Inside the swanky four-star hotel housing migrants at taxpayers' expense that locals want 'pulled down'

staying at an upmarket four-star hotel near have spoken of being housed in "very nice" accommodation as locals slam taxpayers being hit with a multi-million-pound bill. The Crowne Plaza London Heathrow off the M4 motorway in West Drayton, Middlesex, boasted 465 rooms, a swimming pool and gym when it first opened to the public in 2018. But instead of paying guests, the hotel is being used to house hundreds of asylum seekers, despite the Labour Government's pledge to end the use of hotels for migrants.

Crowne Plaza London Heathrow sits in leafy grounds and is a 15-minute drive from Heathrow Terminal 4. Legoland's Windsor resort is 20 minutes away by car. The Home Office refused to confirm how much is being spent housing people at the hotel, but analysis by the Express shows it could make £62.8million over four years from paying guests, assuming an average room price of £92.50 per night and the hotel being at full capacity throughout that period.

Rising five storeys, the building now sits behind a white wooden barrier some 10ft tall. Migrants were free to come and go when the Express visited, with several milling about outside or returning from the town.

Asylum seekers Ahmed Adam, 23, Noureldin Adam, 33, and Khalid Mohammad, 18, told the Express the hotel was "very nice" compared to war-torn Sudan where the three friends had travelled from.

Ahmed Adam said: "We came here to be safe. Many, many people are dead [in Sudan]. We came here for safety and to study."

Hadish Yemane, 29, said he had been at the hotel for four days after crossing the English Channel from France on a small boat. He told the Express the accommodation was "nice" and had "nice rooms".

The painter and decorator, from Eritrea, said: "I'm sharing a room with another man. Every room is full I think. We have three meals a day. We were in France then came to the UK. We like the language. It's a good life here. It's safe and there is freedom too."

A fellow asylum seeker, who didn't want to be named, said he and his friends wanted to work and didn't want to live off government "aid". He said: "We would like to work for ourselves. We want to give to society."

While migrants at the hotel were impressed with their accommodation, some locals in West Drayton were totally unimpressed at the Government's "open-door" immigration policy.

Norman Taylor, 80, told the Express he visited the hotel when it first opened to paying guests, adding: "It's lovely inside. There's a swimming pool, gym, a nice big reception, bar. Now it's a drain on our resources."

He added: "We should not be spending all that money. When these people come here we should immediately send them home. If they came from France, send them back to France. I don't think they should be in there."

The retired health worker suggested disused military bases should be used to house asylum seekers instead. Asked what should happen to the hotel, he said: "Pull it down."

Another local, who didn't want to be named, said the asylum seekers weren't any trouble, but the Government must be spending a "huge" amount of taxpayers' money housing migrants in hotels. A third local, who also asked not to be named, said: "Someone is making a lot of money."

The latest figures show the Home Office spent about £2.28billion on hotels in 2022-23 and expected to spend £3.1billion in 2023-24.

Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said in November that to accommodate asylum seekers.

She told MPs the Government was "absolutely committed" to ending hotel use and was looking for other options to ensure better use of public money.

The Conservatives pointed to Home Office figures showing the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels rising to 38,079 by December last year. The number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels by June 2024 was 29,585.

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, told the Express: "Labour's promise to stop putting asylum seekers up in hotels is nothing but a shameless lie when the number of asylum seekers being put up has increased by over 8,000 since they walked into office.

"This is a failure of policy, a failure of leadership, and failure on delivering what they were elected in to do on behalf of the British people.

"This crisis is spiralling out of control and it's the British taxpayer that is footing the bill because of Labour's decisions. It's time for the Government to get a grip."

Another West Drayton local said he did not have a problem with controlled migration if people came to the UK to work and contribute to society, but said politicians needed to get control of small boat arrivals.

The retired construction industry worker added: "We can't just let [asylum seekers] languish."

He suggested the burden on the taxpayer of paying for migrant accommodation could be eased by letting migrants work and pay for their keep. The retiree added: "Our nation has been built on the backs of migrants. The thing is people coming on small boats. We're welcoming them as if they're guests. That's not right."

The 66-year-old said the Government should take a harder line on migrants arriving from France on small boats to deter crossings, adding: "Why do we go the extra mile [in the treatment of migrants]?"

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said asylum hotels have become a clear flashpoint for community tensions and cost billions to the taxpayer.

He added: "There needs to be a clear plan to stop using asylum hotels by the end of 2025. We need radical reform of the asylum accommodation system to enable councils to house people in the community.

"This is cheaper and enables people to integrate into British life, contribute and play their part in our country."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "In autumn 2023, there were more than 400 asylum hotels in use across the UK at a cost of almost £9million per day, and in the months before the election, the asylum backlog soared again as decision-making collapsed, placing the entire asylum system under unprecedented strain.

"That was the situation the Government inherited but we have begun to restore order, with a rapid increase in asylum decision-making and the removal of more than 24,000 people with no right to be in the UK.

"By restoring order to the system, we will be able to end the use of asylum hotels over time, and reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer of asylum accommodation. There are now fewer hotels open than there were before the election, with more due to close by the end of May."

The Home Office said 213 hotels were in use at the time of the General Election in July and by the end of May there are expected to be 206.

By law, the Government has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. The Home Office said it works with local authorities and others to ensure accommodation is properly managed and the impact upon local communities is minimised.