Staff shortage forces hotel to close two days a week during ‘busiest month of the year’

The Grange at Oborne in Dorset has announced it will close for two days a week during December due to staff shortages, despite it being its “busiest month of the year”.

The move is hoped to relieve the pressure on existing employees and will see the 18-bedroom property close after breakfast on Sundays and reopen for lunches on Tuesdays.

In a newsletter, owners Jon and Jenny Fletcher also announced the hotel will close for a week in November and from next year, for two weeks at Easter and the October half-term, to give staff a break.

The message said the business was struggling to recruit and some positions had remained empty despite advertising since March: “Our concern is that the fantastic staff that work here will reach the point of exhaustion. We are also struggling to find times when members of our team can take holiday. If this were a short-term problem we might find a way of persevering, but there seems to be no solution to the crisis and so, rather than muddling on in this way, we have decided to take some decisive action to ensure that we can protect the team here at the Grange.”

It also said: “Clearly these are decisions which have not been taken lightly. No business would want to reduce their trade, especially after having been closed for 10 out of 14 months. However, we feel that this is the right decision, taken at the right time.”

The hotel, which is a member of Best Western, became a discharge hospital last year, taking in staff and patients to relieve pressure on the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.