Compass Hotel suddenly shuts down

The Compass Hotel, near Junction 10 of the M6 in Walsall, has shut due to financial difficulties. It has left customers with bookings at the hotel out of pocket and scrambling to make alternative arrangements.

The 154-bedroom hotel in Wolverhampton Road West, owned by Walsall Operations Ltd, was run by Compass Hotel Ltd up until August 19.

Compass chief executive Julian Tee said today: "The decision to close the hotel with immediate effect was made on Friday.

"Our contract with Walsall Operations Ltd concluded naturally on August 19."

Walsall Operations Ltd is based in the UK but has links to Denmark. No one from the firm was available for comment.

Bilston couple Andrew Jones and Lisa Tipper were due to have their wedding reception at the venue next weekend.

Mr Jones and Miss Tipper, of Barn Farm Close, booked a wedding reception consisting of sit-down dinner and evening buffet at the hotel 15 months ago.

Nursery nurse Lisa said: "The manager called on Friday and told me the hotel had gone into liquidation and we had lost the reception and all of our money.

"I just collapsed on the floor in tears. We've had to rearrange our whole wedding reception in a week.

"There are no words to describe how I feel."

The Compass, formerly the Quality Hotel, hit the headlines in June after it was served with a prohibition notice by West Midlands Fire Service. It was threatened with closure, after fire chiefs discovered it had been without a working alarm for four months.

Hotel staff were told to patrol the two-storey building and sound air horns in the event of a blaze. The site was formerly owned by Real Hotel Group, operating as The Quality Hotel.

Real also ran Quality Hotels in Wolverhampton, Penkridge and Birmingham but went into administration in January.

The Real Hotel Group suspended its shares amid uncertainty over its financial position, after sales plummeted 34 per cent in the first seven days of January.