Merit Closes today

[forestpixie]

The largest hotel chain in the country, the Merit group, has announced that it will close its hotels in North Cyprus indefinitely because of the continuing economic uncertainty.

Pointing out that tourism has come to a complete standstill with the banning of three-day unquarantined entrances into the country, Merit officials informed the public that they decided to close indefinitely due to the uncertainty and indecision.

Merit Group Issued the following statement:

“We are sorry to announce to the public;

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, within the framework of the decisions taken by the authorities by completely ignoring the economy, we have made both tax and market payments in full, and we have protected our colleagues as far as possible.

“Even the three-day unquarantined arrivals, which were previously implemented, were the motivation and lifeline to the tourism sector.

“However, we regret to announce to the public that we decided to close the Merit hotels, the biggest hotel chain in the TRNC, indefinitely, due to the ongoing instability and uncertainty as of today. From LGC

[EnjoyingTheSun]

The largest hotel chain in the country, the Merit group, has announced that it will close its hotels in North Cyprus indefinitely because of the continuing economic uncertainty.

Pointing out that tourism has come to a complete standstill with the banning of three-day unquarantined entrances into the country, Merit officials informed the public that they decided to close indefinitely due to the uncertainty and indecision.

Merit Group Issued the following statement:

“We are sorry to announce to the public;

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, within the framework of the decisions taken by the authorities by completely ignoring the economy, we have made both tax and market payments in full, and we have protected our colleagues as far as possible.

“Even the three-day unquarantined arrivals, which were previously implemented, were the motivation and lifeline to the tourism sector.

“However, we regret to announce to the public that we decided to close the Merit hotels, the biggest hotel chain in the TRNC, indefinitely, due to the ongoing instability and uncertainty as of today. From LGC

Makes sense.
You can't keep opening for a limited time or half opening.
Best to take the hit, close and reopen when conditions are more favourable.
Its kipper season anyway for tourism so re-evaluate in March for April.

[forestpixie]

But will they reopen is the question

[EnjoyingTheSun]

But will they reopen is the question

I'd be amazed if they don't. Having hotels is a hell of a capital investment to write off. It's not like folding up a table in a market and knocking out a bit of stock.
Also they would struggle to sell them for anything much in the current climate so I think they are all in so to speak.

What they can't keep doing is opening a bit then being closed or having their business operations so limited that they can't make a profit.
Also the logistics of letting staff and perishable stock go then re-hiring/rebuying etc etc.
This was always the problem with the lockdown idea, I could never see a exit strategy from it because zero infections isn't feasible in the short to medium term.

Whilst indefinitely usually means you'll not going to see them again I think here it makes more sense than saying we are going to re-open on March 1st when they have no idea what the circumstances will be then.

[forestpixie]

Enjoying The Sun.... This was always the problem with the lockdown idea, I could never see a exit strategy from it because zero infections isn't feasible in the short to medium term.

I quite agree. I believe the Merit ownee had hotels in Turkey at one point maybe he can relocate some staff there. I feel for those that were told the bad news today.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

I quite agree. I believe the Merit ownee had hotels in Turkey at one point maybe he can relocate some staff there. I feel for those that were told the bad news today.

I think you'll find that Merit moved into TRNC in a big way when gambling was made illegal on the mainland, which it still is. I'm not 100% sure they have any in Turkey, I think they have some in Bulgaria and Montenegro. Basically they open hotel casinos so need gaming to be legal.

Even if they did have hotels in Turkey, I doubt if any hotel operation in the world is running at even 50% so they are probably doing well to hold onto the staff they have in operations let alone load up with extras.

The hospitality industry worldwide is wrecked and there are going to be lots of casualties.
If anything I think Merit is better placed to survive than most.

[forestpixie]

Watch this space eh

[Brazen]

What’s the odds on the 3 day rule being reintroduced?

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Watch this space eh

Yeah fingers crossed, especially for the workers

[EnjoyingTheSun]

What’s the odds on the 3 day rule being reintroduced?

Well it didn’t work so normally you’d think that would be enough to stop it’s reintroduction but.....

I think the problem is people have to be seen to do something and come up with ideas. They don’t have to necessarily be good ideas.

The vaccine I hope will be the answer but I have some doubts there. It might solve covid 19 but what’s the guarantees on covid 20 or 21?
Whatever the way forward is I don’t think strict lockdowns is the answer.

[Chriswright03]

Copied from a FB group and a translation provided by Issy Atahasan.

""This is because the economy has been completely ignored in the decisions taken"
Kutluba said, "We have made our tax and trade payments in full. In addition, we have taken care of our colleagues within our means. The 3-day non-quarantined arrivals that were previously implemented were motivation and life source for the tourism sector. However, due to the continued indecisiveness and uncertainty as of where we are today, we have had to make the decision to close Merit hotels, the largest hotel chain in the TRNC, indefinitely.""

It would appear that many of the Hotels are being criticised for their actions on New Years Eve where despite the rules of no entertainment many were seen at various places by people posting on Social Media. Blaming the removal of the three day no quarantine rule that allowed who know who into the Country to go to the casinos and mix with staff and others from within the TRNC was never a good idea. Be it for financial reasons or the fact that they have been caught out flouting the laws who knows. I feel for the staff and their families but if we don't want to end up in a full lock down once more then something has to be done to stop mass gatherings be it in a hotel or wherever.

[alphamike]

Les Ambassadeurs also announces closure. https://www.yeniduzen.com/oteller-bir-b ... 35570h.htm

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Les Ambassadeurs also announces closure. https://www.yeniduzen.com/oteller-bir-b ... 35570h.htm

I'd be surprised by any that don't announce it tbh.
There maybe an element of trying to force the government into bending its restrictions of course.

[Mimi2]

I think we should all be more concerned. For the hundreds of Hotel staff. Who lost their jobs yesterday

[Deniz1]

Sadly its the way of humans to find a way around rules and regulations always has been.

[forestpixie]

I think we should all be more concerned. For the hundreds of Hotel staff. Who lost their jobs yesterday

Yes

[EnjoyingTheSun]

I think we should all be more concerned. For the hundreds of Hotel staff. Who lost their jobs yesterday

Absolutely and there isn't going to be any magic wand here.
If Merit re-opens in the Spring/early summer then they won't be running at anything like the capacity they were. The tourists they rely on have taken an economic hit due to the lockdown and whilst you might manage to put food in the fridge and pay the rent, holiday's and weekends gambling are an easy cut to make.
I suspect that some of the jobs lost will never reappear and a lot of them won't reappear for a few years.

This isn't going to be a recession. When they say it's the worst recession in a hundred years they are taking us back to the recession.
I can remember talking to my grandparents about the 30s depression. Compared to that the second world war sounded quite jolly.

[PoshinDevon]

Please use this topic to post about the Merit Hotel closure or similar hotel closures in the TRNC. Any off topic posts will be deleted.

Previous posts which were off topic have been moved to the politics forum under the topic Lockdown, obeying the rules and politics.

Because posts have had to be moved this topic may not read as easily but I make no apologies for this.

Whilst sometimes things do drift please try and stick to the original topic.

[Deniz1]

Their casinos are still open so some are working.

[alphamike]

Quite a long article from yesterday, so have just copied and pasted header.

The 'epidemic' question from casinos to the government: "Why did you leave us open?"The Covid-19 Pandemic ended tourism in the country. The casino and the hotels fell silent, one after the other, announcements of closure began.

https://www.yeniduzen.com/casinolardan- ... 35666h.htm

[sophie]

Yes, my understanding is that the Casinos are still open (at least they were earlier this week if all the parked cars was anything to do by), what they are slating the Government for is stopping the 3 day business. What I hadn't realised is that both C3D and Cyprus Scene had this announcement last week. I don't for one minute think they will close the lot down for long and its only bluff on their part to give the Government something to think hard and long about.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Yes, my understanding is that the Casinos are still open (at least they were earlier this week if all the parked cars was anything to do by), what they are slating the Government for is stopping the 3 day business.

By and large the casinos bread and butter is the weekend visitors from the mainland.
Some cater to the high rollers but the majority rely on the mainland business. I don't know the relevant percentages but I'd be surprised if it wasn't 80%+++.
Not many businesses can survive that amount of turnover removed.
A lot of them weren't particularly well run in the first place but casinos can usually survive longer than most badly run business because it is a business with great cash flow so you can keep moving problems for a fair while.
A lot of their staff are Eastern European or from the mainland so if you lay them off then you can't rely on them being available when you want to gear up again.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Quite a long article from yesterday, so have just copied and pasted header.

The 'epidemic' question from casinos to the government: "Why did you leave us open?"The Covid-19 Pandemic ended tourism in the country. The casino and the hotels fell silent, one after the other, announcements of closure began.

https://www.yeniduzen.com/casinolardan- ... 35666h.htm

Interesting article. I'm surprised that the employees only fell from 9000 to 5000.
TBH once the flights stopped the casinos should have taken the decision themselves to close. It would have made it unviable to open as it would have been impossible to open and turn a profit but they are not particularly efficiently run anyway.
The casino operators obviously have a lot of influence and maybe the government didn't won't to make the decision to close them but cut off the oxygen and assumed they would have to close.
A bit like not taking the 'draconian' step of banning restaurants from opening but banning sale of food, drink, takeaways and reducing capacity to 8 people. So you can open but why in the world would you?