UK hotel group Millennium & Copthorne sees Brexit-led hiring crunch
The group says workers from the EU account for nearly half of its workforce in London properties
London — Britain’s impending exit from the EU is making it hard to hire workers from the bloc who are at the centre of London’s hotel business, operator Millennium & Copthorne Hotels says. The luxury chain, which owns seven four and five-star hotels in London including one in Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, said workers from the EU accounted for nearly half of its workforce in London properties. While housebuilders and others known to rely heavily on east European labour have yet to report any big squeeze on workforces, the comments from the hotel chain are among the first signals from listed firms in the hospitality industry. “Concerns about Brexit have affected the group’s UK hotels especially in London,” the company said in an annual results release, adding the issue was adding to pressures on labour costs from 2018’s increase in the UK minimum wage. “The hospitality industry faced a range of geopolitical and global economic headwinds in 2018, many of which look set to continu...
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