Handpicked Hotels, which owns a number of establishments across the Channel Islands and the UK, is to convert the 11-room Bay View from tourist accommodation to 14 bedrooms for workers at Grand Jersey Hotel & Spa.
The move follows the lodging of a planning application last month by the
Royal Yacht Hotel’s parent group to convert the 33-bedroom Mountview Hotel on New St John’s Road into staff accommodation.
Shaun McGachan, general manager of the Grand Jersey Hotel & Spa, said that it had become very difficult to retain and recruit hospitality staff but was unable to attribute the difficulty to any specific causes.
‘There is still so much uncertainty with Brexit and we have had people registering to retain their rights to remain here,’ he said.
‘But Brexit is not necessarily the main issue; it is a combination of a large
number of factors. Jersey is a tough place to recruit and retain staff and we have seen that in the past 12 months with places closing.
‘We are in a fortunate position where our owners are committed to investing in the team but smaller places are probably in a position where they will not be able to do so.’
Mr McGachan added that his business subsidised the rent of a number of its staff and said that if the Island wanted to retain more personnel, it needed to offer more affordable accommodation.
He added that the plans were also aimed at improving staff’s work-life balance.
‘Currently, some of our staff are living in the hotel because we do not have staff accommodation and they never feel like they are leaving work but with this project, they should feel like they are able to step away,’ he said.
‘Hospitality is, overall, a pretty transient industry and we have been very fortunate that we have had a high amount of Jersey people with local housing qualifications that do not need housing but obviously, as the Jersey Hospitality Association has highlighted, we are now bringing Kenyans to Jersey to fill in the gaps left by those from the UK and Europe.’
In August, it was reported that the Charing Cross Premier Inn was experiencing a staffing shortage with three housekeeping staff servicing its 91 rooms.
And now the chain is due to open a 122-bedroom hotel in Bath Street as
part of £70 million plans to regenerate the area.
Asked if he thought the UK-based company could struggle to recruit sufficient staff, he said: ‘It is not just for them but for everybody with a new business which is just starting up. They may struggle to fill the vacancies they have if they do not have accommodation in place,’ he said.
‘A lot of staff just cannot afford to live in Jersey. It is not just hospitality but right across the board.’
