The owner of Holiday Inn has called for calm after rioters attacked several hotels in the UK housing asylum seekers over the weekend.
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 and security of our colleagues and everyone staying 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 further questions.”
At least 10 police officers were injured, including one unconscious, when a crowd tried to storm a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham.
Police said hotel staff and residents, some of whom are asylum seekers, were “terrified” but no injuries were reported.
A similar incident occurred on Sunday night at a Holiday Inn hotel in Tamworth, which was reportedly also housing asylum seekers. Fires were reported, windows were broken and missiles were thrown at officers, Staffordshire Police said.
The weekend's incidents came a week after the Southport stabbings, as violence continued to escalate in cities across the country.
The prime minister said on Monday that a “standing army” of specialist police officers was being created to quell the riots, as he called for the perpetrators to be named.
Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “toughen up criminal justice” after an emergency meeting of Cobra was called following a sixth day of disorder, which saw rioters storm hotels housing asylum seekers.
So far, 378 arrests have been made since violence broke out last week, with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) warning that the number is expected to rise daily.
IHG made the statement when it announced its interim results on Tuesday. The company said that hotel rooms in the UK were slightly more filled in the first six months of 2024 than the previous year, and that there was broader revenue growth across the group.
The company saw revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry measure of how well a property can fill rooms, rise by 2.5% in the UK.
