Turning vacant rooms into vital breaks for unpaid carers

Axiom Hospitality, Village Hotels, The QHotels Collection, Bespoke Hotels, Greene King, Cycas Hospitality, 4C Group, Atlas Hotels, St Giles Hotel, Imperial Hotels, Nobu Hotel Shoreditch, Rookery Hotel and Spa and Sleeperz Hotels

Client: Carefree

13 hotel groups have partnered with Carefree to give 6,350 breaks to unpaid carers in 2024, equivalent to £1.9m of gifted hotel stays. These breaks are crucial for unpaid carers, who provide 80% of home care in the UK. 94% saw a wellbeing improvement, 84% were better able to cope with their caring role and 76% felt more socially connected.

In the words of Abigail Tan, CEO of St Giles Hotels: "Unpaid carers are the real caring economy, delivering an unacknowledged but critical level of care across the country."

As Carefree Breakmakers, our hotel partners are at the forefront of ESG efforts to create sustainability in social care - providing the only national provision for carer respite without adding any additional cost to the public purse. 87% of carers said they wouldn't have been able to take a break without this scheme and 68% hadn't had a break for more than a year.

3 in 5 people will become an unpaid carer - including hotel employees which is why this is being championed at all levels: "From personal experience, there is the utmost need to support carers, who make an incredible and generous personal sacrifice," said David Orr, CEO, Sleeperz.