Millennium & Copthorne Hotels suffers Brexit-induced recruitment woes

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels on Friday reported lower profits and warned Brexit is making it harder to hire staff in London.

The FTSE 250 operator of hotels in areas such as Knightsbridge, Kensington and next to Chelsea football club said it has faced difficulties in recruiting EU workers in the capital. They account for more than half the firm’s London workforce.

That is one of a number of headaches the hotelier is facing. It also pointed to UK wage rises, and competition from the growth of Airbnb.

Kwek Leng Beng, the group’s Singaporean billionaire chairman, said: “The hospitality industry faced a range of geopolitical and global headwinds in 2018, many of which look set to continue in the current year.”

Comparable revenue per room increased 2.4% last year at the company, which has hotels across the globe.

But, total reported revenues decreased to £997 million from £1 billion. Pre-tax profits fell 28% to £106 million.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, which also runs Bailey’s Hotel in Kensington, had a number of one-off costs during the period, including lost revenues from the Mayfair hotel in Grosvenor Square, which has been closed since November 2017 for a large refurbishment.