Migrant hotels: Why are people lying about them?

It’s a subject that gains a lot of eyeballs on social media, and a few self-styled ‘auditors’ have paid visits to the ones in Telford. You can find their efforts on YouTube if you’re curious.

On my recent piece about HMOs, which included a heatmap of all licenced HMOs in the town, one commenter suggested a heatmap of migrant hotels would be more interesting. I took up the challenge.

I took a screenshot of Telford on Google Maps and added two dots using Microsoft Paint. It wasn’t supposed to stir up trouble, but it certainly did. A number of commenters claimed I was wrong and posted where they thought migrants were being housed.

In every case, they were incorrect. Let’s not forget these incorrectly identified places are people’s businesses and workplaces. There seems to be a disturbing desperation to find new places where migrants may be holed up.

I understand the dismay about migrants arriving in large numbers in boats, then dispersed around the UK in towns like ours. I do. What I don’t get is the fever and rush to spread hearsay and rumours as fact. I waded into the comments, trying to add some critical thinking, corrections, and calmness. Two out of three isn’t bad, I suppose.

My map was correct, I was sure of it. I fact-checked myself with the authorities just to be absolutely certain before sharing my knowledge with the commenters, who were sharing wild guesses and stretches.

How to Spot a Migrant Hotel

Firstly, here’s your guide on how to spot a hotel that is a home for migrants:

Online Booking: You cannot, as a member of the public, book a room online. When the Home Office contracts these hotels, they undergo a substantial change. The hotels don’t simply give up a few rooms; they are repurposed for housing migrants. If you can book a room, it’s not a migrant hotel.

Security: There will be 24/7 security. If not at the door, then not far away. Last year, a man attempted to set fire to a migrant hotel in Rotherham. Of course, they will have security.

Outside Activity: You’ll see migrants hanging around outside. They are forbidden from working if they are seeking asylum, and they have £50 a week to feed and clothe themselves. If the hotel provides food, it’s £9 a week, given on a special pre-paid card. They aren’t going on day trips to the Zoo or Cineworld. They aren’t eating Pringles and drinking lemon Fanta on their balconies. Of course, they are going to hang around on their phones.

Public Access: You can’t go inside to the bar. The place is off-limits for the public.

These are your four tests, and these are the tests I used when presented with the comments suggesting a load of ‘Bridging Hotels’ in Telford. There are not.

Debunking ‘Bridging Hotel’ Claims

In fact, there have been no Bridging Hotels in Telford since 2023. Bridging Hotels were contracted by the Home Office to temporarily house Afghans at risk when the Taliban took over Afghanistan after the American and British withdrawal. These people were interpreters and individuals whose activities would put them at risk from the new administration. I met one of them – a documentary maker who made films about women’s rights and other subjects that the Taliban would have taken great interest in.

The Afghans who were part of this scheme have been dispersed into homes around the UK, including Telford, although the ones I spoke to all wanted to live in London. The screenshot of a Google search ‘Bridging Hotels Telford‘ I was presented with, supposedly proving their existence, did nothing of the sort. All the results were paid Google ads, triggered by a search that included the word ‘hotel’. A neat row of hotels from £39 a night to choose from, plus a link to Booking.com. A freshly landed asylum seeker will not be paying £39 a night to stay in Telford or anywhere, and will not be ranking their potential new temporary home by review scores from Brenda who went there on a hen do.

These facts did not dent the commenters’ confidence. Not only did they ask me if I thought Google was lying, but they also didn’t believe I was capable of doing my own research. I then realised I’d been wasting my time. Another commenter who ‘had heard‘ that a local nursing home was actually housing migrants now, did delete their comment. The practicality and, let’s face it, economics of turfing out the older residents paying a grand a week to stay compared to migrants just doesn’t work. That, and the fact I go past this place most days and see the staff wheeling the residents about, is all the proof I need.

The Buckatree Hotel Rumours

One hotel name that came up several times was The Buckatree Hotel at the foot of The Wrekin. It’s changed hands a number of times over the last few years and was closed fairly recently. People put two and two together and got a boatful.

I went to the Buckatree this week. It’s not The Savoy, but it’s not a migrant hotel either. A value hotel, the residents I saw looked like tradesmen, contractors, and pensioner tourists taking advantage of a low-cost place to stay. They probably booked online, because I stood in the car park and checked that I could.

The hotel was quiet, car park half full, people coming and going, but no one hanging around outside. No security either. To be absolutely sure, I contacted the hotel owners. They own a few hotels and told me that the place has never housed migrants, and also, that the bar is open for anyone passing who might fancy a drink.

Conclusive proof.

There are only two hotels housing migrants in Telford. No others. The plan is to close these by 2029. Who knows what will happen then, but what we do know is that lies can travel all the way around The Wrekin before the truth has put its boots on.