The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Hotel staff told jobs are safe in Macdonald cuts
Hospitality: Upmarket chain struggling with costs likely to lose 50 from HQ
Hospitality workers in the north and northeast have been assured their jobs are safe after Scotland’s biggest luxury hotel group announced up to 50 redundancies.
Macdonald Hotels will put dozens of staff at its Bathgate HQ out of work because of “unsustainably high” costs.
“Regrettably one of the first steps is reducing our group headcount”
In a letter to employees they said “above inflation” rises in their “already significant” business rates, cost increases due to a minimum wage rise and uplifts in utility costs had caused them difficulties.
They also blamed increased apprenticeship levies and pension obligations.
Now the firm, which operates upmarket hotels in Edinburgh, Aviemore, Aberdeen and elsewhere across Scotland and England, has entered into consultation with staff.
They plan to “reduce group headcount” by around 50. It is understood that some staff will be redeployed within the business where possible.
Redundancies are expected to come from back office staff working in areas such as marketing, conferencing, IT, accounting and payroll.
Last night a spokesman for the firm said the job losses would not affect anyone working in hotels in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Inverness or the Highlands.
The firm undertook a review of costs before consulting on job losses.
The spokesman said: “One of the findings from the review was that our operating costs are unsustainably high and we require to focus on reducing these as a priority.
“As a result of these various factors we have been left with no option but to consider implementing a number of redundancies, as part of a wider cost-reduction programme which will also target non-essential overheads and non-staff costs, but regrettably one of the first steps we have been forced to consider is reducing our group headcount by around 50.”