A hotel chain that refused to provide accommodation to homeless people which had been paid for by a Salford charity has been urged to explain what it is doing to prevent a repeat of the “utterly appalling” incident.
Footage published last week showed a staff member from Holiday Inn Express in Manchester had turned away two men because they were “from the street and the hotel doesn’t allow it” in early January.
One of the men responds that the rooms have been booked and paid for and that it was minus 6C outside. The rooms were booked by Two Brews, who provide hot meals and essentials for people experiencing homelessness in Salford and Greater Manchester.
The charity is on call throughout the week in Salford and has more than 40 volunteers who offer assistance, which often leads to rough sleepers getting housing and employment.
After the video was released, the chairwoman of Parliament’s housing committee said vulnerable rough sleepers had faced “inhumane” discrimination in being turned away by the hotel.
Committee chairwoman Florence Eshalomi has written to IHG Hotels and Resorts, of which the Holiday Inn Express is part, demanding an “urgent explanation as to the circumstances which led to this incident.”
She said at least two rough sleepers were known to have died in Manchester in recent weeks, adding: “The way in which vulnerable rough sleepers appear to be discriminated against in footage circulating online is utterly appalling.”
Ms Eshalomi asked the hotel group to confirm whether it had identified any local or national policies which staff might have interpreted as a policy against providing accommodation to homeless people; whether the hotel in question had any such policies in place and if there had been any similar incidents at other locations.
She also asked the hotel group to set out what training staff were given on dealing with homeless and vulnerable guests, as well as to set out what action it was taking to “ensure such an incident can never happen again.”
She gave IHG until January 28 to respond.
She said: “The way in which these vulnerable rough sleepers appear to have been discriminated against is inhumane and utterly appalling. IHG need to urgently explain how this incident occurred, and the concrete action being taken to ensure it can never happen again.
“Holiday Inn Express and other IHG brands are contracted by local authorities across England to provide emergency temporary accommodation to homeless residents.
“IHG really has no excuse for allowing this distressing situation to occur and I expect them to provide a detailed response to the Committee’s questions.”
A spokesperson for Holiday Inn Express Manchester has since said what had happened “is not in keeping with our policy of welcoming all and should have been handled differently”, and added that they “sincerely apologise to the guests affected.”
IHG said it will respond directly to the committee “in due course.”
More information about Two Brews homelessness charity is availible here.
