Surviving Being ‘Hotel Homeless’ (Part II) – My Story By Matthew Steeples

Most amazingly, I have had so many others write to me telling of their similar experiences. Many are people I would never have imagined to have been through what I described and some of them are going through just such currently. It seems this is a far from common situation and at one hotel I found that they have quite a few people living like me as ‘one man and his bag’ on a day-to-day basis.

I have mostly, thanks to the kindness of those supporting me and having managed to get a small bit of paid work also, been able to mostly keep off the streets and night buses, but it is a day-by-day battle and ‘survival’. I continue onwards, but when you’re down and despondent, it is hard to get back to ‘normality’ (if such exists) when you’ve also got no stable and permanent base.

All help, kindness, encouragement and support has been and continues to be truly appreciated via PayPal and bank transfer. I hope the updated tips that follow provide some assistance to at least to anyone who finds themselves in situation like mine.

Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

Contact him via [email protected]

Support him via Paypal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/MatthewJSteeples

Or via bank transfer to:

Bank: Monzo Bank Limited

Account name: Matthew Steeples

Sort code: 04-00-04

Account number: 86562950

Thoughts about and advice if you (hopefully don’t) find yourself in my situation in a large city like London… An updated list of tips and tricks…

• If you’ve suddenly got nowhere to go, hotel booking sites and Airbnbs are the first place you might go to get a deal on accommodation if you have the ready funds. They’re actually more expensive than booking direct.
• A direct deal with a hotel, hostel or short rental is often at least 20% cheaper than these sites. Try to find a way to meet the owner or manager.
• Certain days of the week, especially Saturday nights, are the worst nights for securing accommodation especially in areas where there are such things as football grounds that attract away team fans. Prices rocket during this period and accommodation availability vaporises.
• Do not listen to those who tell you it is cheaper to go to places far, far away always. On occasions it might be, but the prices in other regional locations are actually at a similar level and in some places even higher. Equally, if you have to return for meetings, the cost of travel in #BackwardsBurnham Britain is a killer; train travel has become vastly expensive in this country sadly, for example.
• In the daytime, one can sit in cafes, bars, hotel foyers, libraries, museums and restaurants. Friendly places let you use their Wi-fi to work and do admin; some places such as Pret stores don’t want people lingering and thus have turned off plug socket power sources. Equally, as one wise lady has repeatedly told me: “The best restaurant is the restaurant that knows you best” and it is paramount to remember such and to behave properly in such settings.
• At night, at times when you have nowhere to go, there truly aren’t many places you can go in Sadiq Khan’s non-existent 24/7 London. Such places as McDonald’s on Kensington High Street, however, are open 24 hours a day whilst their branch on Brompton Road, Knightsbridge opens at 5am daily. In the latter, I met several people who go there each morning to sleep. A cup of tea is just £1.59 and you can sit there for several hours and even plug in devices. The staff did not object to those quietly dozing from 5am and did not appear to have a problem with one or two who had even brought their own provisions.
• I was told about night buses being great places to while away a lonesome evening whilst without anywhere to go. They are warm and you pay just £1.75 for any single fare. An N9 bus from Aldwych to Heathrow Terminal 5 takes about 1.5 hours and thus you pay £3.50 to go there and back; 3 hours in which you can spend enjoying the joys of reading. However, avoid night buses that go through areas where there are nightclubs at weekends. They fill up with drunken clubbers and aren’t quite as pleasant to traverse the dark hours upon.
• Heathrow Terminal 5 itself was perfectly civilised to sit for a little while during the night. Again, plug sockets and bathroom facilities are available. There were many who appeared to have realised this snoozing and though the fake pensioners who made such notorious back in 2015 Alan Lane and Katrina Smith thankfully weren’t spotted, there is a Pret and an M&S open for refreshments throughout the night. The bus stop for a return to London is right in the terminal entrance.
• Have plenty of reading material to keep you going. You need something to get you through the long lonely hours. Electronic devices are all very well, but books, newspapers and magazine don’t run out of juice.
• I haven’t done this myself, but given many are open all night long, you could join a casino and while away the small hours in such a setting. Casinos have bars and restaurants and there is no need to actually waste your precious little gambling.
• The kindness of friends, acquaintances and even those one hasn’t even met can be astounding. I dared to humiliate myself by asking for help on social media. I was met mostly with generosity in terms of help, advice and support. I certainly received a fair amount of criticism, but I now know that one’s true ‘friends’ actually do show up when others melt away.
• Finally, don’t give up… In this sorry saga, I have met people in far worse situations than me and people who I didn’t expect to become friends have. Somehow, one gets through the dark times and when the better days come and I am properly back in business, I, for one, will truly now actually remember who the good folk were.