'Holiday Inn changed my life by refusing me entry for being homeless'

When homeless Calumn Donaghey was turned away from a Holiday Inn Express hotel even after a charity had booked him a room, he felt "disgusting". The 30-year-old and a friend had been told the Manchester city centre hotel's policy did not allow homeless people to stay - a stance the company later apologised for. Calumn, from Openshaw in Manchester, said at the time he did not know that crushing moment on a freezing cold January night would be life-changing. But he has now been clean of drugs for several months and is living in a rehabilitation centre - and said he felt he "had got his life back" after nearly a decade on the streets. Referring back to the night when his booking was refused, he told the BBC: "I thought, 'Am I actually that character, am I viewed that way now?' "It just made me think I had to change." Calumn's life began to spiral out of control in his early twenties when he began experimenting with drugs. As his family relationships broke down and he found himself homeless, he "found crack cocaine" and what he saw as a "street family". Years of addiction and mental health struggles followed, with many of his days spent trying to score drugs around Manchester's Piccadi

Mar 17, 2026 → Mar 17, 2026