Asylum seekers can create ‘high profits'

The rising number of asylum seekers could present struggling hotel owners with a guaranteed income and high profit margins, a property expert said last week.

Philip Johnston, director of hotels and leisure for FPD Savills, said that hostel accommodation for asylum seekers presented an opening for hoteliers in an uncertain market. High profit margins were to be had because full occupancy was guaranteed and overheads were low.

He added that it did not cost much to meet the standards required by the National Asylum Support Service, which contracts out accommodation to private landlords and local authorities.

Johnston, speaking at the UK Hotel Values Now conference in London, added that the provision of hostel accommodation had seen a number of hoteliers through the recession in the early 1990s.

Asylum-seeker numbers have soared from 3,998 in 1988 to 80,315 in 2000. In June this year there were 7,100 asylum-seeking families accommodated in Greater London.