A Witney hotel will close tomorrow to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

The Oxford Witney Hotel, on Ducklington roundabout, has said it "has agreed to help the Home Office as part of the UK’s humanitarian commitment to help those desperately in need of some safety and security whilst waiting for more permanent arrangements". 

The 115-room independently owned hotel closes its accommodation to the public on Wednesday November 16. 

It said "the decision to temporarily close to the public was taken against the backdrop of a very challenging time for the industry and was not taken lightly.

"The management of the hotel would like to apologise to those inconvenienced by this decision as they move to support this government initiative," said a spokesperson.

"At this time, there are no plans to make any redundancies as the hotel's staff will still be needed to look after the guests who are going to be staying there."

Witney local Alan Ross said the situation was ‘a disgrace’.

He said: “We had Christmas Day dinner and parties and afternoon teas booked there in the run-up to Christmas. We made hundreds of pounds worth of bookings. We wanted to take friends out. Then yesterday afternoon we got a phone call saying everything is cancelled.

“They said we could have our money back but we were all pensioners and now we can’t book anywhere else as it’s all full. Someone was going to have an evening do, we booked the family for Christmas Day and everything is gone."

Mr Ross said he had tried to find out the reason for the late cancellations.

“They said they were refurbishing the gym and showers. How does that affect Christmas dinners? My wife tried to contact them but all we got were recorded messages and no one answers the emails.

“We were told the hotel will close on Wednesday and if you try to book a room online you can’t. Why would you shut a hotel just before Christmas?"

The hotel confirmed it is going ahead with all the Christmas parties that have been booked.

It is currently looking to find alternative venues for Christmas Day lunch and New Year's Eve bookings.

The gym and showers are currently being refurbished, which has been planned for a while, said a spokesperson.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6million a day.

"The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.”

 

 

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This story was written by Miranda Norris, she joined the team in 2021 and covers news across Oxfordshire as well as news from Witney.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Miranda.Norris@newsquest.co.uk. Or find her on Twitter: @Mirandajnorris

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Profile: Miranda Norris Journalists news from the Oxford Mail