Coronavirus: Hotels urged to make empty rooms available to domestic abuse victims during lockdown

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Hotels should make empty rooms available for women and children experiencing domestic abuse during the coronavirus lockdown, campaigners have said. Charities have warned of a possible “epidemic of abuse” as social distancing measures mean women will be more vulnerable to abuse and less able to escape it. “While the rooms of your hotel are unoccupied, will you offer a hotel in a publicly undisclosed space, free of charge, to women fleeing a domestic abuser so that they are safe and secure?” Specialist women’s support services ”would need to have an ongoing role in supporting women and children in any such hotel bed scheme to ensure it was safe,” the letter warns. “Hotels have an opportunity to throw a lifeline to vulnerable women and children, to offer a place of safety, at a time when they need it the most.” Hotels in London have made rooms available to rough sleepers in a bid to protect them from the spread of coronavirus.