DEVELOPERS behind the £100 million Flaxby Country Club in North Yorkshire have announced that they have sold the first of four presidential suites at the hotel for £500,000.

Buyer of this last word in luxury was Sanjiv Jari, Manchester University honorary lecturer and medical consultant, who was attracted by the York-based Skelwith Group’s offer to buyers of a guaranteed income for life of 12.5 per cent per annum.

It will be arguably the most opulent hotel room in the UK having at basic a private spa and bathrooms in marble and gold.

During York races it is the kind of room that would be fit for racing tycoon and ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed, to stay. With its balcony overlooking the five- star hotel’s 27-hole golf course, it would be ideal also for well-off golf aficionados.

Mr Jari will now work with leading interior designers on the layout and furnishings of the suite. Ideas include installing a private bowling alley, snooker room, golf simulator and private spa but each buyer is given the opportunity to stamp their own mark on the rooms by working with the developers and their design team.

The Skelwith Group has already sold 200 of the 303 rooms even before work begins this summer, due for completion in mid-2011.

Paul Ellis, the Skelwith Group’s managing director, described the sale of the first presidential suite as “great news” and said the general rooms remained very popular too. He said: “We believe that we have the best and fastest-selling property- related product in the UK at the moment. The presidential suites are the rooms that the international superstars and sporting greats will stay at when they are in Yorkshire and will command a premium price when we are operational. People are buying into the location of the resort and the strength of the Yorkshire Tourist economy.”

All 303 rooms are being sold to investors with prices for a standard double room starting at £134,950. Returns for standard rooms are guaranteed at 13 per cent of the purchase price for three years and then the buyer gets 50 per cent of the room income. An early investor was former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.