City's Britannia Hotel chain sees £9.5m losses
The chain that owns Wolverhampton's Britannia Hotel made a loss of £9.5 million in its latest annual accounts.
Britannia Hotels has been ranked as the worst hotel chain in the UK for nine years in a row.
It reduced numbers employed from 2,740 to 1,765 in the year to March 31, 2021.
The Cheshire-headquartered business had made a profit of £13.7m in 2019-2020. Turnover fell from £120.4m to £38.3m for 2020-2021 as it was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The chain was ranked as the worst hotel chain in the annual survey by consumer group Which?
Britannia, which has 61 hotels across the UK, received an average customer score of only 49 per cent.
Conservative councillor Ellis Turrell recently suggested the city council should use compulsory purchase powers to buy and refurbish the Wolverhampton hotel rather than include a new premier hotel as part of the Westside project.
The site, next to the Grand Theatre, is currently being used by Serco to accommodate asylum seekers as part of the Home Office’s dispersal programme.
The Lichfield Street hotel, which was built in 1891, has been the subject of hundreds of poor reviews online and the building’s signage on the front of the building is in need of repair.
In the Which? survey 51 per cent of Britannia Hotels guests said they ran into a problem during their stay, with cleanliness being the most common issue. The chain was rated one star out of five for bathrooms, and two stars for seven other categories including cleanliness, customer service and value for money.
In relation to 2020-2021 the board said the 68 per cent fall in turnover reflected the impact Covid-19 had on performance.
On its future outlook the board said directors remained confident that the company was in a good position to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.
They said the hotels, which also include the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke-on-Trent and Britannia Hotel, Birmingham, had managed to maintain their competitive edge through the economic downturn and continued to take steps designed to attract new business and improve market share.
The priority is to maintain occupancy levels and manage operating costs so that the business is well placed to exploit further investment in new properties.
