Marriott, Capital Hotel Tango Over Abuja Sheraton Hotel Closure

MANAGERS of Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Marriott International, have expressed displeasure over the closure of the hotel’s operations by its owners, Capital Hotels Plc.

  Marriott International’s Area Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Richard Collins, in a statement on Tuesday, October 18 in Abuja, regretted the inconveniences occasioned by the closure, reiterating its commitment to the wellbeing of its staff.

  According to the statement: “We are deeply concerned with the decision taken by the owners of the Sheraton Abuja Hotel to close the hotel within a short time frame, causing unnecessary distress to employees and significant disruption to guests, suppliers and other partners.

  “We disagree with the manner in which the owners, Capital Hotels Plc, have hurried the decision to close the hotel without making sufficient arrangements for the 291 hotel employees, some of who have worked at this iconic property for many decades.

  “The wellbeing of hotel employees is our first priority and we will continue to do our best to support them during this difficult period.”

  But a statement by the management of Capital Hotels Plc stated that the hotel union members protested against Marriott over the non-payment of their severance packages, as agreed, as well as other issues bordering on safety standards due to the degraded state of the hotel, which endangered the lives of employees, guests and the public.

  This, it stated, led the management of Capital Hotel Plc to temporarily shut down operations to enable them carry out renovations on the hotel, adding that the new owners had communicated the decision to temporarily shut down the hotel to Marriott since September this year.

https://d-16391478973268729720.ampproject.net/2209142312000/frame.html   “The management of the hotel also assured that most of the employees would be reabsorbed upon reopening of the hotel, dowsing the fears of job loss.

  “This commitment from the management is in addition to the mouth-watering severance package that the employees would be receiving as a consequence of the temporary closure.

  “This development is coming in the wake of the acquisition of majority stake in Capital Hotel Plc, owners of the hotel, by 22 Hospitality Limited,’’ the statement said.

  In the same vein, the Group Executive Director of NIPCO, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir, expressed the company’s desire to restore the hotel to its former glory as “first-choice luxury hotel,” in Abuja.

  Abdulkadir, in an earlier statement by NIPCO’s spokesman, Alhaji Lawal Taofeek, said the strategic drive was targeted towards making the hotel a leading hospitality firm, offering premium services to customers in accordance with global standards, saying: “The hotel is currently managed by Starwood/Marriott under various system licence agreements with CHP.

  “In the past, Starwood had acknowledged in various reports that the hotel was in a much degraded state and would require hard renovations to make it brand compliant.

  “However, despite the hotel’s poor condition and non-compliance with its brand standards, Marriot/Starwood has continued to manage the Sheraton Abuja Hotel, which is currently in a dilapidated and deplorable state.”