A leading hotelier has warned huge increases in business rates will “cripple” the hospitality industry as pressure mounts for action to ease the burden.
Mary Martin is the latest to join angry protests over the hike. Her firm’s bill is set to soar 140% to £445,000 in April.
Last night, it emerged under-fire Finance Secretary Derek Mackay will meet furious business bosses in the Granite City.
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce hopes he will offer Scottish Government help to soften the “potentially devastating impact” of the rises.
Business and civic leaders are demanding the introduction of “transitional relief” which is used to protect firms in England from sharp rises.
Mrs Martin said the bill for the Douglas Hotel on Aberdeen’s Market Street could almost double to £246,804 and other parts of the business go up even faster.
Others businesses face increases of between 80% and 200% or more.
Mrs Martin said: “I just can’t understand it.
“By 2015 we had a very clear idea that the industry was in trouble. How did they not take that into account?”
Like a growing number of hard-pressed bosses, Mrs Martin fears the sudden rise will send struggling firms to the wall.
Charles Milne, owner of the 36-bedroom Banff Springs Hotel, has written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warning the rise may not just threaten his future, but the hospitality industry as a whole.
The hotel will have to bring in £1,200 more in profit a week to cover the increased cost, he said.
He said: “This huge increase will result in impossible trading conditions and will affect our ability to maintain the staffing levels and investment in the fabric of the hotel.
“We worked tirelessly to build the business and provide Banff with a hotel up to today’s standards.
“I cannot simply walk in and double the price of haddock and chips or increase the price of a bride’s wedding by £1,000.”
The hefty rises are based on a revaluation of properties carried out when the north-east economy was buoyed by high oil prices.
Now they are seen as a “kick in the teeth” just as businesses are working to protect jobs amid the offshore downturn. Mrs Martin said her industry had found itself in a “perfect storm” – hit by rates based on a healthy market just as trade dried up and costs rose because of a post-Brexit slump in the value of the pound.
She added: “This will cripple hotels. There just are not enough people to fill the beds any more.”
AGCC research and policy director James Bream said: “Mr Mackay has agreed to meet trade organisations and we look forward to a positive dialogue but most of all we look forward to hearing what support can be given.”
Aberdeen City Council finance convener Willie Young said: “Businesses in Aberdeen are subsidising the rest of Scotland. The Scottish Government needs to reflect upon how it can help businesses before they go into receivership or locate elsewhere.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Rating valuation of business properties is undertaken by independent assessors, funded by local councils, not the Scottish Government.”
The government had promised significant investment the north-east, including the multimillion-pound AberdeenCity Deal.
Read: North Sea firm says rates rise will lead to jobs losses.
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