More than 600 hotels are not informing guests about poor food hygiene ratings, survey finds

The Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme (FHRS) in England and the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) in Scotland do not require hotels, B&Bs or guesthouses to publicly display ratings

The Royal Horseguards hotel, a five-star luxury London hotel located near Embankment, was given a hygiene rating of just two (PA)

More than 600 UK hotels, including a five-star one, have poor food hygiene and are in need of “urgent improvement”.

According to an investigation by consumer group Which?, 650 hotels in the UK received a grade of just two or below on a scale of zero to five from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The Royal Horseguards hotel, a five-star luxury hotel located near Embankment in London and overlooking the Thames, was given a hygiene rating of just two despite having two AA Rosettes – a commonly used guarantee of quality for restaurants and hotels.

In Birmingham, the four-star Novotel was also given a hygiene rating of two due to “high-risk food … out of temperature control”.

Inspectors at the four-star Copthorne Hotel in Birmingham discovered raw meat stored next to sauces in the fridge and out-of-date seafood, leading them to giving the hotel a rating of just one on the scale.

Best Western’s Dean Court Hotel in York, with two AA Rosettes, was also given a food hygiene rating of just one.

“Around nine in 10 of us eat at least one meal in our overnight accommodation so it's vital that hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses have high standards of food hygiene,” Rory Boland, travel editor at Which? said.

“We know that displaying the rating outside the premises encourages higher standards, which is why we support the FSA case for a compulsory display scheme for the whole of the UK.”

The Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme (FHRS) in England and the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) in Scotland do not require hotels, B&Bs or guesthouses to publicly display ratings, unlike businesses in Wales and Northern Ireland.

To determine a rating, food safety officers look at how hygienically the food is handled, the condition of the structure of the buildings and how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.

At the end of the inspection, the business is given one of the six ratings from zero to five. Any business should be able to reach the top rating, according to the FSA.

A spokeswoman for London’s Royal Horseguards Hotel said it took the findings very seriously.

“A new senior management team immediately took action to improve standards to the level our staff and customers expect,” it said in a statement.

“These independent reports found significant improvements had been made by the new hotel team and described the kitchen as being 'exceptionally clean and well-maintained' during an unannounced audit,” it added.

Best Western said the Dean Court Hotel's score of one out of five was due to “administrative oversight and clerical error”.

A spokeswoman said: “We are absolutely confident that the result had nothing to with the food hygiene standards of the hotel, of which they have always proudly scored the maximum of five out of five.”

The hotel is currently awaiting re-inspection.

Novotel’s owner, Accor, said about its Birmingham property: “We took immediate action to correct the issues raised from the inspection [in June 2016]. We are currently in the process of applying for recertification.”

Which? is calling for the mandatory display of food hygiene ratings at hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses across the UK, not only outside premises, but also on their websites.