ALEX POLIZZI WARNS WAGE CHANGE COULD AFFECT HIRING

Alex Polizzi said she may stop hiring 18-year-olds if the government raises their minimum wage to the level paid to workers aged 21 and over. The hotelier made the comments on The Travel Expert podcast while discussing costs facing hospitality businesses. “The government is now talking about putting up the minimum wage for 18-year-olds to the same level as 21-year-olds, which will be a disaster,” she said. Polizzi questioned why she would pay someone fresh out of school the same rate as someone who had been in the workforce for three years. She described the position facing hospitality leaders as “difficult”.

Polizzi runs The Polizzi Collection, which includes Hotel Endsleigh near Tavistock in Devon. The group also operates Hotel Tresanton in St Mawes, Cornwall, and The Star in East Sussex. She has presented Channel 5’s The Hotel Inspector since 2008. Labour’s manifesto pledged to remove what it called “discriminatory age bands” from minimum pay and introduce a “genuine” living wage. The government has said inadequate pay harms living standards and that its Plan for Change aims to raise household incomes and give the lowest-paid workers a “fair deal”.

Polizzi also opposed a proposed visitor levy, saying she was “completely against” it. She urged the government to “stop squeezing us until the pips squeak”. Polizzi said she did not believe a levy would lead to a reduction in VAT. She said hospitality VAT rates in France, Italy and Germany were lower than Britain’s. She also said visitor numbers had fallen substantially. Andy Burnham has supported a tourist tax set by local mayors.