Hotels offer free beds to sick and NHS staff
MAJOR hotel chains are offering rooms for NHS staff and non-critical patients, we can reveal.
Best Western will this week unveil a dedicated, 100-room south London hotel for the NHS.
Other chains in talks include Travelodge, Hilton, Holiday Inn and Premier Inn.
Best Western’s south London hotel will house lower-risk patients and NHS workers.
The group, the largest independent hotel chain in the UK, is offering 15,000 beds and over 1,000 meeting rooms to NHS staff, care workers, families, low-risk patients and the over-70s across the country.
Britannia Hotels is offering accommodation for 600 patients to help create beds for those in hospital needing critical care.
InterContinental Hotels Group, owners of the Holiday
Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, is also in discussions.
It has already reached agreement with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan to help the homeless. At least 300 rooms in two hotels are blockbooked to rough sleepers so they can self-isolate over the next 12 weeks.
UK managing director Karan Khanna said: “People’s health and wellbeing must be the top priority.”
Travelodge UK told the Daily Express they did not wish to comment, while Premier Inn has also yet to officially respond.
Chelsea Football Club last night announced that NHS staff will use the Millennium Hotel at their Stamford Bridge to help with the coronavirus outbreak.
Last week former Manchester United players Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville opened up 176 rooms at their two Manchester hotels for free to pandemic-battling NHS staff.
Their gesture came after Ryan’s mum Lynne, who used to work in the NHS, urged them to help.