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'Fawlty' hotels will cost jobs, warns tourism chief
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent8 Jan 2009
GRUMPY hoteliers and overpriced restaurants face going to the wall in the recession, a government tourism chief warned today.
Up to 50,000 jobs could be lost in the industry over the next year.
Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of Visit Britain, added that businesses likely to fail were those overcharging or not offering the best customer service.
He said: "We're now in an environment where you have to do quality. Poor value for money and poor service costs jobs and will cost more jobs in a recession."
He told The Independent: "Threadbare towels, a previously owned bar of soap and a grumpy person who says, 'We don't do breakfast before 8am and we don't do it after 8.12am' - you don't get a lot of happy customers." He estimated tourism earnings in Britain would fall by £4billion during the recession, costing between 30,000 and 50,000 of 2.6 million jobs in the service industry.
Despite the poor outlook for hotels providing the level of service found in TV's Fawlty Towers, Britain could become a more sought-after holiday destination as the plummeting pound has created better value for overseas visitors.
Gordon Brown and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham will today meet tourism chiefs in Liverpool. The Prime Minister was expected to highlight a £6.5million Visit Britain campaign overseas. Recent falls in sterling have made visiting the UK from the eurozone about a fifth cheaper, a quarter less expensive for Americans and up to 40 per cent cheaper for the Japanese.
The campaign's slogan is "There's never been a better time to explore Britain". About 32 million people visit Britain each year.
Reader views (5)
If more people consulted the points awarded by 'Scored on Doors' (Scores on the doors is a national public information service where you can find the official local authority hygiene ratings for food businesses, they would eat out even less. Many of my local restaurants have only 1,2 or 3 points out of a maximum total of 5 - 1,2 are really equal to a fail. I now always consult the website before I eat out.
But forgetting cleanliness. Most restaurants and hotels are staffed by people with limited experience. Not like in Italy where most staff take pride in what they do. I do not enjoy visiting restaurants and hotels in the U.K., and am not prepared to pay £100 p.p. for a meal in one of the 'better' restaurants, or £300 p.n. for a decent hotel. There is a good chance that even these establishments will not make the grade!.
Part of the problem is one that is reflected in most businesses. Staff coming and going, no job security, no respect, lack of proper on-the-job training, weak management, bullying. I have seen this myself in many places I have worked at.
- Barbara B, London, 08/01/2009 17:49
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Everywhere retaurants, hotels, shops, are staffed in the UK by people who really shouldn't have direct contact with the public or customers. They never smile or say thank you or offer help in a pleasant manner. These businesses will not attribute any loss of revenue to this awful behaviour but entirely on the economic downturn. The seaside towns of Bournemouth and Poole are good examples of what I refer to.
- Raymond, london, 08/01/2009 16:42
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When business is suffering and government is imposing ever higher taxes and job destroying rules and regulations, what is the first thing that state-appointed officials do? Blame the businesses themselves for the recession! Why doesn't Visit Britain call for less taxes, fewer absurd regulations which have a particularly bad impact on small businesses. Why doesn't it point out that the C-Charge damages small businesses like hotels and restaurants and theatres? Or at least look into the matter? No, it is easier for them to attack the businesses they are supposed to be helping. Much easier than criticising their paymasters...maybe the first cut should be to their own budget. After all, do we really want to be paying a body supposedly set up to promote tourism for attacking our businesses in a competitive market. Where are these businesses? Who are they? That would be more useful than a general state-sponsored attack on a valuable part of the tourist industry.
- Damian Hockney, London, UK, 08/01/2009 14:30
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It is not just Hotels and Restaurants, it is theater staff as well.I will grant you that some restaurant staff have to be heard to be believed.
Some of the people who work in one of the priciest hotels in London, where I stayed a while ago, need to remember that they work in a hotel and not own it. I was stunned to find that every question was answered with a question, I eventually found the suite and my wife by asking the concierge.
We then went on to a theater and my wife's polite question with regard to the location of our seats was met with and I quote 'Look for them then'.
The above are only a few gripes but of course this is all down to training of staff and motivation.
Christopher Rodrigues has it right although, interestingly enough, I have always found the staff in pubs to be very pleasant. So upmarket and expensive - rude. Downmarket and reasonable - pleasant.
Surely something wrong , which Mr Rodrigues needs to take a look at as well.
- Howard, Gdansk, Poland, 08/01/2009 13:51
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So what! I can't remember the last time I encountered a British worker in a hotel or restaurant,
These businesses are foreign owned and foreign staffed, and if many of them close, good riddance.
- John Jones, Westminster, 08/01/2009 11:50
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