'People can't pay their mortgages and they're moaning about a free hotel': Neighbour's fury as migrants who came to the UK by boat and lorry protest over 'inhumane' conditions at £150-a-night London hotel

• e-mail

A group of 25 asylum seekers are staging a pavement protest after refusing to sleep four to a room in a budget hotel in central London - prompting anger among neighbours. 

The group have vowed to remain outside the £150-a-night Comfort Inn until the Home Office finds them more suitable accommodation having rejected their rooms as 'inhumane'.

Officials have now made a series of concessions to the protesters, saying only two people would have to share a room before moving to alternative accommodation in Whitechapel in a fortnight. 

The group rejected these suggestions and have now been handed a 24-hour ultimatum by the Home Office to accept their hotel accommodation - or be made homeless.

Local residents and hoteliers said the protest was having a detrimental effect on the area where mansion flats sell for over £1m. One woman walking into a restaurant said: 'People are struggling with their mortgage and they are complaining about having to stay rent free in a hotel. It really beggars belief.' 

A group of asylum seekers are camped outside the Comfort Inn in Westminster to protest about the conditions inside  

This morning, around 20 people remained outside the hotel, with pictures showing suitcases and blankets strewn across the pavement

A view of the scene outside the Comfort Inn hotel in Pimlico this afternoon 

Today, most of the group dozed in the afternoon sunshine or sat smoking or talking on their iPhones as four police officers kept watch.

Suitcases and other possessions blocked the pavement just yards from £2m homes in Pimlico, one of London's most fashionable areas

Hoteliers also expressed dismay at the protest with one saying he has had several cancellations. Hotels in the area are expecting to be full with tourists given the location to the main sights in London. 

The protest began two days ago after the Home Office moved the migrants from a hotel in Ilford, Essex, to the Comfort Inn.

While they were allocated a room each at their previous hotel the budget option in London meant they had to share four to room. They also complained that the hotel was 'smelly' and they had no privacy.

A man in his 20s, was from the Sudan, said the conditions were 'not human.'

'There are four of us in a room and we have to sleep on bunk beds. There isn't even room to turn around once our suitcases are in the room.

'The toilet is smelly because there are four people using it and it does not get cleaned.'

The migrant, who said he has been in the UK for 18 months waiting for his asylum application to be reviewed, vowed that the pavement protest would continue until they are moved to a new hotel.

He said he had been smuggled into the UK hidden in a lorry while many others had crossed the Channel in a dinghy.

Another migrant, an Iranian, added:' The rooms are like a cage. It makes us feel like we are back in a prison. The previous hotel meant we had some privacy, but it is not right that we have to share four to a room and sleep on a bunk bed.'

Other migrants refused to speak or claimed they did not speak English.

The men are from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran and Kurdistan.

Two people - one wearing a trans rights T-shirt – handed out wet wipes for the men to wash their faces.

Another who said he supported the migrants told them to hide their faces from a photographer.

The group had previously stacked their suitcases outside the entrance to the hotel to stop people leaving, but that had been removed to allow police and Home Office officials to come and go.

Rough sleeping teams have been supporting the asylum seekers, according to the council, which claimed the Home Office had not put forward any resolution to the matter 

Bedsheets, clothes and holdalls on the pavement outside the central London hotel today 

Police officers at the scene of the protest outside the hotel today 

The Comfort Inn is currently closed to paying guests but usually charges around £150 a night for what it describes as 'good value accommodation'

A bathroom inside the Comfort Inn. There have been complaints the toilets are 'smelly'

A kitchen area inside the hotel, which has received mixed reviews on TripAdvisor 

One of the protesters, a 27-year-old Iranian, told the Telegraph: 'Two square metres is not enough for sleeping four people. And when you go to the toilet, the smell damages you.' 

Another Iranian, who is 21 and had also crossed the Channel, said the Comfort Inn had looked 'nice' on Google maps but 'when you get in, it's like a jail'... 'they treat you like an animal'. 

Meanwhile, a 26-year-old from east Africa who crossed the Channel in a small boat said they had been given private rooms at another hotel in Ilford, Essex. He said: 'We need a private room. How do you live with four men?'   

In a letter to the Home Secretary, the leader of Westminster City Council expressed his 'deep concern' that around 40 refugees were placed in the borough on Wednesday night 'without appropriate accommodation or support available' and no prior communication with the local authority.

Adam Hug complained that asking people who 'are likely to have been through significant and traumatic events' to share 'an inappropriately-sized room with multiple strangers defies common sense and basic decency'.

He said the Government's demand created 'safeguarding and health risks', and noted that 'leaving them on the street for multiple nights is not an alternative'.

Rough sleeping teams have been supporting the asylum seekers, according to the council, which claimed the Home Office had not put forward any resolution to the matter. 

The asylum seekers, who are from Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Bangladesh, have put up posters at the hotel entrance and on traffic lights reading 'help us' and 'this is a prison, not a hotel'. 

The Comfort Inn is currently closed to paying guests but usually charges around £150 a night for what it describes as 'good value accommodation'. 

The guesthouse is rated three stars on TripAdvisor but the last eight reviews have all been one star. 

The asylum seekers, who are from Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Bangladesh, have put up posters at the hotel entrance and on traffic lights reading 'help us' and 'this is a prison, not a hotel'

The Comfort Inn is currently closed to paying guests but usually charges around £150 a night for what it describes as 'good value accommodation'

The group complain that instead of the ensuite single rooms they had at a guesthouse in Essex they are now being forced into singles with two bunk beds and a 'smelly toilet'

Another reviewer, who stayed in March 2023, wrote: 'Just really really grim. One of the smallest rooms I have ever had the misfortune to stay in (literally 30cm wider than the double bed in it) with a bathroom literally in a cupboard (you have to admire the audacity to even try and fit a toilet and shower in that space).' 

A second called it a 'hotel from hell' and complained of the 'horrendous conditions' inside their room, while others called it a 'dump' and warned 'avoid at all costs'.  

The Home Office is currently housing 50,000 asylum seekers in hotels and officials are desperate to find ways to reduce the estimated £6million a day bill.

Ministers are believed to be advocating the increased use of shared rooms over concerns smuggling gangs are trying to lure migrants with the promise of 'luxury' accommodation.

Asylum seekers in hotels are allowed to come and go and receive £9.10 a week to cover any costs beyond bed and board, which is already paid for.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'Despite the number of people arriving in the UK reaching record levels, we continue to provide accommodation - at a cost of £6million a day - for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute to meet our legal obligation.

'The accommodation offered to asylum seekers by providers, on a no choice basis, is of a decent standard and meets all legal and contractual requirements.'

MailOnline has contacted the hotel for comment.