Staff at Elbow Beach spoke of their shock and upset over yesterday's news that the main hotel will close amid massive job losses.

Some of the staff told The Royal Gazette they were unhappy that, after months of rumours, they only learned of the November 30 closure yesterday.

It's anticipated that around half of the 300-plus workers at the resort will be out of a job. Around 35 percent of those redundancies will affect Bermudians, with 15 percent affecting spouses of Bermudians or those with permanent residency status.

One Bermudian kitchen worker said yesterday: "The way I see it, they waited until the last minute to tell us that they're closing the next month, and this has been happening since last year.

"They kept telling us not to listen to the rumours. They kept putting notices up saying the hotel is operating as normal. Then yesterday they told us they're having a meeting today, telling us that next month it's closing. The local staff and the foreign staff are very upset that they didn't give us proper notice. People have families and bills to pay and the feeling is it's not right."

The woman, aged 48, declined to give her name as she does not know for sure whether her own job is safe or not. She explained that she's worked at the venue for three years and knew things were looking bad when her hours were cut from 40 per week to 35 in July.

"We're not going to get new jobs. The foreign workers may get work but Bermudians will have a hard time getting work," she said.

Another Bermudian worker, a 20-year-old man who works in the Recreation Department, said his section is closing in just ten days. "I don't know if my job is safe yet. I don't feel good. We just found out today and we're closing in ten days. It's been poor. We should have known probably a month ago and given some notice, at least we could have started looking for a new job," he said.

However, the man, who has been employed at the resort for two years, said the news was taken quite well when it was broken to staff yesterday.

"I thought it would be an uproar but it really wasn't," he explained.

One of his co-workers, a 27-year-old Bermudian woman, said of the news: "It's disappointing. It was a big shock. I heard last year when I first started working here [that it might close] but they said it was just rumours. I just hope I can find another job."

One of the resort's many foreign staff, a 31-year-old man from Sri Lanka who works as a cleaner, said: "It's bad. I've been two years here. Sometimes it's been good and sometimes not good. This week it's been no busy, no hours. I'm worried."

Asked about complaints over the short notice of the closure, the hotel's communication manager Zeudi Hinds, said: "We have no control over the rumours. We can't inform people of what's not confirmed. As soon as it was confirmed we let our colleagues know."

She added: "We value our colleagues highly and are committed to help them find alternative employment with quality employers in Bermuda or overseas after the conversion. All staff made redundant will receive [a] full and fair severance payment in accordance with Bermuda law. We will retain as many of our valued staff as we can. We will also offer early retirement to as many eligible colleagues as possible. Following that, we anticipate that unfortunately we will need to make approximately 160 colleagues redundant."

She declined to give a figure for exactly how many staff are currently employed at the hotel. However, she added: "Even though the property will only have 98 guest rooms following the closure of the main building, we will still require over 160 colleagues to provide the high level of service expected by our guests.

"The hotel aims to advise all colleagues of the status of their positions within one week of the announcement."

She said efforts are being made to find new jobs for those affected, explaining: "Efforts will include opportunities at sister Mandarin Oriental hotels, other quality hotels on the Island and business partners of Elbow Beach. The hotel will hold job fairs, provide information on continuing education, prepare employment confirmation letters and provide professional assistance throughout the transition."