UK: London serviced apartment provider City Marque has gone in to voluntary liquidation, leaving guests across the UK capital without accommodation.
The company, which operated apartments in Bloomsbury, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Vauxhall, Waterloo, the West End, Westminster and The City, had expanded rapidly in recent years, and received £2.1 million of funding from Santander in 2014 to help it reach its goal of 1,000 units under management.
City Marque had a small London office but the majority of its workforce are based in the Philippines. Founder and managing director Derek Gallimore is the only listed director of the company after business development director Ian Daniels left in April of this year.
Late last week, City Marque guests received an email from the company which read: “It is with immense regret to inform you that City Marque has been forced to close down the business and go into liquidation. City Marque has appointed insolvency practitioners, Streets SPW, and they are managing the process from here. For any concerns regarding credit or payment, please contact Streets SPW.”
The email continued: “This means that your booking with City Marque is no longer valid, and accommodation is no longer available. You must make provisions to leave the accommodation as soon as possible. City Marque will be refunding monies for any unused accommodation with the company now. The staff of City Marque will do their best to assist with information. But they have limited ability, and you must make your own arrangements. Formal notice will be issued over the coming days as per the regulatory processes. There are still many guests within the properties and we are doing our best to re-accommodate them now and move them away from the properties asap.”
Nobody from City Marque was available for comment when Serviced Apartment News tried to make contact – the company’s phones aren’t being answered and its social media accounts have been closed.
One City Marque client who Serviced Apartment News spoke to today said he has not had any contact regarding a refund since being forced to leave the apartment he was staying in last week.
www.citymarque.com</p
