Taxpayer-funded migrant hotels are being used as brothels with men travelling to them to pay for sex, it can be revealed.

Women staying in a facility in London were “engaged in prostitution”, the British Red Cross told MPs.

Some men travelled to the hotel specifically to pay for sex, whilst others were either staying or working there, the charity said.

The revelations will prompt renewed fury over the use of hotels for asylum seekers – and the safety of some of those staying inside them.

When concerns were raised over the safety of the women, the accommodation provider – who Red Cross did not name – “indicated that they were unable to intervene where consenting adults were having sex”.

The Daily Express earlier this week told how women in asylum hotels face sexual harassment, violence, exploitation and intimidation from migrants and staff.

One woman described how groups of young men would “drink together” and “smoke different things”, creating an intimidating atmosphere.

And the British Red Cross told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “In London, our teams were aware of a hotel where multiple women were engaged in prostitution, with men from both within and external to the hotel paying for sex.

“Our casework teams supported women who did not feel safe in the hotel due to the number of strange men coming and going, but there appeared to be no process in place for residents to register those concerns.

“When this was raised by professionals in a multi-agency setting, the accommodation provider indicated that they were unable to intervene in a situation where “consenting adults” were having sex.

“It appeared that there was little understanding of the concept of consent in relation to sexual exploitation, and in the context of a hotel setting where residents were expected to live on asylum support payments of £8.86 per week.

“Our teams also reported not infrequent instances of hotel staff and housing managers in dispersal accommodation being sexually inappropriate and making sexualised comments to female residents.

“One caseworker shared an example of a client who was preparing to take a bath late at night, when a member of the hotel staff attempted to use a key card to enter her room.

“She had preemptively put the latch over the door, so he was unable to enter. Another example shared was of women’s underwear going missing in dispersal accommodation following staff being in the room to inspect an urgent repair.”

More than 38,000 migrants are staying in hotel rooms, costing £5.5 million a day. A further 65,707 are in other forms of accommodation.

The Red Cross warning comes after the charity Rape Crisis warned women in asylum hotels face sexual harassment, violence, exploitation and intimidation from migrants and staff, a leading charity has warned.

Some women are so scared in Home Office-funded accommodation they form small groups to go to the toilets together to prevent men following them in.

One woman, called Ola*, described how groups of young men would “drink together” and “smoke different things”, creating an intimidating atmosphere.

The young mother told how hotel residents would follow her around the hotel and leave notes in her child’s pram propositioning her.

One woman was allegedly sexually harassed so much - by a member of staff at a hotel - she chose to go back to Iran “and face the significant risk to her safety that had caused her to seek asylum in the UK”.

The problem is so widespread that Rape Crisis said they felt “compelled” to write to the Home Affairs Select Committee, warning: “We heard deeply concerning stories of asylum-seeking women being subjected to sexual harassment, violence, exploitation and intimidation by some male residents and members of staff working in hotels and other Home Office provided accommodation.

“We have seen evidence of failings in vetting procedures and safeguarding training, as well as wholly inadequate complaints and misconduct processes, and a dearth of support for asylum-seeking women subjected to inappropriate behaviour and abuses of power by accommodation staff.

“This points to systemic issues of sexual violence and abuse, rather than isolated incidents.”

Detailing one case, the charity told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “When Ola entered the asylum system, she was pregnant and living in a mixed-sex hostel.

“She gave birth not long after and remained living in shared accommodation with her new-born for four months.”

Ola* told MPs, in a written submission: “So usually [women feel unsafe] because it’s a very mix. So many people mixed together.

“And the people, the young men who are single, they live four or five in one room. They drink together, they smoke different things.

“And they are just next to a room with a single woman who is pregnant or with baby in the room. They will go knock on [your] door and when you go to the toilet, they will follow you. It’s quite hard.

“I remember finding letters in my pram from guys asking me where your room is. Or men following me, things like this… Having a very small baby and each time you put the baby in [the] pram you’ll find something [notes from male residents]. That is not really what you’re interested [in], that will follow you till you leave the hotel, even after.”

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.