Hoseasons jobs at risk

The new owners of Hoseasons have confirmed a number of jobs are at risk as the Lowestoft tourism company is integrated into the business.

Bosses at US travel giant Wyndham Worldwide, which bought Hoseasons for �51m in February, plan to merge Hoseasons with Holiday Cottages Group (HCG), the country's biggest holiday cottage company, which it also owns.

Reports suggest up to 40 jobs are at risk across the two companies as Wyndham looks to cut duplication, but the company has not confirmed any total figures.

But officials have said only a small number of redundancies are likely in Lowestoft, expected to be 10 or fewer.

The Hoseasons posts which are under threat are in marketing, mailroom and warehouse duties and in the cottages part of the business, management of which will be transferred to HCG's base in Earby, Lancashire.

But the lodges, parks, apartments and boats operations of the merged business will be run from Lowestoft when the changes take place later in the year.

In addition to the jobs at risk, three former Hoseasons directors have already been made redundant, and former chief executive Richard Carrick's position has also been axed but he has been kept on in a consultancy role.

Pali Badwal, formerly Hoseasons business development director, will take the title of operating director for parks, lodges and boating.

Nigel Main, communications director for Wyndham Exchange and Rentals, said: 'In order to create two centres of excellence for the business we have undertaken a full structural review of all our offices.

'As part of this process there may be a small number of redundancies at Lowestoft.

'We are currently undertaking a 30-day consultation with staff and hope to keep any redundancies to absolute minimum.

"We've worked hard to minimise the impact on all our employees, but appreciate this can be an uncertain time and will keep all staff fully informed throughout the process.'

Hoseasons, which employs 200, was acquired by Wyndham from private equity group HgCapital, which bought the business for �40m in 2003.

Richard Carrick said he would continue to work on a number of projects for at Hoseasons, and said there were 'ambitious and exciting' plans to grow the business, potentially bringing more jobs to Lowestoft in the longer term.

Last month Ian Ailles, managing director of Wyndham Exchange Rentals, part of the Wyndham business, said jobs were safe at Hoseasons' Lowestoft headquarters following the acquisition, but officials said yesterday that a small number of posts were at risk as the company was integrated within the parent group.