Julia Hands, chairwoman and chief executive of Hand Picked Hotels, spoke this week at the June Chamber of Commerce Lunch, hosted at one of her hotels, L’Horizon Beach Hotel in St Brelade.
Mrs Hands was very positive about the future of hospitality, but said that there were challenges including a skills shortage, providing staff accommodation and refurbishment costs and contracts.
‘We’ve invested heavily in our portfolio and have done this because we believe it is a strong market and will remain so,’ she said. However, she added that hospitality was under pressure from a skills shortage and the need to provide affordable housing for staff.
She told the business audience that the Hand Picked group try to buy local where possible and 95% of their maintenance and servicing is undertaken by local contractors, but getting quotes for renovation works is challenging.
‘Refurbishment costs are substantially higher than in the UK, 25% more expensive,’ she said.
She added that larger projects had been awarded to UK contractors because they work faster and are more competitive.
Her comments come just weeks after it was announced that the Jersey Development Company had entered into a joint venture with a French construction business to build its Horizon development at the Waterfront because local firms were too busy.
Hand Picked Hotels has 20 country house and spa hotels throughout the UK, three of which are in the Channel Islands. Grand Jersey Hotel and Spa is their second Jersey hotel.
The Jersey Construction Council were contacted for a comment but were unavailable.
