THE owner of a Bournemouth hotel who is finding it ‘impossible to remain viable on tourism income’ has submitted plans to convert his venue into an HMO.

The Chelsea Hotel has previously hosted both tourists and longer-term residents from the BCP Council Housing Department.

However, it has begun to rely on the longer-term occupancies.

Owner, Chris Horton has now lodged plans with the council to convert the space on St Swithun’s Road into a ten-bedroom HMO.

He said he had never struggled to fill the rooms until this summer when they were filling just half capacity.

“We’re responding to the needs of the market, at the end of the day with the rising costs of gas and electric it’s not cost-effective,” Chris said.

He added that after utility bills and VAT on bookings, he can come away with only £20 from a room priced at £80 a night.

“We can’t compete with the Britannia’s £27 a night in the winter,” said Chris.

“It wouldn’t be worth opening the door for that.”

The Chelsea Hotel featured in, and won, Channel 4’s ‘Four in a Bed’ in 2021 and still proudly displays its plaque inside.

However, Chris now wants to create single-occupancy rooms and convert the restaurant into a communal area.

The rooms would be for people who 'cannot afford to live on their own', such as university graduates.

The ‘nice refurbished’ bedrooms and bathrooms would not see many large changes but instead, get new furnishings to suit permanent residents.

“Because obviously, it's a hotel, they've got hanging rails that wouldn't be suitable, so you'd have a proper wardrobe and everyone would have a wardrobe chest of drawers, and they've all got many fridges in their rooms and things like that,” said Chris.

Residents will have access to a ‘sizeable kitchen’ and additional storage and cooking facilities will be installed to ensure enough space for each person.

A building caretaker would also live in a basement flat to help residents.

The rear garden would be fitted with a cycle store and tenants would be able to use the Beryl bike dock at the end of the road on St Swithun’s roundabout.

The application lodged this week is yet to be approved.