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Councils use Premier Inn and Travelodge to house homeless
Budget hotel across the UK are housing prison leavers, some of them with a history of violence, who are sent by local authorities that are short of alternative emergency accommodation, according to a report by the BBC.
It claimed chains like Premier Inn and Travelodge are also used by councils to house the homeless.
The report emerged following the murder at a Welsh B&B of 22-year-old Cerys Yemm by violent ex-convict Matthew Williams, who had been placed in the accommodation by Caerphilly council. Previous guests at the Argoed B&B included 10 sexual and violent offenders, according to the BBC.
The BBC investigation also found that other councils across Wales and the rest of the UK send ex-offenders to budget hotels when they run out of alternative emergency accommodation.
Travelodge today confirmed that its hotels are used to house the homeless by several local authorities across the UK, but it did not say whether it asked to be made aware of the backgrounds of those guests referred by councils.
A Travelodge spokesman said: "Although we work with local authorities in many communities across the UK, as a company we do not comment on the circumstances of individual customers.
"Whilst working with local authorities accounts for a small part of our business, whenever any guests are booked into our hotels we expect them to abide by our terms and conditions and we make that very clear."
Premier Inn issued the following statement.
"The safety and security of our guests is of paramount importance to us at Premier Inn. We have policies and procedures in place regarding the health, safety and security of all our guests, whilst at the same time respecting their right to privacy.
"On occasion we work with councils across the UK to provide accommodation, however due to client and guest confidentiality we cannot comment on individual cases or hotels."
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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