Macdonald Hotels enters consultation, 1,800 jobs at risk

Macdonald Hotels Group has confirmed it is entering a company-wide consultation process, with 1,800 roles “potentially” at risk across the group. 

The hotel group, which currently operates 31 hotels and resorts across Scotland and England, has seen a “total collapse” of income over the past three months, and has now begun to issue consultation notices to its 2,299 employees.

While the group said that the government’s furlough scheme helped the business “to a degree”, its essential operating costs, insurance and pay of certain wages meant that its monthly cash outgoings were still running at £2m while its sites remained closed.  

It added that the current situation was “simply unsustainable”, despite cutting all non-essential spending and introducing a reduced salary for senior management and remaining staff.

Group deputy chairman Gordon Fraser said: “We had really hoped to avoid this very unwelcome step, but with no realistic prospects of a return to anything like normal trading for the foreseeable future, we were simply left with no choice. 

“There is no realistic prospect of us returning to anything approaching normality for the foreseeable future and, whilst it’s enormously regrettable, we simply must take these steps to ensure that we have a meaningful business when this situation ends, enabling us to bring back as many of our employees as possible.”

He added: “We are seeing more and more of our counterparts being forced into the same, very difficult decisions to either close completely or to cut back on hardworking and valued members of staff. It’s a tragedy.

“Everyone understands that drastic steps had to be taken to halt coronavirus but the only way out of this for our industry is when the current restrictions are eased significantly, and people feel comfortable returning to hotels and restaurants.”