The cost of quarantine hotels in England will shoot up by more than £500 later this month.

Amid yet more changes to the government’s travel policy during the coronavirus crisis, returning from a ‘red list’ country into one of the facilities will now cost a couple with a young child more than £4,000.

Mexico, Georgia and the French overseas territories of La Reunion and Mayotte are the latest destinations to join the red list, from 4am on Sunday.

A solo traveller returning from one of those places will have to pay £2,285 from August 12 – up from £1,750 – meaning one night will soon cost more than £200.

The charge for an additional adult sharing a room is more than doubling from £650 to £1,430 to ‘better reflect the increased costs involved’, the Government said.

That means that 11 nights in a quarantine hotel will cost a couple £3,715, with children aged 5 to 11 costing an additional £325.

That is before including the cost of any Covid tests.

With the risk of countries changing status and joining the red list at short notice, the change is likely to again put off travellers considering going abroad – particularly those who are less well off.

Quarantine hotels in this country have been widely criticised, with one guest reporting a rat in their room last week.

Six weeks ago, a family blamed one hotel in London Heathrow for giving them food poisoning, and accused it of multiple failings, notably on the potential spread of coronavirus there.

In February, another family said they would be safer at home than with ’40 contacts a day’ where they were staying.

In May, another family accused their hotel of ‘racist treatment’ during Ramadan.

The Government insists quarantine hotels are necessary to prevent the spread of Covid and new variants, but experts point out that many countries have poor sequencing systems and it is unclear where dangerous strains will come from next.

The price hike comes amid more changes to an already confusing system, which has been blasted for creating uncertainty in the travel industry.

The UK’s border policy also failed to stop the Delta variant, first identified in India, from arriving in the country.

On Wednesday it was announced that Germany and six other countries would be added to the ‘green list’, while India and three other countries were removed from the ‘red list’.

After a U-turn on the status of France, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon said: ‘Ministers need to get a grip and set out a proper strategy, provide full data, and progress work with global partners on international vaccine passports so travellers and the industry can have clarity instead of reckless​ U-turns and confusion.’

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