A FAMILY run hotel which has been struggling through the pandemic has adapted to the new ‘difficult’ ways.

Like many other businesses across the UK, the Ramada Plaza hotel in Wrexham has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the struggling that lockdown brought.

This is usually the busiest time of the year for staff at the Wrexham hotel, but everything has come to a halt, especially with the latest two-week ‘fire-break’ lockdown.

Staff are now trying to adapt to the new changes and are offering a take away service on food, seven-days a week.

Megan Williams said: “This time of year we would normally be hosting a party of 150 in our function room as well as doing six meetings as well as having a full restaurant and bar and an 85-bedroom hotel.

“Obviously all of that is gone now and the only thing we can do at the moment is takeaways. We are not known as a takeaway service, we are known as a hotel so it’s been tough trying to get the word out there.

“We’ve created social media pages and it’s just really difficult at the moment. A lot of people think the Ramada is a chain but it’s family-run, we are trying to stay afloat.

“A lot of businesses have been affected and we are one of them. We don’t want to make any redundancies so we are trying all ways we can to get some revenue in.

“Obviously we are still open for key workers also.”

The hotel is offering a set menu which is available 12pm until 9pm from Monday to Saturday and a Sunday roast menu from 12pm to 9pm.

A children’s menu is also available from Monday to Sunday from 12-9pm.

Megan added: “It’s a lot different to what we’ve been doing and it’s collection only at the moment. We are suffering more than a lot of places who were already offering a service like this. We’ve essentially had to start from scratch.

“On December 2 every year we have a company from outside of Wales which hires our hotel for a staff party and that brings in over £20,000 alone. We can’t have that this year or any other parties or galas.

“All of our rooms are usually packed out this time of year, especially during Christmas and New Year and that’s where we have taken a massive hit and loss.

“We don’t have to just worry about the next two-weeks, it’s the future. We are trying to do whatever we can to keep going.”

Like many other businesses, additional safety measures had to be in place in the hotel before it could be re-opened for commercial use.

Megan said: “We’ve had to change the lifts to make them one up, one down, there’s posters everywhere and we’ve had to spend money on PPE.

“There’s a lot more room service and the spa hasn’t been opened at all. Everyone’s had to do this, it’s been really difficult.

“Despite all of the struggles and everything we have faced, the staff have been incredible. I’d like to say a big thank you to all of the staff who have been coming in and working and been covering shifts to cover if anyone has gone off, they’ve all been amazing.”

More information about the menu can be found on the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ramadawrexham/ or by calling the hotel on 01978291400.