‘It was like Basil Fawlty running The Shining hotel’: Inside the collapse of Virgin Hotels Glasgow

Around 150 staff were told the hotel was closing and had their passes revoked

A worker in the kitchen of the five-star Virgin Hotel in Glasgow has spoken how his colleagues burst into tears of anger on hearing they would be closed down and lose their jobs just days before Christmas.

Union Unite has estimated between 130 and 200 job losses due to the closure reportedly caused by the company which operated the hotel, V Hotel Glasgow Limited, having insufficient funds to continue to open the plush lobby doors.

The 240-room hotel on the banks of the River Clyde opened to much fanfare in August, offering guests the chance to “sample [Glasgow’s] rich cultural heritage and warm hospitality”.

But the staff said they first heard about the risk to their jobs by reading a news report that circulated hours before a round-robin email urging staff to attend a crunch meeting at 10am the next morning.

Sir Richard Branson (centre) and CEO of Virgin Hotels James Bermingham (PA)

In that heated meeting with management, one worker reportedly shouted out ‘Are we going to be paid this month? This is a joke’.

Virgin Hotels spokeswoman insisted all staff would be paid for their work for the month.

More than two-thirds of staff stormed out of the meeting only to find their access wristbands or keycards were revoked.

All the rooms with stock in such as alcohol or expensive food and equipment were either barricaded closed or locked.

The kitchen staff compared the final days of Virgins Hotel Glasgow as like Basil Fawlty running the empty Overlook Hotel made famous in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

The experienced kitchen worker told The Independent anonymously: “The hotel itself was dead mostly. Some mornings we would have fewer than 10 guests for breakfast. It was embarrassing, the venue itself is stunning.

“There was no effort made by management to try and bring any business in; we had no afternoon tea, no Sunday lunch, no mid afternoon specialities and no evening events for people to attend.

“Given that we were pegged as a luxury offering there was nothing luxurious about it with most food stuffs being bought in despite us having an insanely talented kitchen team.

“We are a five-star hotel and we are opening tins of beans and using cheap washing-up liquid. We couldn’t even afford our own cleaning supplies.

“On some weekends we would only have four guests eating breakfast. We had so many more staff than guests.

“It was a bit like The Overlook Hotel in The Shining there was hardly anyone around and it was getting worse.

“Even during that final meeting the senior staff were like let’s put all these chairs away before anyone arrives. Then everyone came in and they decided to get the chairs out again. It was like Fawlty Towers and summed up all the confusion.”

He blamed the hotel’s marketing department and owners for not giving the hotel enough promotion or organising enough events to keep it running.

He said: “Money had been wasted on getting lifestyle influencers in to get free food and stay and write about how nice it is.

“That’s not how Glasgow works. The food has to be good, reviewers will pay the actual price and give it an honest review.”

A spokesperson from Virgin Hotels told The Independent that all staff would be paid for the month after Lloyds Developments Limited – the owner of Virgin Hotels Glasgow went into administration. 

She said: "Virgin Group tried to find solutions, including offering to purchase the hotel in order to keep the hotel open, keep the team in employment and ensure the completion of the development of the hotel, creating something the City of Glasgow could be proud of.

“ Unfortunately, the lenders have not accepted Virgin’s offers and intend to pursue a sales process with the hotel closed. Virgin Hotels is very disappointed by this decision after the hard work everyone has put into the hotel and because of the impact it will have on the team that works there.

“Virgin Hotels’ heartfelt thanks and gratitude are to those employees, suppliers and guests who have been integral to the hotel’s launch in the City of Glasgow. Virgin Group and the owners are committed to ensuring employees are paid for every day they have worked this month.

“The Virgin Hotels team continues to have great ambitions for managing the hotel in Glasgow and looks forward to re-opening once a new owner is in place.  No other Virgin hotel is impacted – all other Virgin Hotels remain open and operating as normal as all Virgin Hotels are independently owned.”

The directors of V Hotel Glasgow Ltd, the employer and operating company in respect of the hotel, are being advised by FRP Advisory LLP as they place that company into liquidation.

A representative of FRP 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.

“We are grateful to Virgin Hotels for their support in making up the shortfall in the business finances to enable us to make payroll and ensure that all employees will receive full wages up to 31^stDecember. We will also continue to support employees in making any further claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”