Former manager settles with macdonald hotels

Macdonald Hotels made an out-of-court settlement last week, halfway through an industrial tribunal hearing for one of its former general managers who claimed that the group owed him £4,000 in bonus payments.

Nigel Wardle, who worked at the Deans Place hotel in Alfriston, East Sussex, on a short-term contract last year, accepted an undisclosed sum during the lunch-break of the industrial tribunal at Lincoln Magistrates' Court.

Wardle worked at the hotel, then owned by Southern Hotels and managed by Macdonald Hotels, last year when he claimed that he was promised bonuses for exceeding sales and profit targets (Caterer, 28 May, page 5).

A gagging clause in the conditions of the settlement prevented Wardle from commenting.

Macdonald Hotels, which disputed the amount owed, also declined to comment.