The head of one of the UK’s biggest airport hotel chains has said his company has been “kept in the dark” over the government’s plan to quarantine international arrivals from high-risk countries. The UK chief executive of Best Western, Rob Paterson, said the chain had made multiple offers to help with the isolation plans, unveiled by ministers at the end of January, but had not received a response. He said the company had experience in managing Covid-positive environments after working with the NHS to receive patients discharged from hospital. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Other than very broad information about what timings they’re thinking about and who is handling it, we haven’t had any discussions at all. “We have connections in Singapore and Australia and New Zealand who are doing this, that we could learn from and easily get on the phone and offer their support. We’re just surprised that we haven’t heard anything. “We got the understanding that quarantine hotels was something going to be considered in the UK quite some time ago and we’re yet to understand exactly what protocols are required of the hotels. “I think, in any normal company, if you went out and announced a programme nationally and you hadn’t thought about how you were going to plan that and you hadn’t spoken to the people involved, I’m not sure I’d have a job. “To this day we simply haven’t heard anything, despite multiple offers. We’ve got all these contacts in other countries that have already rolled this out for some time. They could offer some really valuable support and we’re just kept in the dark.” Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, said the quarantine hotels were “part of a much bigger plan”. “If you come to the UK, already you have to quarantine for 10 days, you have to have a test within three days before travel, you have to fill in a passenger locator form … We already have a robust border policy,” he told Today. He said passengers were being turned away if they had not taken a pre-departure test. “When you arrive, you have to quarantine, even without the hotel quarantine operation yet in place. So the border policy, I think, with the passenger locator forms, where greater enforcement is taking place now than ever before, is robust,” he said. Under measures announced by the government at the end of last month, people who are still able to return from countries on the UK’s travel ban list – British and Irish nationals, as well as those with residency rights – are to be required to quarantine in hotels for 10 days upon arrival. The government has yet to provide a date from when the new measures will be enforced. On Thursday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said that the health secretary, Matt Hancock, would set out the operational elements of the policy next week. Asked about the Best Western chief executive’s comments, the spokesman said: “I’m obviously not going to comment on procurement discussions but, as we said last week and as I’ve been saying throughout this week, the government continues to work on how we will ensure that we introduce this policy successfully. “There are operational aspects of the policy that need to be completed, and once they are, we will set out the full details next week.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Accor – whose hotels include Novotel, Mercure and Ibis – declined to disclose whether the company was in dialogue with the government, but said: “Our hotels are ready to support the government’s quarantine plan in order to enable safe travel for Brits and international tourists in these challenging Covid times.” Arora Group did not specify whether it had been in talks with the government, but said in a statement: “Arora Group, which owns and operates a number of hotels at airport locations, including the Sofitel London Heathrow, have been in general and initial dialogue with various entities that will be potentially involved in accommodating passengers needing to quarantine. However, we are awaiting further details.” Travelodge, which has more than 570 hotels, said it had not been approached or asked to take part in discussions yet. The chair of the home affairs select committee said it was “troubling” that the hotel chains appeared to be in the dark. Labour’s Yvette Cooper told the Today programme: “They do have to get the practicalities right, which is why it’s troubling they don’t seem to be talking to some of the major hotel chains already. We’ve always been warned about both second waves and new variants; the work should have been done a long time ago. “The problem is, of course, as long as we’re waiting, not just for this system but for stronger measures, we know that the system isn’t working at the moment. We can see that because the South Africa variant is spreading across the country, that’s the evidence that too many cases are getting into the country, then spreading in the country.”