Listen to the industry before criticising, Dr Howells

The majority of us run small places which barely survive. It is debatable what is a slave wage because, at the end of the day, it is relative to what revenue is generated.

The hotel and restaurant business is very manual and the net profit is low. The gross profits are high but, when you take into account rent, rates, administrative expenses, etc, there is not much left. That is why so many restaurants go out of business or do not make any profit. Even the good ones can go out of business because the running costs are so high compared with revenues generated.

As for Howells's comments about hospitality being a low-skilled industry, this shows a lack of knowledge. As in any industry, no one gets paid very much until they reach a certain level of skill. Even trainee accountants just out of university at 21 are not paid very much unless they work for a big firm. This is because they cannot generate enough revenue to justify high salaries.

In this industry, there are people who are paid high salaries once they reach a certain level - head chefs and general managers, for example.

If Kim Howells wants to reduce the paperwork that we have to do and reduce National Insurance, then this may help the hospitality industry. Otherwise, listen to the industry and the reasons behind the different hospitality cultures in each country before criticising.

There are good and bad hotels and restaurants in all countries. Berlin has had lots of grants and tax incentives to rebuild itself, but Howells does not point this fact out.

Paul Matteucci, London.

It isn't that Dr Howells is stupid - he has a PhD from Warwick University - it's just that he can't think straight.

He says we pay slave wages. So why did his government set the minimum wage at a slave-wage level? Of course, he ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands are paid above it.

In his beloved Pontypridd they certainly didn't pay miners slave wages. That's why there's no longer a mining industry. They priced themselves out of the world market and there isn't a miner left in Wales.

He doesn't realise that in Hong Kong you can employ four times as many workers in a hotel and still have a wage bill half of that in Europe.

Dr Howells has personal experience of the coal and steel industries. Since direct government action has wrecked both, could he not try to help hospitality recover before giving us the benefit of his views on how to ruin a successful industry?

If I were part of the Government, I would be less concerned about the long-term effects of foot-and-mouth than the short-term effects of Dr Howells's foot-in-mouth.

Derek Taylor, London N2.

I would like to endorse Kim Howells's comments about the state of UK hotels.

Speaking as one who worked in UK hotels for 40 years but was forced out by their ageism policy some four years ago, I couldn't agree more with him.

No longer are they interested in employing qualified people with experience, who can cook proper food rather than open a packet just because it is cheaper and more profitable.

Nor are they interested in employing staff who can serve politely and efficiently, rather than young, inexperienced and cheap labour on the minimum wage.

Hotels in this country are run by profiteers, not professionals. Money is never spent on maintenance until a place is in danger of falling down, and then never at the back of house which customers don't see.

Michael Bell, by e-mail.
To read Kim Howells's comments shows him up to know as much about his subject as Labour's new sports minister. Is Tony Blair peddling an "ignorance is bliss" theory, or just stupidity?

It's good grounds for a conspiracy theory along the lines that Cool Britain is so important to Labour that everything possible is being done to undermine the Old Britain.

If we rip people off and we underpay staff, how is it that something like nine out of 10 start-ups in catering still go bust in the first year?

By harping on about the obvious - telephone charges, wages, room rates, etc - and offering no solutions to the problems, Kim Howells is doing what I cannot stand in my heads of department - moaning. Unless he offers some positive ideas then he is just another minister stuck in a dead-end job that he did not want.

Kenneth Sharp, General Manager, Langshott Manor, near Gatwick, Surrey.

I read with great interest what Dr Howells says and also what Bob Cotton says (Caterer, 19 July, page 5). We must remember that we have to work in partnership with these people if as an industry we are going to move forward, and we will.

Foot-and-mouth has been a great setback for us but let's pick ourselves up and come back stronger than before.

We should all be working with the new tourism minister to address all the issues that he has brought up. I have been in this industry all my working life and we do have issues that need addressing. Low wages and skills come near the top of the list.

Give Dr Howells time to prove whether he is the man for the job (or not).

Terry Franks, North West Vice-Chairman, British Institute of Innkeeping, by e-mail.
How wonderful that a politician who has very little knowledge of hotels can actually see right through this lovely industry.

London is one of the most expensive cities in the world to work, travel and live in, but very little is being done to help the thousands of people who are employed in the hotel industry.

And now Claridge's has started a recruitment drive in Serbia (Caterer, 5 July, page 4) because it cannot find staff of the right calibre in the UK.

Mario Evangelides, Britannia Hotels, by e-mail.

Growing enthusiasm for sustainable tourism May I respond to the important report on the increasing environmental awareness of hotels (Caterer, 5 July, page 28).

Coincidentally, within the last six weeks, Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) has been accepted as an affiliate member of the International Hotels Environment Initiative.

This decision followed growing enthusiasm for sustainable tourism among our hoteliers, one of which won a major British Airways eco-tourism award last Year (Turtle Island, Fiji).

SLH is encouraging its members to promote "eco-incentives" for nature lovers, "green cause conferences", where delegates undertake conservation work, and even "wilderness honeymoons", where couples can be entirely alone.

After a decade of discussion (stimulated by the Prince of Wales, among others), green finally stands for go in hotels - both for a high profile and a good bottom line.

Brian Mills, Joint Managing Director, HGA, for and on behalf of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Star rating system for hygiene is ridiculous I object to the ridiculous idea of having to justify restaurant and catering hygiene standards by star ratings.

We do not have the number of environmental health officers required to visit premises to conduct normal inspections, never mind to award stars.

We have a national skills shortage already across the industry, so please explain why we would wish to sound the alarm bells to further complicate one of the main contributors to the service industries in the UK by applying this stupid idea in the first place.

It is yet another load of bureaucratic tosh from those working on the outside.

Steve Farmer, Birmingham.