Ibis Styles Crewe, Emperor Way

The Ibis Styles Crewe sits on Emperor Way at the heart of Crewe Business Park, near the West Coast Main Line Crewe station. The site is one of the larger commercial hotels in the South Cheshire town and historically catered for rail and business travellers. From late 2022, alongside the nearby Best Western Crewe Arms Hotel on Nantwich Road, it was used by the Home Office as part of the Serco contingency accommodation network in the North West.

Crewe Nub News reported in November 2022 that Cheshire East Council, responding to a Freedom of Information request from the local political group Putting Crewe First, had confirmed that Serco on behalf of the Home Office was utilising the Ibis Styles Crewe on Emperor Way and the Best Western Crewe Arms on Nantwich Road as temporary asylum accommodation, alongside several dispersed properties in the town. The council noted it was “exploring if there should be a change of use for hotels longer term” and would consider challenging numbers if they exceeded a 1:200 population ratio for the local authority area^[1]Press.

Crewe Nub News reported in 2024 that the Ibis Styles, Emperor Way had been closed to the general public for around 18 months while it was used as temporary housing for asylum seekers and was targeting a return to public trading from the start of May 2024 following a major refurbishment, ending the Serco contingency contract at the site^[2]Press.

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[3], an approximately 84 room hotel run at full asylum occupancy for 18 months implies headline taxpayer exposure of around £14,280 per night. Across the 18 month closure window, that equates to roughly £7.8 million in cumulative spend. The underlying Serco contingency accommodation rate is consistent with the May 2025 National Audit Office contract review average of around £5.84 million per year per hotel^[4]NAO.