The Royal Albion hotel which suffered a devastating fire has not been used to house migrants or homeless people, The Argus can reveal.
After the Brighton hotel went up in flames on Saturday, false claims emerged online of it being a “migrant hotel” with some going as far as to blame migrants for the devastating fire.
It comes after one account, which has 80,000 followers, tweeted that the hotel was “said to be housing illegal migrants”.
It garnered more than 3,000 retweets, 7,800 likes and 750,000 views on Twitter.
The tweet prompted responses of “send them back” and claims that “the same thing will happen at other hotels”.
But the Home Office has now confirmed to The Argus that the Royal Albion was not being used to house any migrants.
MPs also confirmed that the Home Office had not informed them of any migrants being sent to the Royal Albion hotel, which is in King’s Road, Brighton.
Some people replied to the tweet calling for them to stop spreading “malicious diatribe”.
Britannia Hotels, which runs the Royal Albion, is reported to be housing migrants in 17 of its 60 hotels, according to The Sun.
Brighton and Hove City Council also said that it had not housed any homeless people at the nearly 200-year-old hotel.
Sussex Police confirmed that all guests in the 219-bed hotel had been accounted for.
A spokesman said: "Police were made aware of five rooms where occupants had initially not been accounted for, but they have now all been located safe and well."
The guests included tourists and even one couple from Brighton who got engaged just minutes before the fire alarm went off at around 5.30pm on the Saturday.
The devastating fire required firefighters from both East and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, as well as crews from outside the county including London Fire Brigade.
It was the first time since the Blitz during Second World War that London Fire Brigade came to Brighton for an emergency response.
The council has confirmed that the damaged part of the Grade II* listed hotel will be demolished today.
The work to ensure the building is structurally safe is expected to take two to three weeks.
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