According to ROOD, the hotel is used by the municipality for student housing, but the residents there have fewer rights than students who live in rooms on the private market and pay at least 200 euros more than the average student room.
‘The Student Hotel has an extremely strange arrangement. Because they are classified as a hotel, they can charge exceptionally high prices. Many international students have become victims of this situation because they do not understand exactly what they are signing up for. The municipality should take responsibility and protect the students from the grifters at The Student Hotel’, says spokesperson Floor Mertens.
The hotel manager who accepted the rake and posed with the members of ROOD for a photo is not willing to comment. He referred instead to an earlier statement by the organisation stating that The Student Hotel says that hotel room prices are not comparable to the rental prices for private student rooms. Students receive a fully furnished room and have access to a bike, the internet, kitchen appliances and a fitness room.
‘Students are free to choose to live in a student hotel if that suits their needs. The Student Hotel offers international students – among others – an additional option for housing. The foreign students can also choose to stay in a different type of hotel or a different kind of accommodation. It’s up to the student’, according to the company.
Tenancy law
According to the organisation, the hotel rooms are especially interesting for international students who are residing in the Netherlands for a relatively short period of time. Such students do not necessarily have friends or family nearby who can help them to find a room and are not eligible for rental subsidies or other social benefits, but they do have a need for security and reliability, The Student Hotel says.
Several weeks ago in Leiden, the municipal council determined that student hotels must fall under tenancy law. ROOD wants the same to apply in Groningen.