Minotel in administrative receivership

Hotel reservation and marketing consortium Minotel Great Britain has gone into administrative receivership, with the foot-and-mouth crisis blamed for pushing it over the edge. Joint administrator Paul Flint, of KPMG Corporate Recovery, hopes to sell all or parts of the Blackpool-based consortium as a going concern. He said 40% of the group's 130 members looked unlikely to renew their membership because of foot-and-mouth. "Minotel Great Britain has been badly hit by the effects of foot-and-mouth disease on the hotel business across the country. In addition, long haul traffic coming into the UK and Europe has been significantly affected, with cancellations running at around a third," Flint said. "Membership for 2002 has to be booked by 31 May this year and it seems that many hoteliers have been deterred as a result of concerns over foot-and-mouth and general uncertainty in the hotel trade." Eight of Minotel's 13 staff have been made redundant as part of a restructure to allow the company to continue trading while a buyer is sought. Flint described foot-and-mouth as "a final blow" following difficult trading conditions over the past 12 months. Last month, four key staff including directors Carl Les and Robin Twigge quit the consortium because they were unhappy about its "top-down" structure and the alleged non-distribution of one-third of last year's guides. Hotel members have also complained about poor financial returns on their subscriptions. Minotel Great Britain is an affiliated member of Swiss-based Minotel International, which promotes over 700 hotels throughout Europe.