Employees from the closure-marked Hilton Hotel in Dundee will be welcome to apply for posts at the Malmaison.
Malmaison developer Michael Carolan was speaking after two SNP councillors said they wanted to meet to explore the possibility of the Malmaison taking on Hilton employees when it closes next March.
The Hilton is set to shut its doors as part of the £1 billion waterfront redevelopment, as the land on which it stands is needed for infrastructure and open space. Almost 90 staff at the Hilton may either lose their jobs or be redeployed.
Councillors Kevin Cordell and Craig Melville have written to Mr Carolan seeking a meeting and suggesting there may be an opportunity for the new hotel to acquire ”a pre-existing and highly-trained workforce.”
Mr Cordell said: ”As someone with constituents affected by the potential closure of the Hilton at the end of March next year, it seemed to me that as Malmaison is set to open in July next year there could be an opportunity here for the new venture to acquire trained and skilled staff.”
He added: ”The Dundee Malmaison will be the 13th in the prestigious hotel chain and is already being considered as potentially one of the most successful in the chain.
”For many years, the Hilton was one of the city’s premier hotels and it would be great if many of the workforce who face redundancy could be redeployed locally so that their local knowledge and skills would remain in the city.”
Mr Melville said: ”The Malmaison will be open to the public in July next year, ideally timed to take full advantage of the huge upswing in the city’s fortunes that will come with the building of the V&A.
”The Hilton, which has served the city well for decades, will be closing just weeks earlier. It would make sense to have some staff continuity and perhaps Malmaison will see an opportunity of acquiring highly-trained staff members from the Hilton.
”These are issues we would hope to discuss with Mr Carolan if we have an opportunity to speak to him.”
Mr Carolan said he had been in contact with the chief executive of Malmaison, who assured him that he would welcome applications from Hilton employees.
”There are openings with Malmaison all the time and I have been told that Malmaison would be delighted to consider Hilton employees. Vacancies are featured on the Malmaison website,” he added.
The precise prospects for employees are unclear as Hilton want to maintain a presence in the city a scenario that would not rule out the possibility of at least some of them retaining their jobs.
A spokesman for the company said: ”We are actively looking to expand our portfolio of brands in Scotland and have dedicated development resources in the country. We remain committed to having a presence in Dundee and hope to announce a new deal soon.”
Dundee City Council announced in February it was starting compulsory purchase order proceedings against Hilton and Gala Casino to ensure they left their locations to allow the waterfront project to go ahead as scheduled.
They had previously failed to reach agreement about compensation for surrendering the leases on their land, and the council resorted to legal action to bring the matter to a conclusion.
A provisional agreement has been reached with Hilton without progressing to a full CPO, although the council’s position has to be ratified by councillors.