Travelodge has overhauled its room key policy following a security breach that led to a guest being sexually assaulted by a man who had been given unauthorised access to her room.
In February, Kyran Smith received a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for an assault carried out at a Maidenhead Travelodge in December 2022.
Jo Boydell, the chain’s CEO, has since apologised to the victim in a statement, confirming that new or replacement keys will now only be provided with the guest’s explicit consent.
She said on Sunday, 15 March: ‘I would like to express again how deeply sorry I am for what happened to the victim and for the mistakes we made in handling this.
‘We got things wrong and we should have acted sooner, and I am truly sorry for that. I would welcome the opportunity to meet the victim to discuss what happened and to learn from our mistakes.
‘We have done an internal review of our room access security policies and have made some immediate changes to ensure that an additional or replacement room key is only issued with explicit permission from the person, or people, staying in the room.
Travelodge has changed its key policy after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given access to her room at a Travelodge in Maidenhead
Kyran Smith (pictured) was jailed for seven and a half years in February over the attack, which took place in December 2022
Jo added that the safety of guests is the ‘most important thing’ and that all 12,000 customer-facing staff are receiving retraining.
Before the chief executive spoke out, the anonymous victim informed the BBC that Travelodge failed to handle the situation appropriately, noting that the company ‘took a very long time’ to respond and appeared to dismiss her concerns.
She said: ‘It was escalated in their company a little bit… but they still didn’t take the right precautions to deal with the situation.’
Travelodge first offered a £30 refund – which the victim called ‘insulting’ – before finally apologising.
She has since urged the company to learn from their mistakes to make sure similar incidents do not happen again.
In December 2022, Smith – who had attended the same party as the victim – tricked hotel staff into giving him a key card by claiming to be her boyfriend.
The woman alleged that her attacker had bypassed security checks at reception simply because he knew her name.
She told BBC News that personal details shouldn’t be enough to grant access to a person’s room, insisting that hotels must seek direct consent from the guest before handing out keys.
She noted that her room also lacked a safety chain for added security, adding: ‘One of my biggest concerns, and from looking at everything online, is how many people do get access to people’s rooms.’
Jo Boydell, CEO of Travelodge, has issued a formal apology, and said additional or replacement keys will now only be provided with the guest’s explicit consent, and all 12,000 staff in customer-facing roles are being retrained
Labour MPs Matt Bishop and Jen Craft met Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell to discuss a security overhaul following the safety breach.
They insisted the company’s internal review be co-led by a leading barrister and a women’s safety expert, noting the ‘insulting’ compensation previously offered to the victim.
The victim welcomed the review but called it ‘frustrating’ that such an incident was necessary to trigger better room key protocols.
Travelodge, based in Thame, confirmed Boydell is now seeking a meeting with the safeguarding minister to discuss the matter further.
Jo Boydell, Chief Executive of Travelodge, said: ‘We have made some immediate changes to our room access security policy following an initial internal review.
‘This ensures that any additional or replacement room keys are only issued with explicit permission from the person (or people) staying in the room and has already been rolled out to all of our hotels, supported by training for our 12,000 customer facing colleagues.
We have also commissioned an independent review of our room security measures to learn from this and further strengthen our procedures.
‘The safety and security of our customers and colleagues is extremely important to us, and we want them to be safe, and feel safe, in our hotels.
Travelodge told the Daily Mail: ‘Jo had a productive meeting with MPs and Ministers yesterday afternoon (16 March), including Matt Bishop MP, Jen Craft MP, Jess Phillips MP, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls and Alex Davies-Jones, Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls and is committed to engaging with them further.
‘She remains deeply sorry for the distress experienced by the victim and recognises that the company should have acted sooner.’