20 staff from the Auckland House Hotel have been made redundant along with 44 others across the country, including some at the head office as administrators of the Carlauren Group announce the closure of three hotels within their Heritage Hotel Group.
The Guardian reported last month that Sean Murray, the 53-year-old founder of the Carlauren Group, raised more than £75m from private investors, which was used to fund his lavish lifestyle buying a fleet of yachts and luxury cars.
Three hotels closing
As well as Auckland House Hotel in Shanklin closing, Headway Hotel in Morecambe will fully close, and Cumbria’s Lambert Manor will be closing its main hotel.
The news follows the appointment of Quantuma and Duff and Phelps as joint administrators over the Carlauren Group of companies. They have a remit to investigate the disappearance of more than £50m of investors’ money.
Jackson: Immediate priority to ensure those affected receive appropriate support
Carl Jackson, managing partner at Quantuma, said:
“We were appointed joint administrators on 28th November and have been working tirelessly in this time to stabilise the position of the group.
“With regret it has been necessary to make the difficult decision to close three of the Heritage Hotel properties. The seasonal nature of these properties means heavy trading losses are forecast for the first quarter of the year meaning that that any profits made elsewhere in the group would be negated.
“Our immediate priority is to ensure that those affected receive the appropriate support required to enable them to make the necessary claims from the Redundancy Payments Service. We will be closely managing the group’s trading position and will possibly seek to take steps to reopen some or all of these properties as appropriate in due course.
“In the meantime the remaining properties in the group will continue to trade, securing the ongoing employment of the remaining two hundred staff.”
The Carlauren Group are also responsible for the Ocean Hotel revdevelopment in Sandown that has stood derelict since earlier this year.
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