Hoteliers dismiss wage scare report

Hoteliers and trade associations have dismissed a new survey that claims the national minimum wage will mean 40,000 lost jobs for hotels, restaurants and caterers. The wage comes into force today (1 April).

The research, from Business Strategies, picks hospitality as the main victim of the new £3.60-per-hour rate which, it says, could put 80,000 people out of a job across all sectors. Most at risk in hospitality, said managing economist Melanie Lansbury, were bar staff, waiters, and low-paid kitchen staff.

But Jeremy Logie, chief executive at the British Hospitality Association, said he would be surprised if the "sensible rate finally agreed" would destroy more than 10,000 jobs in the trade. He suspected the main impact would be felt among remoter areas and "marginally viable businesses".

Michael da Costa, chairman of the Restaurant Association, said: "If a business says it can't afford to pay people £3.60 an hour, it should not be in business. We would all like to run on slave labour, but we can't. We need to attract people to the trade."

Mary O'Connor, who runs the 14-bedroom Tremarne hotel in Mevagissey, Cornwall, said even her under-21s were paid above the minimum level, and she could have coped with a £4 minimum. And Linda McNally, of the 13-bedroom Alabaston House hotel in Torquay, also saw no problem with paying £3.60 an hour or more. She said: "People deserve it. They work terrible hours."

But Vivienne Evans, who runs the 18-bedroom Sunnymede hotel in Llandudno, expected redundancies among small Welsh establishments because they were unable to charge as much as similar hotels in places like the Lake District, York or the Cotswolds.

by Angela Frewin