Copthorne Hotel Cardiff (Culverhouse Cross)
The four star Copthorne Hotel at Culverhouse Cross in west Cardiff was taken into Home Office asylum accommodation use from the summer of 2021 under the Clearsprings Ready Homes Welsh contract[1]GOV.UK[3]. After about two years it was transferred to Cardiff Council for use as homeless families accommodation, before reopening to the public in May 2025[2]Press.
Capacity
135
rooms
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£8.4m
estimated
Background
The Copthorne is a 135 room four star Millennium Hotels group property in Culverhouse Cross, a western suburb of Cardiff. It closed to the public in 2021 for use as Home Office initial accommodation for asylum seekers awaiting dispersal further into Wales[1]GOV.UK. The Welsh Government sanctuary portal lists it alongside the Campanile and the ibis Cardiff as the principal Cardiff hotels operating in this role[4].
Cost analysis
At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark[5], full occupancy of the 135 rooms implies headline taxpayer exposure of around £22,950 per night and roughly £8.4 million per year. The May 2025 NAO accommodation contract review noted that the Welsh portfolio was small in absolute terms but ran at high per person per night rates given the lack of dispersed alternatives in the local rental market[6]NAO.
Per-person per-day cost stack (benchmark)
£170- Hotel rate (room + three meals)£10059%
- Weekly cash allowance£74%
- Legal aid & casework£127%
- NHS / interpreter / utilities£1911%
- Contractor / security overhead£3219%
Cost in context
Copthorne Cardiff
£170
benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
Welsh budget hotel
£60
commercial
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
Timeline
Timeline
Pre-2021
Operates as a four star Millennium Copthorne Hotel
Summer 2021
Asylum use begins
Closed to the public for Clearsprings Welsh contract.
2023
Switched to homeless families accommodation
Transferred to Cardiff Council temporary housing use.
May 2025
Reopens commercially
Returns to the trading hotel market after refurbishment.
Sources
- FOI release 16686: Copthorne Hotel — Welsh Government, 2022
Welsh Government Freedom of Information disclosure confirming the Copthorne Hotel Cardiff at Culverhouse Cross was used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.
- Hotel to reopen after temporary housing usage — South Wales Echo, 2025
Confirms the Copthorne Hotel Cardiff at Culverhouse Cross was first used to house asylum seekers from summer 2021 then by Cardiff Council for homeless families before reopening to the public.
- Copthorne Hotel, Cardiff — Wikipedia, 2025
Records the 135-room Copthorne Hotel Cardiff at Culverhouse Cross having been used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers from 2021 before later being repurposed by Cardiff Council for homeless families.
- Sanctuary: Housing for refugees and asylum seekers — Welsh Government (Sanctuary), 2024
Welsh Government sanctuary portal listing the ibis Cardiff alongside the Copthorne and Campanile as Cardiff hotels accommodating asylum seekers under the Clearsprings Ready Homes contract.
- Asylum accommodation in the UK — Migration Observatory, University of Oxford, Aug 2025
£170 per person per day in hotels (2024/25 average); used for per-hotel estimates and food/utilities breakdowns.
- The Home Office's asylum accommodation contracts — National Audit Office, May 2025
222 hotels in use; £1.296 billion annual (2024/25); per-hotel approximately £5.84 million.