How the Covid-19 pandemic hit the finances of one of the most luxurious hotels in Manchester has been revealed in full for the first time.
Like all other hotels in the UK, The Edwardian Manchester has faced a dramatic fall in revenue since the start of the pandemic as Government-enforced restrictions took hold.
The hotel is starting to recover from a turbulence few years but newly-filed documents have outlined for the first time how the pandemic hit its finances.
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The latest set of accounts, for the 12 months to December 31, 2021, were only made public on Companies House this week. They show the hotel's turnover increased from £5.5m to £9.3m but that its pre-tax profits were cut from £100,000 to £27,000.
Those figures compare the turnover of £21.7m and pre-tax profits of £684,000 in 2019. In 2019, the hotel employed 3,478 people, a total that dropped to 2,774 by the end of 2020 and to 2,080 in 2021.
The hotel's occupancy rate had been over 90% in 2019 but dropped to 26.2% in 2020 and 33.7% in 2021 because of the Government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions.
A statement signed off by the board said: "The directors consider the future prospects of the company to be satisfactory. The hospitality industry has been heavily impacted by Covid-19 but is gradually returning to pre-pandemic trading levels.
"The company has adjusted its cost base in order to maximise profit during this period."
Speaking to BusinessLive in November, general manager Kumar Mishra went into detail about how the hotel, which is part of the Radisson group, went from "pure survival mode" at the start of the pandemic to coping with a "tsunami of guests" once restrictions started to be lifted.
He also explained how the hotel has bounced back after being forced to cut down its workforce in order to survive.
The hotel is partly set inside the Grade II*-listed Free Trade Hall in Peter Street which was built in the mid-19th century on the site of the Peterloo Massacre.
The hall was constructed to mark the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The building was owned by the Manchester Corporation and was bombed during the Manchester Blitz in 1940.
It was the main concert venue in the city until the Bridgewater Hall was constructed in 1996. It also served as the main home of the Hallé Orchestra Over the years the likes of Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, the Sex Pistols, The Osmonds and The Smiths all appeared at the venue.
The hall was closed by Manchester City Council and sold in 1997 ahead of the opening of the hotel in 2004. The Edwardian now features 263 bedrooms and is home to Peter Street Kitchen which serves Japanese and Mexican food.
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