While the hotels used to provide emergency accommodation are deemed unfit and not suitable by many, others are desperate to get in, if only as a stopgap.

While they provide shelter from the outdoors the hotels are also a gateway to people getting moved on to temporary accommodation.

Last week the Glasgow Times told the story of Jonathan Ward, who endured a week in the Rennie Mackintosh hotel before being offered a temporary furnished flat.

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We also told of a man who was in the St Enoch Hotel and told of mice and rat traps.

For our End the Homeless Hotel Shame campaign, we spoke to a number of people who had turned to the Homeless Project Scotland charity for shelter.

The campaign with Govan Law Centre, is calling for a rigorous inspection programme to ensure the hotels are fit for purpose.

(Image: newsquest)

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Paul Markle, 35, had spent five nights at the shelter.

He said: “If this wasn’t here I’d be on the streets. This place is a saviour for me.

“I’ve been on the street since last October.

“I was in the Bellgrove Hotel years ago, you've probably heard about that. It was a nightmare.

“This is better than any of the hotels I’ve been in.”

Sean Taylor, is volunteering at the charity after he spent time there and had been moved to the Queen’s Park Hotel.

He said: “My room is ok compared to other people. I’ve got a toilet and a sink but there is a lot of drug taking and fights breaking out.

“I hear from other people that theirs is a mess.

“I’ve heard other people in the hotel say it’s really bad and the St Enoch hotel is worse.

“If I wasn’t here I’d be on the streets taking drugs and back where I started.”

We spoke with a 26-year-old man, who we are not identifying, who said he had been repeatedly refused emergency accommodation.

He said he had been sleeping rough outside a museum for a month but an incident one night scared him, so when he was told about the shelter he turned up one night.

He has now been staying there and getting food for more than six weeks.

The man said: “I had been contacting the council for help but they kept telling me they had nothing for me. They always said they are full.”

He said he has stopped calling and does not engage with the services.

The council said it had been attempting to contact him on several occasions but it was unable to.

He explained: “I was at university in Glasgow and graduated with a masters in business and finance. I had an addiction and it got the better of me.

“I moved to England for a while but came back here, hoping I would get some help from friends but I didn’t.

“This is the only place that has helped me.”

He said he is seeking work to be able to pay for accommodation, adding: “I’m trying to find a job. I will do any job.”

Another man told how he was homeless after his friend died in his flat.

He slept two nights in a car park and would wait until the buses started running to get out of the cold.

He said: “If I wasn’t here I think I’d be dead on the streets.

“I'm hoping to get moved to a hotel for a week then a temporary flat.”

There are some people who for immigration reasons, including a failed asylum claim or an expired student visa, are not eligible for accommodation as they are classed as "no recourse to public funds.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “It is extremely challenging for us to be able to place people who find themselves homeless during the night or early hours in a hotel or bed and breakfast.

“We encourage anyone who is facing homelessness to contact us during the day for assistance if they are to secure accommodation that night.”