Children have been subjected to rape and abuse in prominent hotel chains, while perpetrators “placed a do not disturb sign on the door and acted with impunity.”
Information provided to the BBC indicates that law enforcement has received several accusations of child sexual assault occurring in hotels.
Despite hotel-related offences being fewer than one percent of all documented child sexual abuse crimes in England and Wales, law enforcement officials assert that such crimes are likely underreported.
In 2023, a total of 504 crimes were documented, with 464 involving physical contact with a child and 203 classified as rape.
The data indicated that 84 percent of the victims were female. Twenty-six percent of victims were aged 15, eighteen percent were aged 16, and seventeen percent were aged 17.
Nearly all suspects (92 percent) were male, with an average age of 28 years.
Approximately four percent of the reported assaults were classified as group-based; nevertheless, victims have indicated that even when perpetrators appear individually, they frequently belong to grooming gangs that exchange children among abusers.
A victim, frequently taken to hotels by her abuser, stated that the data is not surprising.
“You can put a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the door and then they can do whatever they want with nobody wondering what’s going on,” she revealed.
“I can’t even stay in a hotel now without thinking about what happened to me.”
The NPCC said forces are working alongside hotels to raise awareness of this offence.
Trade body UK Hospitality has doubled down to tackle the crime, and a campaign called Operation Makesafe was launched, where hotel staff are trained to identify signs of sexual abuse and told how to report it to the police.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, told the BBC: “We are working closely with the Home Office and police to support Operation Makesafe. We provide hospitality businesses with police guidance on what the signs of child sexual exploitation are, how to spot them, what to do if you think an incident is taking place and measures hotels can implement to deter incidents.”
According to the NPCC, the venues involved were often in major cities and towns, close to train stations and motorways, making it easier for the perpetrators to meet their victims.
Some budget hotels have self-check in services, allowing abusers to check in with young people unnoticed.
Phil Ashford, from the NPCC child sexual exploitation taskforce said: “Once you’re behind that hotel bedroom door, there’s a degree of privacy that perpetrators often don’t find elsewhere when they commit abuse.”
“We’re talking about some of the most serious contact offending imaginable – the rape and serious sexual abuse of children.”
To ensure hotels understand what to do, officer from Greater Manchester Police have conducted operations where they pretend to be an abuser and travel to a hotel with a child acting as a victim.
They then attempt to book a room while acting suspiciously.
Sergeant Ian Haselden from the police force said they would rather be safe than sorry, and they don’t want hotel staff to worry about making the wrong call.
“If hotels are suspicious the gold standard response is to call the police,” he added.
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