Stay Belvedere Hotels, which manages 51 hotels and Napier barracks, is removed amid performance concerns

A company managing hotel accommodation for thousands of asylum seekers has been axed by the Home Office due to performance concerns and replaced by the firm that ran the Bibby Stockholm barge. As a result the 51 hotels it runs will close.

In a late-night statement the Home Office said it had removed Stay Belvedere Hotels (SBHL), which manages 51 hotels across England and Wales and Napier barracks in Folkestone, Kent, from government asylum operations.