KUALA LUMPUR: A five-star hotel in Melaka has become the latest casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 294-room Ramada Plaza Melaka Hotel or Ramada Plaza by Wyndham (previously known as the Renaissance Melaka) has announced it will cease operating on June 30.
No indication has been given on how many workers will lose their jobs.
The hotel is independently owned by MTB Sdn Bhd and operated under a management agreement with Wyndham Hotel Group Asia Pacific Co Ltd.
MTB Realty Sdn Bhd has notified the National Union of Hotel, Bar and Restaurant Workers of Peninsular Malaysia of its intended closure in a letter dated April 28.
"Due to the Covid-19 pandemic since January 2020 and the Movement Control Order since March 18, the hospitality industry has been extremely impacted and we are no exception," the companies directors Yang Pang Chee and Yeo Pang Kheng said in the letter.
"As a result of the crisis, the continued operation of the hotel is no longer viable. It is with sincere regret that we wish to inform that the owners have now decided to close the business of the hotel indefinitely."
They said the company will serve a two-month termination notice as per the collective agreement of the contracts of employment to the affected employees.
Their last working day will be June 30, and the company has said it will be paying out termination benefits as per the employees' contracts of employment.
The hotel, which is located in the centre of Melaka town along Jalan Bendahara, has been in operation since 1981.