A luxury apartment hotel in Aberdeen city centre is to close with the loss of 15 jobs.
Micasa ApartHotel in Aberdeen’s Market Street will close on Wednesday due to the “exceptionally challenging” trading conditions currently facing the energy industry.
The hotel opened in 2009, when there was a high demand in the city for quality hotel-type accommodation.
A spokesman for the hotel said: “Micasa has operated successfully in Aberdeen for many years but the downturn in the energy industry has led to a significant reduction in demand for serviced accommodation, resulting in the business becoming unsustainable.
“We do not see this improving in the short term, especially with hundreds of additional hotel and serviced apartment rooms now available across the city.”
The apartment hotel, located on the top three floors above the Sports Direct store on the corner of Union Street and Market Street, took more than a year to complete. The 34 apartments had their own kitchen, lounge and bedrooms and many had separate utility rooms and offices.
As a result of the closure, a combination of 15 full-time and part-time staff will be made redundant.
The spokesman added: “We are understandably disappointed the business will have to close, especially for the very talented and hard-working team that have run Micasa with such success over the years. We are currently concluding a process of consultation with both staff and clients.”
The £5 million development is owned by Aberdeen-based Drum Property Group and it has plans to turn the building into private residential accommodation.
Micasa spokesman added: “Hotel operations are not core to Drum Property Group, and following the period of consultation and closure of the Micasa business, we intend to convert the 34 apartments into private residential accommodation that will be managed as part of our residential letting portfolio.”