Almost 900 jobs lost at national hotel chain as it…

Almost 900 jobs lost at national hotel chain as it made £166m profits swing

Almost 900 jobs were lost at a national hotel chain as it battled the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been revealed.

Village Hotel Club shed 870 jobs during 2021 as it bounced back from a pre-tax loss of £126.3m in 2020.

According to newly-filed accounts, the Warrington-headquartered company achieved a pre-tax profit of £40.9m while its turnover increased from £86.4m to £139.9m.

Those figures compare to the turnover of £215.5m and pre-tax profit of £7.6m it posted in the year before the pandemic, 2019.

Village Hotel Club is owned by US-headquartered private equity firm KSL Capital Partners and has sites in Aberdeen, Ashton Moss, Basingstoke, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bracknell, Bristol, Bury, Cardiff, Cheadle, Coventry, Dudley, Edinburgh, Farnborough, Glasgow, Hyde, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Watford, Maidstone, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Chester, Solihull, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon, Walsall, Warrington and on the Wirral.

A statement signed off by the board said: "2021 was a year of two halves, with performance in the first half of the year significantly below 2019 levels as expected due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 restrictions.

"However, following the lifting of all restrictions in July 2021, the group performed well such that EBITDA in the second half of the year exceeded that of the comparative period in 2019."

It added: "The hotel business was quick to react to the reopening of hospitality and capitalise on pent up consumer demand, also benefitting from international Covid-19 travel restrictions enhancing the popularity of the UK 'staycation'.

"The hotel accommodation business continued to perform well throughout the second half of the year, despite rising concerns about the Omicron variant at the end of the year.

"The food and beverage business also performed well in the second half of the year, with the pub and grill and Starbucks trading at 2019 levels.

"Meetings and events recovered but not to 2019 levels due to some consumer and business uncertainty around larger events, particularly at the end of the year as concerns about the Omicron variant arose.

"In the health and wellness business, memberships had continued to decline from the start of the year position of 75,000 until April 2021. However they quickly grew again from May 2021 onwards. The group finished the year with 100,000 members, slightly ahead of the number it had at the end of 2019.

"Throughout the prior year in 2020 the group had focused on cost control to minimise losses associated with Covid-19, reducing staff costs and central office costs in particular (through various cost facing initiatives and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme).

"The group was able to retain some of its cost savings in 2021 to help mitigate the lower revenues earned in the first half of the year."

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