Inside the UK airport accommodations that could become quarantine hotels: photos reveal bleak reality
With the Government set to announce that travellers arriving in the UK from up to 30 countries must quarantine in a hotel for 10 days, thoughts have turned to where arriving passengers might be staying.
Extended hotel stays usually conjure up glamorous images such as Elizabeth Taylor holed up in the Beverly Hills Hotel, or even José Mourinho’s year spent staying in a suite at Manchester’s top hotel, The Lowry. However, for isolating arrivals, the reality is set to be a little less luxurious.
Due to logistical challenges, it is likely that travellers will have to endure their isolation in airport hotels. In countries where 'directed isolation' currently takes place, such as Australia and New Zealand, travellers are transported by bus from arrival points, straight to dedicated hotels – often with a police escort. The shorter the journey, the lower the risk.
Large, self-contained, no-frills properties are best-suited to the task, due to the number of people they can host and ability to follow infection control protocols. In every instance, guests must stay entirely within their own room, suite or apartment; venturing into public areas is not permitted. It is expected that in the UK stays will cost travellers up to £1,500 for 10 days self-isolating with meals served in their rooms and supervised by private security guards.
While they are no doubt suited to the challenge, the prospect of lengthy stays in airport hotels seem almost contradictory to their purpose. In normal times they are geared towards fleeting trips, sometimes of only a few hours. Here we take a look inside the airport hotels where incoming passengers could be staying.
The Best Western Group has already thrown its hat in the ring when it comes to quarantine hotels. Chief Executive Rob Paterson yesterday said the franchise could mobilise hotels for quarantining travellers returning to the UK “within 24 to 48 hours”.
Mr Paterson told BBC Breakfast: “Through our project with the NHS supporting discharge patients, we’ve got the protocols and the whole infection control management side of things taken care of…
He added that for returning travellers this would be an “entirely contactless and quite a sterile experience”
The Best Western Gatwick Skylane Hotel could be one such hotel that opens to quarantining travellers. The low-rise three-star option is only 10 minutes’ drive from Gatwick Airport.
Over at Heathrow, the poetically named Travelodge Heathrow Heston M4 Westbound could potentially house quarantining travellers. Rooms have a desk for working remotely, though comfy seating looks to be in short supply.
Premier Inn’s London Heathrow Airport (M4/J4) hotel, does better in the seating department, with a chaise lounge in some rooms. Its Thyme Bar and Grill restaurant promises a ‘famous cooked breakfast that includes all your favourites’ plus ‘takeaway versions of all your Premier Inn restaurant favourites like chicken tikka curry or a margherita pizza.’
easyHotel Heathrow is an intentionally no-frills option, but the sparse furnishings could wear thin after a few nights, as could the bright orange accents.
If Sofitel sign-up to the hotel quarantine programme, travellers could luck out with a stay at what is arguably Heathrow’s best hotel. A Telegraph Travel review highlights the hotel’s ‘open and expansive public areas’ – not that guests will be able to enjoy time outside their own four walls. Rooms are described as having “plenty of space and room to work or relax”, but food is the real highlight. Dishes are "first class" and “sometimes infused with an “Asian twist” – such as roast cod with miso and marinated squid, or Thai-spiced wild mushroom pie."
