Carmelite Hotel, Aberdeen

The Carmelite is a stylish modern boutique hotel in the heart of the Merchant Quarter, with a vibrant restaurant and bar and rooms decorated in eclectic period and contemporary styles. It is located within walking distance of Aberdeen railway station and Union Street, and was a sought-after business and tourism hotel before the Home Office contract.

In October 2023 the Scottish Government published a Freedom of Information response confirming that 288 people seeking asylum were accommodated by the Home Office at three hotels in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, with onward dispersal expected into shared rented accommodation^[3]GOV.UK. Press and Journal subsequently named the Carmelite Hotel as one of the three city sites alongside the Patio at Aberdeen Beach and the Hampton by Hilton at Westhill^[1]Press.

Press and Journal reporting in 2024 documented capacity pressures across the three Aberdeen Home Office hotels, including discussions of room doubling that would force asylum residents to share rooms. The Carmelite was named in the doubling-up reporting as one of the three city sites under pressure^[1]Press.

In 2025 Press and Journal published an explainer on the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire council role, naming the Carmelite Hotel and detailing the limited statutory role councils have over Home Office placements. The piece explained that councils provide outreach, public health and education support but cannot block Home Office decisions to procure a given hotel^[2]Press.

At the £145 per person per day Sky News figure for hotel-based asylum accommodation in 2024 and 2025 and an estimated 96 residents, the Carmelite running cost works out at about £13,900 per night and roughly £5.1 million per year. The May 2025 NAO contract review put the average per hotel run rate across the wider portfolio at about £5.84 million per year^[5]NAO, so the Carmelite sits broadly in line with the national average.

The £170 Migration Observatory benchmark^[4] is the all-in UK 2024 to 2025 average; Aberdeen is captured in the lower £145 Scottish regional figure used here.