Luxury hotel in Milton Keynes set to become coronavirus refuge

In exchange for a six figure sum currently being agreed with Milton Keynes Council, the 138 bedroom Delta hotel at Kents Hill Park will become a temporary refuge.

Guests could also include ex prisoners, vulnerable members of the community and anybody else classed in urgent need of accommodation during the crisis.

Normally the council pays for homeless people to stay in hotels as a last resort, when all other temporary accommodation is full. But last week they faced a crisis when local hoteliers suddenly evicted these guests from their rooms when coronavirus rules forced them to close.

Since then, the government has ordered all local authorities to house the homeless during this coronavirus crisis. With no spare housing, MK Council has been forced to approach hotels.

"All the hotels in MK are closed and they couldn't help. The Delta, however, has agreed to offer beds to Milton Keynes Council - at a cost," a council source told the Citizen.

The Delta, formerly the Hilton, is part of the Marriott group. It is in Timbold Drive, close to the Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre where more than a 100 Brits evacuated from Wuhan were held in quarantine last month.

It is understood support services will be put in place at the Delta to help the hotel cope with its guests, some of whom may have mental health, drug or alcohol problems. Hotel staff currently on furlough are likely to be brought back to clean and care for the guests.

All the guests will have to observe social distancing rules, which means they may not be able to use the hotel's leisure facilities..

A spokesman for Delta said: "As a hotel we are incredibly proud to step in at the eleventh hour to help some of the most vulnerable people in the community."