The owner of Holiday Inn has called for calm to be restored after rioters attacked several of his British hotels housing asylum seekers over the weekend.
The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) said on Tuesday: “This is a worrying and challenging situation and we hope that calm will return as soon as possible.”
“The safety of our colleagues and all guests in our hotels is always our priority.
“We continue to work closely with the authorities on a small number of properties and the Home Office is best placed to answer any further questions.”
At least ten police officers were injured and one left unconscious when a mob attempted to storm a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham.
Hotel staff and residents, including some asylum seekers, were “frightened” but no injuries were reported, police said.
A similar incident occurred on Sunday evening at a Holiday Inn hotel in Tamworth, which was also reportedly housing asylum seekers. The scene saw fires, windows smashed and projectiles thrown at officers, Staffordshire Police said.
The weekend’s incidents came a week after the stabbings in Southport, as violence continued to escalate in several cities across the country.
The prime minister said on Monday that a “standing army” of specialised police officers would be assembled to deal with the unrest and called for perpetrators to be named and brought to justice.
Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “strengthen the criminal justice system” after an emergency meeting of Cobra was called in the wake of sixth days of unrest during which rioters stormed hotels housing asylum seekers.
Since the violence broke out last week, 378 arrests have been made. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) warned that the number of arrests would increase daily.
IHG made this statement on the occasion of the publication of its interim results on Tuesday. According to the statement, British hotels had slightly better room occupancy in the first six months of 2024 than in the previous year, which was due to more general revenue growth across the group.
The company reported a 2.5% increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry metric that measures a property’s ability to fill rooms, across all its UK offices.
