asylumstatsFollow the money

Hotels, support and cost

How much does an asylum hotel cost per night?

£199per person per night in a hotel, April 2026

The Home Office put the cost of housing one person in an asylum hotel at £199 a night in April 2026, including VAT, against £25 in dispersal housing. That is up from £144.98 at the end of June 2025. The department says it is still paying for empty rooms as hotels wind down.

Figures for April 2026, published 17 September 2026. Source: Anna Turley MP, letter to the Home Affairs Committee, 26 August 2026; Alex Norris MP, letter to the Home Affairs Committee, 8 October 2025.

People in asylum hotels, quarter end

31 Dec 2022 to 30 Jun 2026. Fewer people in the same rooms is what drives the cost per person up.

16,021
56,01837,34518,673031 Dec 202230 Jun 2026Peak 30 Sep 2023
Exact values
PeriodValue
31 Dec 202245,753
31 Mar 202347,490
30 Jun 202350,520
30 Sep 202356,018
31 Dec 202345,744
31 Mar 202434,486
30 Jun 202429,561
30 Sep 202435,628
31 Dec 202438,054
31 Mar 202532,326
30 Jun 202532,041
30 Sep 202536,273
31 Dec 202530,657
31 Mar 202620,885
30 Jun 202616,021
Source: Home Office, Asy_D11

What the figure counts

The per person figure divides what the Home Office pays for its hotels by the people staying in them. The same letter gives £95 per bed, which divides by capacity instead. The gap between the two is the cost of empty beds, and it widens as hotels empty ahead of closing.

The Home Office repeated £144 a night, without a date, in a press release on 30 June 2026. That was the cost at the end of June 2025, not the current one. The Migration Observatory's widely quoted £170 for 2024/25 is its own estimate, not a Home Office figure.

Key figures

Contingency hotel, per person per night£199April 2026
Contingency hotel, per bed per night£95April 2026
Dispersal housing, per person per night£25April 2026
Contingency hotel, per person per night£144.98end of June 2025
Dispersal housing, per person per night£23.25end of June 2025
Wethersfield, per person per night£132end of June 2025
People in asylum hotels16,02130 June 2026

Why has the cost of an asylum hotel gone up?

Because hotels are emptying faster than they close. The Home Office's explanation, in its letter to the Home Affairs Committee: "As occupancy falls ahead of full site closure, the department continues to incur costs for some unoccupied rooms". Occupancy fell to 16,021 people at 30 June 2026.

Is a hotel more expensive than other asylum housing?

Much more. In April 2026 a hotel cost £199 per person per night and dispersal housing, ordinary flats and houses, £25. At the end of June 2025 the former RAF Wethersfield site cost £132, close to a hotel.

What would a year in a hotel cost?

At £199 a night, one person for a year comes to about £73,000, against about £9,100 in dispersal housing. This is our arithmetic on the Home Office's nightly figures, not a figure it publishes.

Under 160How many asylum hotels are there in the UK?£49.18How much do asylum seekers get a week?£5.77MAsylum hotels cost £5.77 million a day in 2024/25. The hotel population has since halved.76%Hotels house 29% of asylum seekers and take 76% of the contract cost5 of 7Five of the seven asylum accommodation contracts have exceeded their profit-share thresholds

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