Axed staff at Virgin Hotels Glasgow to be paid until end of the year

More than 100 staff who lost their jobs in the sudden closure of Virgin Hotels Glasgow are to be paid until the end of the year.

The 242-room luxury property shut its doors on Tuesday, just four months after opening in August.

A total of 130 employees were made redundant in the week before Christmas.

Liquidators FRP Advisory said Virgin Hotels had helped make up a shortfall in the business finances to cover payroll and ensure all staff were paid up until 31 December.

It came after the building’s owner Lloyds Developments Ltd, which had a management contract with Virgin Hotels, collapsed into administration on 1 December.

As a result, the directors of V Hotel Glasgow Ltd, which operated the hotel and employed its staff, instructed FRP Advisory to put the company into liquidation.

Sarah Cook of FRP Advisory said: “We know that this will be a very difficult time for employees, particularly so close to Christmas.

“Every effort has been made by the directors and by Virgin Hotels to find a way forward for the hotel in recent weeks, but this has unfortunately not been possible.

“The immediate closure of the hotel has, of course, resulted in the business no longer being financially viable and will therefore enter a liquidation process in the coming weeks.”

She added that employees would be supported to make claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.

Bryan Simpson, the lead organiser for Unite Hospitality, told the BBC staff had "got no notice at all" of the closure before Tuesday and said the union was planning to take legal action.

Interpath Advisory, which is handling the administration of Lloyd's Developments Ltd, said it was working to sell the building.

In a statement earlier this week, Virgin Hotels said it hoped to reopen the hotel once a new owner for the building was in place.

Virgin Hotels Glasgow was the second UK hotel under the Virgin brand after it returned to the market with an opening in Edinburgh in 2022.

The company also runs six hotels across the US.

Image; Sundry Photography / Shutterstock