STAFF at the five-star Kimpton Blythswood Square hotel in Glasgow have been told they are at risk of redundancy.

The hotel, like others, had to close temporarily as a result of the coronavirus crisis, and most of the staff of more than 200 were furloughed at that stage under the UK Government’s coronavirus job retention scheme.

A spokesman for the Kimpton Blysthwood Square hotel said: “This is a very difficult time for our industry, and we have done everything to protect and retain jobs for as long as possible.

"Our hotel is currently closed and, while we are looking forward to welcoming guests back when we can reopen, it will take time for travel and tourism to return to pre-coronavirus levels.

"As a result, we have launched a consultation to restructure our team, which unfortunately is likely to involve some redundancies.”

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It is understood that no details of the restructuring have been confirmed with the plans very much proposals at this stage, in a fast-changing environment, and consultation with staff is now under way.

The hotel has begun collective consultation because it expects redundancies to exceed the number of 20 which triggers such a process. There is no indication at this stage of the likely number of redundancies.

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Trade union Unite wrote on its Facebook page: “Kimpton Blythswood Square hotel has just issued collective notice of consultation for redundancy to its 200-plus workforce.

"They could continue to use the [UK Government] job retention scheme for most staff after opening but instead they…choose to cut costs and possibly terminate loyal workers in the middle of a global pandemic.”