Margate hostels fail in bid to keep hotel status

Two hotels said by a Government inspector to have become "hostels for the homeless" by housing asylum seekers have lost an appeal to call themselves hotels rather than hostels.

An enforcement notice, issued by Thanet District Council, was upheld against the Corfu guesthouse and the Athena hotel, both in Cliftonville, near Margate.

The inspector said that he had taken into account the limited communal facilities compared with those normally available in a hotel, the lack of regular room-cleaning, and the length of stay of guests, which could be from several weeks to two months.

The hotels have been given three months to comply.

A council spokesman said that the situation regarding the Corfu and the Athena was not the same as that concerning the Nayland Rock hotel in Margate, which last year won its battle to take in asylum seekers without changing its status to that of a hostel.

The Nayland Rock has applied for permission to build a swimming pool, health suite and disco in its basement (Caterer, 18 January, page 12).