A hotel in Stevenage is closed to the public indefinitely in order to provide accommodation exclusively to asylum seekers.

Customers of a hotel in Stevenage have had their bookings cancelled and alternative accommodation offered.

One customer, Michael Robinson, told the Comet he had been due to attend a reunion dinner with work colleagues this month, but said: "The booking was cancelled because a government agency has commandeered the entire hotel for an indefinite period from September 27."

The Home Office said it does not comment on operational arrangements for individual sites used for asylum accommodation but admitted that “the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable".

The Stevenage hotel will not be open to the public for the rest of the year, the Comet has learnt, and there is no fixed end date for the Government's booking in 2023.

Putting asylum seekers up in hotels is costing the UK taxpayer more than £5 million a day, the Home Office has confirmed, and a report by the Refugee Council found the use of hotel accommodation for people seeking asylum almost trebled in 2021 to 26,380 by the end of that year.

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: “The huge increase in families and vulnerable children stuck between the four walls of a hotel room, from morning till night, is the brutal reality of a broken system.

“The Government must ensure swift decisions are made so that those who have protection needs can stay in this country as a refugee, and those who do not can be supported to safely return to the country from which they came."

The Home Office says it has safeguarding procedures in place to ensure asylum seekers living in hotel accommodation provided by the Home Office are "safe and supported" while "more appropriate placements" within local authorities are sought.

The Home Office spokesperson said: “We continue to work with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation for asylum seekers across the UK and to reduce the use of hotels.”

Stevenage Borough Council declined to comment, and a spokesperson for the hotel owner said it is "unable to comment on guest bookings".