The cost of housing migrants in hotels funded by the taxpayer has risen to £200 a night – despite promises by the new Government to shut them down for good. 

When he took office at No 10 in July, Andy Burnham reiterated Labour’s goal of stopping the use of hotels to house asylum seekers completely by the end of the current parliament. 

The Labour Government said they would repurpose old military sites, house asylum seekers in HMOs, and accelerate the claims process in order to put an end to the expensive contracts with independent accommodation providers. 

But this vow has not yet been achieved, as a Home Office minister has now admitted that the bill for asylum hotels is £199 for one night as of this April – a rise of 37 per cent a night per migrant since last October, when it cost £144.98 per night.  

For comparison, the luxury Hilton hotel overlooking Hyde Park in central London has rooms priced from £217 a night. 

The hefty taxpayer bill, equivalent to just under £1,400 a week per migrant, is nearly eight times the cost of housing migrants in rented ‘dispersal’ accommodation, such as houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), where the bill is £25 per night. 

The figures were revealed by Home Office minister Anne Turley in a letter to the home affairs committee. 

She said that the sharp rise in cost was due to the Government having to pay for empty rooms as the use of the hotels was being phased out. 

The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels  has risen to nearly £200 a night per migrant. Pictured: The four-star Crowne Plaza at London Heathrow

Ms Turley wrote: ‘This figure has increased since the figures we last provided in October 2025, as hotel closures are being implemented in phases. 

‘As occupancy falls ahead of full site closure, the department continues to incur costs for some unoccupied rooms, which increases the average cost per person accommodated.’ 

The number of migrants housed in hotels has more than halved from 36,273 at the end of September last year to 16,021 at the end of June this year, compared to a peak of 56,018 migrants in September 2023. 

The number of hotels in use has also dropped – from 200 hotels at the end of last September to 160 hotels at the end of June. 

The news comes as the Prime Minister faced a backlash last week after announcing that migrant hotels would be exempt from his tourist tax on hospitality. 

The Prime Minister had given his favoured regional mayors the power to impose an unlimited ‘overnight visitor levy’ on stays in hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets in England.

And despite objections, Mr Burnham ruled that the tax would be a percentage of accommodation charges rather than a flat fee and would not be capped, with Labour-run areas likely to set it at 5 per cent. 

At the time, a furious business group dubbed the move a ‘kick in the teeth’, warning it would put tens of thousands of jobs at risk while costing holidaymakers an estimated £1.6 billion.

But the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government revealed the controversial uncapped levies would not apply to taxpayer-funded migrant hotels because they are classed as ‘temporary accommodation’. 

The move has sparked fury within the hospitality industry, with insiders suggesting the exemption created motivation for hotels to accommodate asylum seekers rather than paying guests.

Meanwhile, the Conservative Party has lambasted it as ‘utterly outrageous’ that hard-working families wanting a British holiday would be hardest hit.

The Government are trying to bring an end to asylum seeker hotels by housing migrants in privately rented accommodation or former military bases. 

Currently there are 160 migrant hotels across the UK, while a further 73,068 are housed in other forms of accommodation funded by the taxpayer. 

The Home Office was approached for comment.