Hotel boss REFUSES £3million contract to house asylum seekers: Owner of boutique guesthouse with gold taps in its rooms rejects offer because it is ‘not appropriate’

A boutique hotel owner has snubbed a lucrative £3million deal to house illegal migrants at his historic country house with gold taps, insisting: ‘It’s not about the money – it’s about principles.’

Samuel Leeds has gone viral for refusing to put up asylum seekers at his lavish 26-bedroom Willingham House in the idyllic village of Willingham, in Cambridgeshire.

The 34-year-old, who took on the sprawling guesthouse in 2023, says he was offered a deal to rent it out and house ‘vulnerable’ people in it by an unnamed firm in June.

But instead of taking up the offer, which would have netted him £35,000 a month for almost seven years, the hotelier refused to hand over the keys to his newly-renovated country pile, as he rebelled against yet another migrant hotel opening in Britain.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has since praised him for his stance, hailing Mr Leeds a ‘good man’ in a barbed post on his social media platform X, which slammed Labour’s handling of the migrant hotel fiasco. 

Father-of-four Mr Leeds, whose wife Amanda, 33, is a refugee from Zimbabwe, told Daily Mail: ‘I’m a man of principle. I didn’t want to be part of what is happening. I don’t think it’s fair asylum seekers illegally come in with no visas, no nothing.

‘I had this £3million contract and I went to my hotel and I thought this would be a fabulous place to live. But I was in one of the nice rooms, with the golden taps we have just put in, and I was thinking it’s just not appropriate for this to be used [for illegal migrants]. 

‘Regardless of the money, I felt I just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t right… The whole situation is a complete joke and it’s a hill I’m happy to die on.’

The father-of-four (pictured left, with his older brother and business partner Russell Leeds) said the offer was ‘inappropriate’ and stood against his principles

He came to the decision while standing in one of Willingham House’s luxury rooms, with a golden taps (pictured)

The sprawling Victorian mansion has been painstakingly restored over two years and features wooden floors and luxurious leather furniture 

Willingham House, set in three acres of picturesque Cambridgeshire countryside, has been luxuriously restored, with rooms fetching between £100 and £200 a night. Guests visiting the rural retreat can relax in stunning baths with golden taps, overlooking the site’s tranquil gardens.  

Mr Leeds, who lives with his family in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, said he was presented a contract to rent out the hotel – which he has spent two years painstakingly refurbishing – for six years and 11 months.

But the property investor – who owns two other hotels – became concerned by the vague terms of who would be staying at Willingham, which he purchased with his brother and business partner, Russell Leeds, 36.

The rental offer, seen by Daily Mail, said ‘vulnerable’ people would be housed there and that Mr Leeds would receive a ‘guaranteed, hassle-free income’ of £35,000 a month for the duration of the deal. 

But when he questioned exactly who the ‘vulnerable’ people were that would be staying at his hotel, he was shocked to discover it meant asylum seekers. 

Although not directly approached by the Home Office to accommodate migrants, Mr Leeds feared the company was acting on the government’s behalf to rent out a new place for asylum seekers to stay. 

It comes amid a national outcry over the arrangement, which is costing the UK billions of pounds to fund, with some immigrants staying in luxury hotels at taxpayers’ expense for more than a year.

Describing the offer in a video released online, Mr Leeds said: ‘I was offered by a company, that offered to pay me £35,000 per month for almost seven years – that’s a lot of money.

Mr Leeds went viral after revealing how he rejected an offer of £3million to house migrants at his boutique guest house

Rooms at the hotel currently go for between £100 and £200 per night

Mr Leeds feared it would be ‘inappropriate’ to house migrants in his hotel, despite a deal which would reportedly earn him £3million over almost seven years 

‘They were going to use it to house illegal immigrants and I said “no”.

‘Now commercially does it make sense? Personally, I don’t care if I make more money or less money. I want to run it as a hotel.

‘On principle, that’s what I decided. Sometimes you have to stick to your principles and put your values over money.’

Mr Leeds, whose wife Amanda fled to Britain seeking asylum when she was 10, had initially feared he would be ‘cancelled’ and branded a ‘racist’ for his outspoken views. 

But instead he has seen an outpouring of support – and his business is now booming, with all 18 of his currently available rooms booked out. 

The 34-year-old said: ‘I love immigrants. I love multiculturalism. Great Britain is partly so great off the backs of people who are and were immigrants. That’s not the issue. The issue is people coming here illegally and bringing absolutely nothing while the average hardworking taxpayer is struggling to pay rent.’

Elon Musk showed his support for Mr Leeds’ stance in a tweet on his social media account 

Mr Leeds (pictured waving the Union flag) claims he was offered a deal which would have seen him being paid £35,000 a month for almost seven years 

He added: ‘A lot of people have been afraid to talk commonsense over fears they will be branded racist… afraid that people will judge them or being jumped on by the “cancel mob”. 

‘I did expect people would go and review bomb me and trash my hotel. I thought people might come out and campaign outside my hotel and cause problems. But it’s been the opposite, we’ve had lots of bookings and support on social media.’

Among his fans is Tesla tycoon and billionaire Elon Musk, who tweeted about Mr Leeds’ stance to his 225million followers on X, formerly Twitter.

‘The government in Britain is bribing hotel owners with multi-millions of pounds for SEVEN-year contracts to house illegal migrants,’ Musk wrote. 

‘Their goal is obviously to amplify and extend the illegal migrant tidal wave, not reduce it. Anyone saying otherwise is a liar. Thankfully, this good man rejected the bribe.’ 

Mr Leeds fully took control of Willingham House last year, paying just £1 for the right to buy it later. Under the deal, a group of Hong Kong investors has agreed to sell him the hotel for £2million within 10 years. In the meantime, the father-of-four pays them a guaranteed monthly rent of £6,500.

Before becoming a hotel, the Victorian mansion served as the village rectory until the early 1950s and hosted a British Red Cross first aid post during the First World War.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is facing increased pressure to cut down on the number of migrant hotels in the UK, which has been blighted by weeks of violent protests nationwide by the issue. 

Anti-migrant protesters have erupted across the country amid concerns about asylum hotels (pictured are demonstrators outside Epping’s Bell Hotel in Essex)

Anti-migrant protesters demonstrate outside the Cladhan Hotel on August 30 in Falkirk, Scotland

Samuel Leeds (right) is pictured with his older brother and business partner, Russell Leeds (left), 36, outside the Willington Hotel

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has vowed to overhaul the asylum system in a bid to cut down the number of migrants staying in hotels while they wait to find out whether or not they will be deported. 

At the moment there are about 32,000 asylum seekers still housed in hotels nationally. 

Ms Cooper said that, while initial decisions on asylum applications had been sped up, there had been ‘unacceptable delays’ when people who were turned down decided to appeal.

Currently it takes on average just over a year for an appeal to be heard – with 51,000 cases still awaiting a decision.

During this time, failed asylum seekers are accommodated at the taxpayer’s expense.

A report by government spending watchdog the National Audit Office earlier this year warned the cost of asylum hotel contracts had ballooned from a predicted £4.5billion to £15.3billion over ten years. 

During 2024/2025, Britain spent about £108million a month on housing migrants in hotels. 

The Home Office said: ‘At its peak, less than two years ago, there were 400 asylum hotels in use at a cost of almost £9million a day.

‘We have taken urgent action over the past year to fix that system, doubling the rate of asylum decision-making, and reducing the amount of money spent on asylum hotels by almost a billion pounds.’

Daily Mail has approached the Home Office for further comment.