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Britannia Hotels has registered profits of nearly £40 million thanks to its involvement in the Government’s asylum seeker hotel network.
The company – voted the UK’s worst hotel chain for the past 11 years running in polling run by Which? – is one of the main providers of accommodation for the Government’s growing number of asylum seekers.
It has more than 60 hotels nationwide and scored an “abysmal” overall customer satisfaction rating in 2023.
But, in its annual accounts for the year to March 2023, the firm posted a boosted pre-tax profit of £39.3 million – up by nearly a fifth (18%) compared to its previous high of £33.3 million in 2022.
The chain’s turnover rose by 31% – from £117.8 million to £154.7 million – and it increased its staffing to 2,365, the latest accounts show.
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The boost was labelled “exceptional performance achieved during a period of difficult trading conditions” by the hotel chain’s directors, in a statement attached to the annual accounts.
It also noted the chain’s tight controls on costs, particularly labour, in order to ensure that the company maintains its “competitive position”. It made no mention of its increasing role as a provider of asylum seeker accommodation.
A growing number of asylum seekers face living for months, if not years, in hotels or housing provided by the Government. They are expected to survive on £8.86 a week if their hotel provides meals, and are unable to work until the Government makes a decision on their asylum claim. The backlog for such decisions was 128,786 in December.
The asylum seeker housing system is almost entirely reliant on private providers, which both manage the provision of accommodation and run, or own, the hotels – and have been able to make significant profits.
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The Home Office’s asylum seeker hotel budget is around £20 billion, but earlier this year the department admitted that it had overspent on accommodation by £2.6 billion and had to plead for an emergency cash injection.
The latest financial results for Hotel Britannia come a month after a Byline Times investigation into the chain found that, between 2002-2003 and 2013-2014, it made an average of £1.9 million a year in pre-tax profits – significantly less than what it has made since 2014-2015, when profits shot up to £14.2 million.
That was also the year when Britannia was first reported to have started housing asylum seekers en-masse for the Home Office.
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Some news reports have suggested that at least 17 of the chain’s hotels have been block-booked out on behalf of the Government.
Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, told Byline Times that “every pound of profit that fills the pockets of these companies is a pound that is being taken out of our communities”.
He suggested those housing asylum seekers were “brazenly ripping off the Government”, while vulnerable people wanting to rebuild their lives are being “forced to live in housing that actively harms their health”.
He added that it was “concerning” that the Government refuses to be open with the public about these “rip-off housing contracts and the performance of these companies”.
“It’s time we fund councils to run a not-for-profit housing system, so every penny of public cash earmarked for refugees is spent protecting people and strengthening services for us all,” Hilton added.
Byline Times previously spoke to two asylum seekers who had lived in a Britannia hotel in Manchester for months and described living in fear of harassment, dirty rooms, and poor conditions.
One explained how his wife had repeatedly attempted suicide due to mental health problems he claims were worsened by their year-long hotel stay. He also said the hotel, and the Home Office contractors tasked with supporting asylum seekers, had failed to offer support or to intervene.
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Byline Times also saw videos of badly leaking ceilings, uncleared food, and clothes littering corridors in the hotel.
Britannia Hotels is owned by octogenarian hotel tycoon Alex Langsam, whose company is the ultimate beneficiary of the £107,000 a day in profit it logged in 2022-2023.