Former United stars hand over luxury hotels to health workers

Former footballers Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs have pledged to make none of their staff redundant after taking the decision to close their two hotels.

The former Manchester United stars turned property developers are also offering their Hotel Football next to Old Trafford and recently opened Stock Exchange Hotel for use by healthcare workers.

The footballers’ firm GG Hospitality announced today it has taken the decision to close the two hotels under its management temporarily.

Hotel Football and Stock Exchange Hotel will close from Sunday.

The recently opened Stock Exchange is one of the most luxurious in the city and comes with an exclusive penthouse.

GG Hospitality also announced that it will not be making any member of its staff redundant or putting anyone on unpaid leave.

From left, Winston Zahra, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and GG Hospitality COO Stewart Davies

The company is working with its team to put a package in place for all staff members for the months ahead.

GG Hospitality further announced that following discussions that took place over the past week with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), the company will be accommodating their healthcare workers and medical professionals free of charge at the hotels.

GG Hospitality chief executive Winston Zahra said “We are living in unprecedented times and we have taken these decisions in the most responsible way possible and in a way that supports our team members while also extending further support to the wider community and ensuring our business is stronger when things get back to normal”.

Gary Neville, one of the main shareholders of GG Hospitality, said: “We have taken this decision as we believe in being proactive and decisive.

“We feel that we have a responsibility to protect our team members and as shareholders we have put together the resources to put us in the best position to do this.

“Our company’s success is all down to our team and we feel it is critical that we look after everyone in these challenging times.

“We have been putting plans together for the past four weeks and have triggered various actions as things have developed.

“A key consideration in our plans was to try and support the wider community and more specifically our local NHS hospitals. By offering both our hotels without cost to the health service we hope that this gives some support to the healthcare professionals in a time when they need it.

“We will reopen once the situation is declared safe and, in the meantime, we will do our utmost to ensure our team members are looked after and where possible we will help the wider community.  These are not easy times, but we are confident we will come out on the other end stronger as a company and as a community”.

Gill Heaton, group deputy chief rxecutive at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), said: “A huge thank you to Gary and the team at GG Hospitality for this incredible gesture. This will give a real boost to our hard-working NHS staff at MFT who are working round the clock to provide care for the communities we serve.”