COVID-19: Hotel Equatorial Penang bows out, hoteliers call for help

AS COVID-19 ravages lives and livelihoods, Hotel Equatorial Penang announced to its staff that it will be closing down its business, effective March 31.

In a letter sighted by FocusM, its general manager Alan HC Ong told his employees that the hotel directors made the decision due to adverse business condition triggered by COVID-19.

“This is a very sad and difficult decision. The last day of business to the public has yet to be decided but it will be before March 31.

“Until we officially cease operations, all of you shall remain as employees of the hotel and we remain committed to upkeep the strong heritage and name of Hotel Equatorial Penang,” he said.

Ong reiterated to his employees that the hotel will pay out severance benefits despite suffering huge losses, adding details will be announced later.

Letter issued by Hotel Equatorial Penang to its employees

“Please rest assured that the management shall strive to comply with all its obligations to you in accordance with your terms and conditions of employment,’ he added.

On related matter, Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) said that despite their valiant attempt, many of its members have folded and called for the Government to intervene on the matter.

“Since last year, approximately 90 hotels have closed either temporarily or permanently, affecting over 7,000 employees directly and indirectly.

“With that, about 6% of the employees have been retrenched, while others are either on pay cuts or being placed on unpaid leaves.

“With the situation worsening, hotel occupancy is expected to drop lower than it was in March and April last year. We are once again forced to make the difficult consideration after suffering almost a year of financial losses. We can expect more hotels to close and more to lose their jobs,” its CEO Yap Lip Seng told FocusM.

On what the Government can do to help, Yap said that the current quantum under the Wage Subsidy Programme was insufficient to retain staffers.

“It is one of the main reasons why unemployment is rising in the tourism industry. We have said this multiple times to the Government and with the situation worsening, we need a higher wage subsidy.

“We are looking at something like 50% for those earning up to RM4,000, and 30% for those up to RM8,000 in order for employers to retain jobs,” he opined.

Yap added that the tourism industry’s 3.6 million workforce is also calling for the Government to extend an automatic loan moratorium to ease their burden.

He said that the Government should also up its discounts on utility bills, at 50% for water and electricity tariff for those in the tourism sector.

“Last year, a 15% discount was given to industries up to September but we only get 10% now. While our industry is suffering losses, Tenaga Nasional Bhd still managed to rake in a net profit of RM2.38 bil as of September last year.

“And we also need the local councils to extend discounts for assessments and quit rent during this unprecedented time,” Yap remarked. – Jan 26, 2021.

Subscribe and get top news delivered to your Inbox everyday for FREE