£8m Yang Sing hotel closes as downturn bites

The £8m Yang Sing Oriental hotel has today closed its doors, less than eight months after its opening.
 
The company will be placed into the hands of a liquidator, with the loss of 30 jobs.
 
Managing director Gerry Yeung launched the £8m project in a listed building next to his restaurant on Princess Street in Manchester last July.

He said: “It is a tragedy. My team are amazing and one of the saddest outcomes of this is that 30 people will be made redundant.
 
“Together we have created the best hotel in Manchester and business was growing. Everyone who stayed here loved it, but we couldn’t have picked a worse time to open a luxury hotel: with a global banking crisis, credit crunch, and the worst recession since the 1930s.
 
“I have committed an additional £1m of my personal money to the Yang Sing Oriental since it was launched, but with room rates being massively discounted across the luxury hotel market, and with no end to the recession in sight, the business is just not sustainable – and the fact that we are highly geared does not help.”
 
The Yang Sing Restaurant, located next door and run jointly by Mr Yeung and his brother Harry for more than 30 years, is unaffected by the hotel’s closure.

Less than two weeks ago, the 48-room hotel was forced to slash its mid-week prices by up to 50% in a bid to improve occupancy rates.

Mr Yeung blamed the economic climate for its failure to attract a stronger following from the business community.