'Opportunistic' investors buy cheap buildings to house asylum seekers trends now
Investors are raking in millions of pounds a year from the taxpayer by buying run-down hotels to turn them into migrant hostels, the Mail can reveal.
One ‘opportunistic’ firm stands to make up to £11million a year after buying four hotels.
Another company is also set to make big profits after buying 12 hotels in under two years.
The companies have been accused of taking advantage of Covid lockdowns – which decimated the tourism industry – to pick up hotels cheaply.
Managing director of H&H Hotels, Egyptian Hassan Arif, 32, could be making the hotel firm up to £11million a year from renting out rooms to the Government, paid for by the taxpayer
H&H Hotels is currently running four seafront hotels in Skegness, Lincolnshire, which are home to asylum seekers (Pictured: Chatsworth Hotel in Skegness)
They are then closed to the public before being handed over to Serco, the private company responsible for housing the hundreds of migrants who arrive in Britain every day.
There is no suggestion the firms have done anything illegal. But their business model poses further questions about the Home Office’s handling of the migrant crisis.
H&H Hotels is currently running four seafront hotels in Skegness, Lincolnshire, which are home to asylum seekers.
They include the three-star Chatsworth Hotel, which is home to 56 men; the Sun Hotel, also three star, which houses 32 men; and the 40-bed Leisure Hotel nearby. The County Hotel has 51 migrants.
Another H&H hotel – the 29-bed Rose and Crown in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire – closed to the public in November with asylum seekers arriving days later.
The local council sought a High Court injunction to stop it being used for migrants but failed.
The Home Office pays up to £150 a night per migrant, meaning H&H could make £11million a year from renting out rooms to the Government.
Another H&H hotel – the 29-bed Rose and Crown in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire – closed to the public in November with asylum seekers arriving days later
H&H has also set up companies to manage hotels in Brighton and Eastbourne in Sussex and Blackpool in Lancashire.
It runs another hotel in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and one in London, which is being used to house migrants – meaning the amount the firm is making could be even higher.
H&H Hotels was set up in December last year. Managing director, Egyptian Hassan Arif, 32, is
