THE boss of a rival to the Sefton Group has criticised the government’s decision to prop up the indebted hotel group.
Mark Wilson, managing director of Sleepwell Hotels Group, said: ‘This intervention into the private sector has very clear negative implications for the Isle of Man hospitality sector (and others), both in terms of operations and also the ability to secure future private investment.
‘Sleepwell Hotels, as part of a diversified global asset portfolio, operates a business with over 200 beds on the Isle of Man, a similar number in the UK, as well as restaurants, bars, a nightclub and event facilities. In the Isle of Man, Sleepwell Hotels considers its natural competitor to be the Sefton Group.
However, the differences are obvious. Sleepwell Hotels has invested over £30 million into Douglas Promenade in recent years and its beneficial owner, Jim Mellon, has displayed an unparalleled track record of active support for the wider Isle of Man economy and community.
‘The Government, in return, has created for us a biased and dysfunctional commercial environment, with unfair competition making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Sleepwell Hotels to trade profitably in the future.
‘The Sefton Group is now free, with its Government support, to undertake a policy of anti-competitive discounting and uncapped re-investment secure in the knowledge that the Government will have to support its underwriting.
‘Further, to make sense of the intervention, the Sefton Group will presumably also be the sole beneficiary of the significant volume of annual government hotel and hospitality business - handed over with no transparent due process.
He added that before the government’s Sefton Group intervention, Sleepwell Hotels was happy to continue investment into its bed-stock.
The Claremont, which is in the third phase of a £2 million refurbishment, now provided an international standard and fit for purpose 4-star-plus business hotel he said.
Mr Wilson added: ‘Sleepwell Hotels’ parent company demonstrated its commitment to the island by tendering to re-develop the former bus station on Lord Street, Douglas, only for the contract to be awarded to another party. There is now little, if any, rationale for further investment into our hotels on the Island.
‘The government’s actions will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect upon the large number of local businesses that are engaged in competition with the Sefton Group across various sectors. At a time that many companies and individuals toil to succeed in a difficult economic climate, the government has rendered that struggle all the greater by favouring one enterprise over many.’
