Airport hotel chain ‘kept in dark’ over UK Covid quarantine plan

The head of one of the UK’s biggest airport hotel chains said his company had been “kept in the dark” over the government’s plan to quarantine international arrivals.

The UK chief executive of Best Western, Rob Paterson, said the chain had made multiple offers to help with the isolation plans, first announced by ministers in mid-January, but hadn’t received a response.

He said the company had experience in managing Covid-positive environments after working with the NHS to receive patients discharged from hospital.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Other than very broad information about what timings they’re thinking about and who is handling it we haven’t had any discussions at all.”