn't work ... Frankly, it was a fiasco. The agents sent us a parade of inappropriate would-be purchasers with no hotel experience, no Spanish, but who had always had the dream of running a small gem of a hotel in the Mediterranean. Would we mind financing them privately? 100%, of course. Then there were hotel chain agents, convinced that anyone who was even thinking of selling must be flirting with bankruptcy. For them, an offer of half of the fair market value was a logical start to any discussion. And we were even approached by some shady characters willing to pay our price, our fair price, but only in under-the-table cash. So that settled it for me - no more unvetted agency people, no more hotel chains, and definitely no dodgy cash buyers. The raffle idea ... We, Scott Properties, the embodiment and paragon of conservative business practices, would hold a raffle. You do have to understand something here. Where I come from, Chicago, it's not unusual for people to raffle off houses, and some companies and charities do it on a regular basis. My sister has had a ticket in the annual Million-Dollar-House-Raffle for the last 18 years. Every year it's the same (save that the prize houses get smaller). And of course it's also totally legal in Spain. How the US Congress got involved ... So we set it all up and started selling tickets late last summer. That's when the US Congress put their oar in. Last Autumn, the US Congress passed a law that told Americans they weren't allowed to place bets online with offshore companies anymore. But 35 million Americans were used to taking the occasional flutter with perfectly legitimate offshore companies, registered and legal, some of them listed on the London Stock Exchange. Suddenly they couldn't do it anymore. A lot of people were upset and unhappy. So upset that last November they threw out the Congressman who sponsored But in the meantime, the law was on the books and we had to abide by it. Which meant that we couldn't sell raffle tickets to Americans — at least half our market. Our lawyers creased their foreheads. The new act was aimed at the big online casinos and sports betting operations, not a small family raffle like ours, but it was a blunderbuss bill that might end up aimed in our direction and you know how cautious lawyers are. So we had to kill our raffle idea. At least in the form of a straightforward buy-a-ticket-win-a-prize raffle. What to do? We didn't want to give up our project, so we looked for an alternative way to solve the puzzle. What could we do that would be completely legal, but accomplish the same end? How this became a "can't lose, win-win" offer ... Standing in the shower one morning, an answer came to me — we could sell hotel vouchers instead of raffle tickets. That would be perfectly legal. Hotels do it all the time. The vouchers would be good toward a stay in our hotels. But they could also participate in the raffle. All we had to do was put numbers on the vouchers. The ten lucky people holding those numbers would win our ten houses and studios. That solution satisfied the lawyers. Selling hotel vouchers is totally legal, even hotel vouchers with numbers on them. We limited the issue to only 33,333 vouchers, so our purchasers get odds of 10 possible wins in 33,333. Contrast that with the big lottery odds of 1 in 14,000,000 to Suddenly the deal had become lots, lots better for our customers. In fact, it makes it a sweetheart proposition. You invest in a hotel voucher and then get a free participation in the ten drawings for the ten properties. But you still get to use your hotel voucher. Or give it away. Or sell it. You can't lose. You're not out of pocket no matter what.
We understand that people may have a few doubts. It's never been done before and it's such a remarkably generous offer — a free participation in a prestigious property raffle. So let's just take a look at what's in it for us when we sell a voucher. What we get is actually pretty simple: we get lots of people lined up outside our doors waiting to get in to stay with us. We say goodbye to fat advertising costs. We raise our occupancy rate, increase our income. No catches ... We get a chance to sell you meals at our new restaurant across the square or drinks in the bar, rent you a car, and of course once you are with us you'll spend more than just the amount on your vouchers. Is that a "catch"? No. But because we have a 3 night minimum stay in the hotels our guests often spend four times the amount on the voucher. So for us, taking the voucher value off your bill is like paying a commission to an agent. Best of all from our point of view, we've lured you across our threshold, got you tucked under our wing, and 44% of the people who stay with us once come back for another visit, send friends or family, get addicted to the "Scott's experience". So we build our client base, build our brand, build our reputation. All that and we get our price for the ten properties as well as the fun of turning them over to real people — people who may have stayed with us, people we might even know personally. We certainly aren't doing this because we're a charity for people who want a free house in Spain.
"Sounds inviting. What are my odds of winning?" You get 10 chances in 33,333. Compare those odds to most lotteries, "I live far away. Maybe I'll never get to use the voucher." So? Wait until the raffle is over and if you don't win give it away as a gift "When will the drawing take place?" As soon as we have sold 33,333 vouchers (no more, no fewer.) What's Mallorca like? It's all of Spain in a teacup - an island with mountains, pine forests, coves, caves, Could I retire there, live there? Why not? The prizes are fully furnished homes, ready to live in as well as rent out. And what a spot to live - the second prettiest village on the island (Fornalutx is marginally prettier, but suffers from an excess of tourists) - with all that peace and those glorious views, good walking, riding, gardening, great golf and Palma's "I've got a different question. How do I ask it?" We put answers to the 31 most common questions we get asked in a separate section that you can link to from the bottom of every page on our website.
A little more about us ... We are Scott Properties, a Delaware, USA company that has been operating hotels and restaurants since 1987. You aren't dealing with an unknown company hiding somewhere in never-never land on the Internet -- we're hotels you can look up in all the good guidebooks, visit and stay in, check us out as people, share a drink, even Or you can go to www.amazon.co.uk and look up The Chewed Caucasian or The Bloody Bokhara, two of my mystery novels set in the hotels. I mention them only to point out that we live our lives in the full light of public scrutiny. We've spent many years living ordinary but fruitful lives running our businesses and raising our family. We'd like to think that gives us some dimension of credibility.
Why you'd probably enjoy staying with us ...
Some other reviews of our townhouse hotel, where people may use their vouchers anytime during the next five years: "Elegant, luxurious, refined ... incomparable bedrooms." "One of the finest hotels I know in terms of comfort and discreet but warm service." "A little jewel box, a rarity among hotels - one that doesn't feel like a hotel, look like a hotel, or offer the dry and standardized service of most hotels." "At Scott's, nothing disappoints: the interior is as calm, sophisticated and unobtrusively luxurious as you could wish . . . a pampering treat." " . . . a night at Scott's is an experience to remember." "One of the most comfortable and elegant small hotels in the Mediterranean." "Scott's is a gem of a place - a fabulously restored mansion where the emphasis is firmly on comfort. Located in the heart of Mallorca's wine country." The Sunday Times of London asked renowned hotel critic Alistair Sawday to name his six favourite hideaway hotels in Spain. Scott's was one of them. (And the only one on Mallorca). Diran Noubar's List of the World's Fifty Best Small Hotels includes Scott's. Small Elegant Hotels, A Connoisseur's Guide: Scott's is one of only three hotels listed for the whole of Spain. Great Places to Stay in Europe: Features Scott's. About Hotels Guide: Scott's is named as one of their very few "Fabulous Finds".
What our winners get ... You pay no costs, no taxes. You get a legal document and the keys and you own the property free and clear, fully furnished and ready to enjoy. The prizes are valuable and saleable, gloriously located, designed by Pedro Otzoup, one of Spain's most renowned architects. The houses and studios are chic and stylish, with handmade beds with goosedown pillows and Ralph Lauren's best sheets, DVD players, fully equipped kitchens, and private South-facing terraces looking out over the valley to the sea. You could rent out your prize for income of up to 40,000 euros (£26K or $50K) per season, with still many weeks left open for personal use. The large properties can bring in up to 1,350 euros (£900 or $1,750) per week during the seven-month season. And it doesn't make any difference where you live in the world; a euro-based rental property is a valuable asset to have. We can even manage the rentals for you. The smaller properties can bring in half to a third of the sums we've mentioned above. And of course you can lend your prize to family and friends as well as using it yourself. Maintenance is easily covered by a few weeks' rent and taxes are low.
A few more reasons why it makes sense to invest in this opportunity ... It's a can't lose, win-win proposition. It's safe, secure and guaranteed. The odds are excellent. The potential return is enormous. Even if you don't win a house, you get a lovely stay in a choice of fine hotels. If you don't want the hotel stay, sell your voucher after the raffle. It's easy to participate - sign up in four minutes.
Your first step toward making it happen ... Just because we've removed all risk doesn't mean there isn't money involved. The time has come to make a commitment, throw your penny in the wishing well. We priced the raffle tickets at 15 euros for each property - ten properties, ten drawings - for a total of 150 euros. But of course we give you that ticket free. All you have to do is invest in a hotel voucher for the same amount, 150 euros - If you make a decision now, you'll qualify for an "Early Bird" voucher, and 1 of each 333 of our early buyers will win a 10-pack of extra tickets worth 1,500 euros and offering an extra 100 chances to win.
Register now for an Early Bird voucher. The Early Bird vouchers are limited and they're going fast. Once they're gone, Early Bird vouchers offer four advantages over the vouchers we will sell later: Advantage one: For every 333 Early Bird vouchers sold, we will randomly draw one to receive a bonus pack of ten vouchers worth 1,500 euros (£,1,000 or $2,000). More to the point, that's an additional hundred opportunities to win the properties. Advantage two: Your Early Bird voucher may be used for a stay in our hotels either before or after the raffle. Conditions apply: minimum stay, three nights in a deluxe room or suite, subject to availability. One voucher may be used for each three-day stay, two for six days, and so on. Advantage three: You may choose your own lucky number, subject to availability. Advantage four: Early Birds will get preferential treatment in our hotel - forming a club of people who will get special offers, even upgrades if possible, that we won't offer to latecomers.
My final thoughts to you: Decisions like this are made in your heart. I've tried to lay out the offer as plainly and openly as I can, highlighting the advantages for you without false or inflated claims. It's an offer we stand behind with our 18 year reputation of integrity. But while there are a dozen practical reasons for investing in this small, no-lose gesture toward sweetening your future, let me please add my own opinion that life has no meaning unless we live it with conviction and trust, unless we open our hearts to providence, unless we allow ourselves to take small stakes with destiny and offer our guardian angels a chance to light up our lives with a sweet gift of luck. Trust your angel and go for it. Regards and good luck,
George Scott PS If you're an IL reader and cite this special offer, you may claim an extra night in a deluxe room at no cost, free. That's worth $275 at current prices. PPS These make marvelous gifts. We send your recipient an animated e-card and brochures for both of our hotels. (And if your giftee wins, you'll have a fan for life.)
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