Services throughout the five star hotel in Monte-Carlo will be severely disrupted as staff stage a walkout over employee benefits.

Workers are angry against the hotel’s management, who unions feel have failed to pass savings made through VAT reductions on to its staff.

Around 50 members of staff, at the 500 euro a night palace walked out over the same dispute in October but after months of failed negotiations the Hotel Cafe and Restaurants wing of the Monaco labour union has voted for industrial action against the hotel management.

The management have denounced the action as “contradictory”. “The strikers will not be able to benefit from certain financial advantages. Their action will hurt the image of the hotel and the work of their colleagues, who have worked to fill the rooms and restaurants and to honour the service expected by our customers on the evening of New Year’s Eve,” Jean-Claude Messant, the hotel director said.

TD