Raise the Roof homeless project raised £1,000 to book rooms at the Royal hotel in Hull, which then cancelled

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

When a multimillion-pound hotel chain axed a charity booking that would have provided shelter for dozens of homeless people over Christmas, it was a devastating blow that sparked a “mad panic”.

But the desperate plight of the group of 28 homeless people inspired a rival hotel to step in and offer rooms free of charge in what a community organiser has now described as an act which “restores faith in humanity”.

The Raise the Roof homeless project raised more than £1,000 to book 14 twin rooms at the Royal hotel in Hull for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

But when the hotel – owned by the Britannia chain which made a £19m pre-tax profit last year – cancelled the booking with little more than a week’s notice, the group was left in limbo.

The cancellation triggered a public outcry and a flood of donations to the charity totalling more than £9,000. And there was relief when another local hotel, DoubleTree by Hilton, said it would put up the homeless for free, including breakfast and Christmas dinner.

The group checked into their rooms on Monday and they were set to enjoy a turkey dinner on Tuesday to mark the day.

Raise the Roof’s founder, Carl Simpson, who said he was “devastated” when the initial booking was cancelled, said: “These people, when we told them that they would have a roof over their head at Christmas and that they’d be getting dinner, their faces just lit up.

“The thought of then having to tell them that the hotel had been cancelled was horrible, so it left us in a mad panic to get the situation sorted.”

The 50-year-old cafe owner added: “Then we were contacted by the DoubleTree, and I just couldn’t believe what they were offering. The generosity they showed in stepping in to help at the 11th hour is incredible, it restores faith in humanity.”

A Britannia hotels spokesman claimed the initial cancellation was because of reports of bad behaviour at another hotel at which rooms were booked for the homeless by Raise the Roof last year. But Simpson denied the claim, explaining guests had even left presents for staff and cleaned up after themselves. The Royal hotel had offered a refund after cancellation, he added.

With research released this month revealing that more than 24,000 people in Britain will spend the festive period sleeping rough, Simpson conveyed the challenges facing the homeless over Christmas.

“Christmas Day on the streets is the worst thing that you can imagine,” he explained.

“Being sat there, lonely and cold, just makes people reflect on what they’ve lost, the family that they could have been with, the home they could have been living in.

“It’s for those reasons that the suicide rate among the homeless is so high at this time of year, it’s one of the hardest times for them.

“To know that these guys won’t be facing that this year is wonderful, and it’s what Christmas is all about.”



