Musicians claim they are owed over £15,000 after sudden closure of Virgin Hotels Glasgow

In December Virgin Hotels Glasgow closed suddenly with the loss of all jobs and hospitality staff locked out without warning less than a week before Christmas. Now musicians and artists say they are owed over £15,000 in unpaid fees following the collapse of the business.

Staff were called into a morning meeting on Tuesday, December 19 where they were told the hotel would be shutting down with immediate effect. Administrators for V Hotels Glasgow, the operator of the hotel, paid the staff for the hours worked in December. Debts owed to local musicians who provided services for the venue are caught up in the liquidation process.

Dave Toule, an artist and booker under his agency Curious Pig Entertainment, says Virgin Hotels Glasgow owes musicians a sum of over £15,000 for gigs booked and performed over the short lifespan of the hotel. This includes fees for artists who were booked over the Christmas period, who lost out on business at one of the busiest time of the year due to the hotel's sudden closure.

Dave states that he is personally owed a total in the thousands for gigs both played and cancelled due to the closure of the hotel. Some of the artists affected are critically acclaimed alumni of the Royal Conservatoire, while others are award-winning musicians in their respective genres and instruments.

Dave said: "I'm a booker and artist who has been working with Virgin Hotels to hire musicians to play at the Glasgow franchise since October last year.

"In my time there, I was only paid one invoice - any questions around pay and late fees was delayed or explained away as a clerical or administrative error.

"Had I known at the time I wasn't actually working with Virgin Hotels, but a franchise owned by separate directors, I would not have been so trusting. As musicians we had trust in Virgin as a brand, we did not expect in the slightest that we would go unpaid, and if we knew the reality of the situation with upper management and the directors, that trust would not have been there.

"Individual artists outside of my agency reached out to me telling me that they are also owed thousands of pounds and have been for months now - the total sum right now is over £15,000 to musicians alone, although that figure could be higher.

"One artist booked over Christmas is owed £3000 - our trust in Virgin as a brand was abused, and despite the hotel knowing they were in dire straits financially, there was no attempt at recouping money or limiting cost in the months of October and November, artists were still booked on agreed upon fees that would never be paid.

"As far as I'm aware there at least 10 artists are affected - personally as a booker I'm owed around £4,500, most of which should be going to the artists who played.

"Setting the precedent of not paying musicians is really reflecting poorly on the Virgin brand by proxy - and I believe it is going to make future bookings at hotels affiliated with the Virgin brand incredibly difficult, even if they had nothing to do with the directors of the Glasgow location."

After months of being met with silence from upper management, Dave secured a meeting with a hotel manager last Friday (January 12) but is still no further forward in securing payment for the artists affected.

Dave estimates that at least 10 artists are still owed money - although this figure could be higher.

Bryan Simpson, lead organiser at UNITE, said: "After securing the pay and compensation owed to hospitality staff at Virgin Hotels Glasgow following their immediate and wrongful termination just six days before Christmas - it is shocking to hear that money is still owed to musicians who played the venue.

“Trust was placed in the Virgin brand that fees would in fact be paid out for the events worked, or cancelled with no notice, and that trust has been betrayed.

“It is only right that these artists be paid what they are owed for commitments made to the brand that has since reneged on their own obligations to pay the musicians what they are due.”

Glasgow-based DJ Kevin McCrorie was also financially impacted by the closure of the Virgin Hotel on Clyde Street - in over 10 years of gigging in Glasgow, he says he has never seen a company conduct itself in such a manner.

Kevin said: "I was approached shortly after Virgin Hotels Glasgow first opened to both DJ and book DJs for the venue - it was put across to me as something different and special - something that required some thought and effort to match the gigs to the environment, not your everyday gig in Glasgow.

"I received one payment in the beginning, and that was enough to put me into a false sense of security - mind you it was 3 months late, but I still trusted the brand.

"I was supplying DJs for the long nights over the festive season - the last gig was a Christmas party the Friday (December 15) before the hotel closed (December 19), I believe they knew fine well they were going belly up and couldn't or wouldn't make another payment. Yet they didn't cancel the entertainment to try and recoup their losses.

"I'm owed just shy of £2,000 which I am out of pocket having to pay the DJs they had booked. The whole time it was sold to me as being delayed as the company was new and still in the process of being set up. They used the Virgin name, Virgin should be in some way responsible, no one put in my position would let that level of debt build up if not for the Virgin brand.

"They knew what was going on and they still put these events on, took money off their customers and didn't pay their independent DJs, and musicians. It's not just money either, we've all lost opportunities for other work at one of the busiest times of the year.

"I've been around the block a long time, and I've never seen anything like it - now it seems like it was deceptively set up from the outside right from the get-go.

"Virgin should do the right thing and compensate the artists for what they are owed, it's a poor show on their front to walk away from that and no doubt try and open new hotels."

Virgin Hotels have been contacted for comment.

At the time of the closure, Virgin Hotels a spokesperson from Virgin Hotels said: “Lloyds Developments Limited – the owner of Virgin Hotels Glasgow, which Virgin Hotels has a management contract with – has financial problems and on 1 December its lenders put it into administration.  As a result, the directors of V Hotel Glasgow Ltd, the employer and operating company in respect of the hotel, are being advised by FRP Advisory LLP as they place that company into liquidation. These financial issues mean that the hotel cannot continue operating and now has to close. 

"Virgin Group tried to find solutions, including offering to purchase the hotel in order to keep the hotel open, keep the team in employment and ensure the completion of the development of the hotel, creating something the City of Glasgow could be proud of. Unfortunately, the lenders have not accepted Virgin's offers and intend to pursue a sales process with the hotel closed. Virgin Hotels is very disappointed by this decision after the hard work everyone has put into the hotel and because of the impact it will have on the team that works there.

“Virgin Hotels' heartfelt thanks and gratitude are to those employees, suppliers and guests who have been integral to the hotel’s launch in the City of Glasgow. Virgin Group and the owners are committed to ensuring employees are paid for every day they have worked this month.  

“The Virgin Hotels team continues to have great ambitions for managing the hotel in Glasgow and looks forward to re-opening once a new owner is in place.  No other Virgin hotel is impacted – all other Virgin Hotels remain open and operating as normal as all Virgin Hotels are independently owned.” 

For the full story on the closure and administration of Virgin Hotels view our reporting over the last month:

• Interim managers appointed to Virgin Hotels Glasgow in administration process as sale considered
• Virgin Hotels Glasgow closed as staff escorted from building six days before Christmas
• Inside the decision to close Virgin Hotels Glasgow and the shock news for staff