London hotel owner warns on staff shortage

THE operator of some of London’s best-known hotels, including the Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes, is running short of good staff.

PPHE, which runs six Park Plazas in the capital, on Wednesday said that the UK has enjoyed a tourist boom thanks to the weakness of the pound.

But it warned shareholders, “inflationary pressures and the uncertainty pertaining to Brexit have led to a shortage of available qualified personnel”.

The shares slipped slightly, down 7.9p at 987.1p. In the past six months, revenue rose 27% to £142 million. Profit increased by 10% to £3.1 million.

The company completed and launched the Park Plaza London Waterloo and Park Plaza London Park Royal this year.

President and chief executive Boris Ivesha said: “We benefited from our new openings in Nuremberg and London, all of which are now fully operational.

“During the period, we continued to invest in the renovations of Park Plaza London Riverbank and Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam, and we are excited about their future prospects.”