ibis Cardiff (Churchill Way)
The ibis Cardiff on Churchill Way in the Canal Quarter is one of three Cardiff hotels named by the Welsh Government sanctuary portal as accommodating asylum seekers under the Clearsprings Ready Homes Welsh contract, alongside the Copthorne at Culverhouse Cross and the Campanile[1]GOV.UK[2]. People are placed at the ibis as initial accommodation while their claims are processed, before dispersal to other parts of Wales.
Capacity
100
rooms
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£6.2m
estimated
Background
The ibis Cardiff Centre is a 100 room two star Accor hotel on Churchill Way, a five minute walk from Cardiff Queen Street and central shopping. It is named by both the Welsh Government sanctuary information portal and the Refugee Cardiff support directory as a Cardiff initial accommodation site for people seeking asylum[1]GOV.UK[2]. Within Wales, asylum accommodation is run by Clearsprings Ready Homes under a ten year contract with the Home Office.
Cost analysis
At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark[3], the 100 rooms imply headline taxpayer exposure of about £17,000 per night and around £6.2 million per year. The May 2025 NAO contract review flagged the Cardiff initial accommodation cluster as proportionally costly relative to the size of the Welsh dispersed estate[4]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
ibis Cardiff
£170
benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
Cardiff budget hotel
£70
commercial
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
Timeline
Timeline
Pre-2021
Operates as the city centre ibis Cardiff
2021
Asylum use begins
Listed as Cardiff initial accommodation under the Clearsprings Welsh contract.
2024-25
Continued listing on Welsh sanctuary portal
Active alongside Copthorne and Campanile as Cardiff asylum hotels.
Sources
- 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 Seeker Information & Support — Refugee Cardiff, 2024
Cardiff support charity directory naming the ibis on Churchill Way alongside the Copthorne and Campanile as the principal Cardiff initial accommodation hotels for asylum seekers awaiting dispersal.
- 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.