Travel quarantine hotel requirement costs: FOI release

Information requested

In light of the new travel quarantine hotel requirements being implemented in Scotland effective Monday 15 February 2021, please provide the following information to support the cost of £1750 per person being incurred.

1. Name of all hotels and airports associated with hotel allocations

2. Minimum room standard to be allocated to passengers

3. Welfare provision for passengers required to quarantine - example frequency to leave the hotel for fresh air and exercise

4. Meal provision standard:

• Breakfast

• Lunch

• Evening Meal

5. Frequency of room cleaning, laundry, in room services & toiletry changing 

6. Full breakdown of cost outlining the allocation as follows:

• Hotel accommodation cost per person per night

• Meal costs per person per day

• Security cost per person per day

• Transfer cost per person per transfer

7. Review period to demonstrate the process will be under constant review and not and indefinite period of time

Response

1.

• Village Hotel, Aberdeen

• Holiday Inn Express Glasgow Airport

• The Normandy Hotel, Glasgow

• Doubletree by Hilton, Edinburgh Airport

• Hampton by Hilton, Edinburgh Airport

• Leonardo Hotel, Edinburgh Murrayfield

Following a review of actual numbers of travellers, the initial level of provision has been scaled down and at present the hotels that are supporting the Managed Isolation programme are:

• Village Hotel, Aberdeen

• Holiday Inn Express, Glasgow Airport

• Doubletree by Hilton, Edinburgh Airport

2. The Scottish Government does not have all the information you have asked for because the standard of the rooms and allocation of them to passengers will be at the discretion of the hotel.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

However, we can advise that every room has a television, free WIFI, facilities to make tea and coffee and wherever possible a small fridge. The en-suite bathroom will already be equipped with basic toiletries. Hotels will prioritise allocating larger or connecting rooms to families.

3. Travellers are able to leave their room for brief periods to go outside for fresh air, although they have to remain on the hotel site and they need specific permission from the security staff, who will escort and supervise them. If they are allowed a spell outside they will need to wear a face covering and to follow social distancing guidelines. Getting outside for exercise is not guaranteed and will vary between hotels. The security staff may have to ask them to wait or limit the number of times they are able to exercise to ensure that they are able provide adequate supervision and prevent mixing between residents. Families with children and people with specific medical needs will be prioritised. Travellers should exercise in their room where possible.

Contact details of organisations to support mental and physical wellbeing during quarantining are provided to all travellers.

4. Travellers will be provided with three meals a day, tea, coffee, fresh fruit, water and soft drinks. The hotel will provide menus so that travellers can choose what they want to eat and they will be able to let them know if they have any dietary requirements or allergies. Meals will be delivered to just outside the door for a contact free delivery.

Additional food and drink can be ordered from the hotel's 24-hour room service menu and depending on the hotel’s policy, they may be able to order food and drinks (e.g. pizza or other takeaway) to be delivered to the hotel. Staff will try to bring the items in a timely manner. Hotel staff will not enter the rooms during the stay and so there will be some disposable cleaning products available. There will be a laundry service if travellers need to have clothes washed.

5. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the contracts for the services to provide the Quarantine Hotel/Managed Isolation Programme are held by the UK Government. The categories of cost that are included within the Quarantine Hotel/Managed Isolation programme are: hotel accommodation; transport provision; and security provision. The Quarantine Hotel/Managed Isolation Programme is supported by the UK Government’s Test and Trace programme and it is not known whether costs of that programme have been or will be apportioned to the Quarantine Hotel/Managed Isolation Programme.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

6. The quarantine hotel provisions now form part of the International Travel Regulations, which must (under the regulations) be reviewed every 28 days. So the quarantine hotel provisions will now have to form part of that review process, which means they will be reviewed once every 28 days.

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