Recently in credit crunch Category

The exclusive Barnsley House hotel, haunt of Gwyneth Paltrow, Liz Hurley and Elton John is the latest to be hit by the crunch.

It's a gorgeous 17th century Cotswold stone pile, near the town of Cirencester, with two pubs, the Village Pub and the Catherine Wheel also under the same ownership. Rooms were priced between £295 and £570.

But all these factors were not enough to save it from administrators KPMG, now running the business for Barnsley House Ltd.

The 70 full- and part-time staff running the hotel are threatened with job losses.

Hotel insolvencies soar as hoteliers face tough 2009 >>

Hotel revpar forecast to plummet by 19% in 2009 >>

Wozza's having a tough time of it, as any of you who've been reading the papers or switched on the news will know. Last week he and his wife toured the six restaurants in his group to tell 65 of his 105 staff that they would be losing their jobs as his company had bust.

The administrator that was winding up his firm was supposed to do it, but he was stuck in snow. At least the fact AWT did the deed meant it was "more gentle" for his staff, albeit the same outcome ensued.

A few staff will remain, due to the fact that Worrall Thompson has bought back two of his restaurants he tells the Evening Standard: the Kew and Windsor grills. The Lamb Inn and the Greyhound, both in Henley-on-Thames, the Notting Grill and the Barnes Grill are those locking their doors for good.

Worrall Thompson owes Lloyds Bank around £250,000, and suppliers and loans make up another £200,000, but he was working towards paying it off, if only the banks had listened to him.

"This is a recession that didn't need to happen," he says. "It's a recession created by greed. Why isn't there rioting in the streets?"

Antony Worrall Thompson forced to close restaurants >>

Credit crunch forces Antony Worrall Thompson to close the Greyhound >>

You might think that the World Economics Forum in Davos would have plenty of things to keep them in sombre mood - such as an international recession and near collapse of the banking system - but news has reached us that some are still partying like it's 1999.

Dignitaries and political big-wigs have practically polished off the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere hotel's annual supply of 1971 Chateau Petrus premier cru, which sells for $1,700 a bottle according to gm Ernst Wyrsch.

However it seems some attendees are more sensitive to the economic plight affecting the rest of us.

We hear reports of banks down-grading from Krug and Dom Perignon at receptions to Laurent Perrier or white wine. And luxury foods such as caviar have found themselves blacklisted for being too ostentatious and sending out the wrong corporate message. You think... 

We all love a white Christmas and one hotelier in Scotland is so convinced that it'll snow next week, he's promised to give guests a £50 refund if it doesn't.

Andrew Cox, owner of the Loch Kinord Hotel in Dinnet, Aberdeenshire, is offering guests a three-night festive deal that includes bed and breakfast, Christmas lunch and a white winter wonderland on 25 December.

He is offering the package for the third year, reports the Daily Record, having been left nearly £3000 out of pocket due to no-snow refunds over the past two years.

But Andrew and wife Jenny hope their luck will change this year. "We started it because we hadn't had snow for a couple of years and thought we must be due a white Christmas," Andrew said.

"We just thought the odds were going to be in our favour. But it hasn't worked like that, so it would be good if it comes this year. It's always quite nice to have a bit of snow for Christmas."

With the credit crunch and falling hotel rates making things tough for Scottish hoteliers, let's hope Andrew's wish comes true this Christmas.

Property group Unitech is to invest half a billion dollars in hotel openings across India with 35 new properties planned in the next seven years.

Yes, you heard right - 35 new venues, as the world markets and finance for new property deals crumbles.

They already have land for many of them, while cities targeted are Calcutta, Chennai, Goa, Mysore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Siliguri and Assam.

Go on, go for it you Unitech guys. Managing director Sanjay Chandra and his team are behind the roll-out.

You'd expect tougher economic times to be hitting all aspects of the economy, but not the classic Eastern European weekend away, apparently.

British people on stag and hen weekends are still choosing Budapest (pictured), Bratislava, Riga, Warsaw and Krakow as their favoured destination - and in numbers.

Stag Republic, a UK-based stag organiser of stays away in these parts is reporting bookings higher this year than at the same time in 2007.

According to its managing director Josey Walker "People may be making cutbacks because of the credit crunch, but they are saving up for their weekends away."

The average group size of stag or hen parties heading abroad has dropped, and more basic hotels are being booked as well. But people are looking for more activity-based trips away, such as quad biking and pistol shooting. That beats whiling away the hours hassling the local talent, at least.

Sophisticated guests opt for independent hotels >>

Budget hotels show resilience to credit crunch >>

Many are warning against doing it, but Hyatt hotels have become the first group to take the plunge on this scale. The company is cutting rates for nearly two weeks in the run-up to Christmas for guests in any property worldwide.

Nearly 350 properties, including Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites will have the 21% price cut, if booked before 12 December.

Stays must be made before 1 February, and they've cleverly inserted a clause into the offer that full payment is made at the time of booking - and it's non-refundable.

Hotels involved include the Grand Hyatt in New York, at $201 for a room previously $255, Park Hyatt in Tokyo at $302, rather than $384.

It's a response that many others will be following in similar kind.

Economic slowdown could force drop in room rates >>

Hyatt to launch in Beijing >>

Americans are already making their predictions for next year - and what happens there tends to come here after a lag time of around four-six months. It's not hard to think of an example...the collapse of the over-funded mortgage market is a pretty good case of something reaching here with knobs on.

Anyway, one thing they're predicting is the demise of the big-ticket hotel restaurant chef next year. No surprise there, you might say, except that it would have a major impact on the dining rooms of Park Lane if that came to pass.

On that particular strasse top name chefs are packed in tighter than a Victoria line commuter train carriage, and some were said to be experiencing some difficulties even before the horrendous past six months came to pass. 

The issue around MFI and Woolworths is that they were just keeping their head above water in the good times. Now things have dipped somewhat the removal men have been called in, and I can think of a few that the same applies to on that famous Monopoly dark blue coloured-road

Let's hope Aiden Byrne leaving the Dorchester isn't a harbinger of things to come.

Alain Ducasse brings in new chef at the Dorchester >>

Aiden Byrne to head the grill at the Dorchester >>

 They may have launched another one of those man-made island things with a party costing over £10m this week, and construction of the tallest building in the world goes on - a kilometre high being the target - but finally there's evidence that the unreal bubble the country lives in may be pricked, if not burst.

The Dubai government has debts of £52 billion, and it's rising fast as investment continues at its breakneck pace. Two banks that are entwined with the booming property market have been recently bailed out by the overarching United Arab Emirates State. Amlak Finance and Tamweel have become the Emirates Development Bank. In effect Abu Dhabi has come to the rescue of its big-spending Dubai neighbours.

We could enjoy their discomfort, but things are nowhere near as bad as they are here, and any pain they have will be likely to affect us eventually too, via higher oil prices.

Atlantis resort launched with £13.5m party >>

Dubai takes lead in Arab hotel expansion efforts>>

After intial reports that Chelsea dwellers were trading down from Michelin starred establishments to more brasserie-style eateries such as Sophie's Steakhouse on the Fulham Road, it seems the trend is spreading and has now reached the leafy suburbs of Chiswick.

Sam of Sam's Brasserie, reports a betweeded couple walking in the other day who asked to speak to him. Being the obliging chap he is, he sauntered over to talk to them. They had known about Sam's for ages, they admitted, but had never eaten there before as they normally dined at the Michelin starred La Trompette around the corner.

However, because of the recession, they had now traded down to eat at Sam's, they explained to him, almost apologetically. We didn't realise things had gotten this bad?!