The care provider Pilgrims Friends Society has been speaking as new figures reveal the average care home resident is now paying out more than £30,000 each year.
Communications manager, Louise Morse, told Premier's News Hour: "You couldn't stay in a [budget hotel] for that [money], and have care from trained carers, cover the overheads, the laundry, the meals, and the raising costs and meeting regulations."
The healthcare agency Prestige Nursing + Care also found the rate of care home price increases across the UK stood at 5.6 per cent last year, ten-times more than the average rise in pension payments.
Jonathan Bruce, managing director of Prestige Nursing + Care said: "Cuts to social care now also mean the vast majority of people will have to find the funds to cover the cost of care themselves, which makes it more important than ever that people start to plan their care in advance.
"The lack of awareness of these issues, and appetite to tackle them, illustrates the need for a sensible and mature debate on the value our society places on care.
"For many, the widening gap between costs and income will make it difficult to receive the amount and quality of care they require without substantial savings to fall back on."
The Prestige Nursing + Care statistics also reveal significant regional differences in the shortfall faced by older people living in care.
The gap between the average cost of a year living in resident care in 2015/16 stood at £38,896 while the typical sum of pension payments totally £16,744; meaning a shortfall of £22,152.
In the North East, however, the shortfall between typical pension payments (£13,676) and care home costs (£22,048) stood at £8,372 last year, a fall of 15.7 per cent.
Louise Morse also said an individual must be in a "really desperate" situation to qualify for care home funding.
You can listen to Louise Morse speaking with Premier's Alex Williams by clicking here.