A woman has described one of the most 'traumatic nights' of her life after hotel staff gave her abuser the key to her room. The domestic violence victim, who has not been named, told the BBC she was staying at a Travelodge in London in October last year when the incident occurred.
The woman said she booked the room after suffering abuse at home, seeking a 'night away from the fear'. But reception staff reportedly gave her attacker access to her room, where he physically attacked her and tried to take her phone.
How the attack unfolded
She said: 'He walked into the hotel and told the receptionist that his girlfriend was upstairs having a seizure. He asked what room I was in and what floor I was staying on.' Staff then handed him a key and directed him to her room.
The woman added that she managed to convince him to leave, but he later returned and kicked the door 'completely off its hinges'. She said: 'Not long afterwards, I heard him knocking at the door. He was banging, shouting. He was just getting more and more aggressive.'
Response from hotel
After going downstairs 'shaking' and 'begging for help', she was offered a different room but no police or medical assistance was called. She said: 'I think the receptionist just panicked. She didn't call the police. She didn't check if I needed any medical attention. She didn't ask if there were any family members I could call.'
A Travelodge spokesperson said: 'We are deeply sorry for the significant distress experienced by the customer and we apologise for the way the incident has been handled. Customer safety and security is – and remains – a priority for us.' They added that room access security policies at the time were not correctly followed, which is not acceptable, and that changes have been made to strengthen the policy and incident escalation procedures, supported by training for all customer-facing colleagues.
Calls for accountability
The incident came to light after the sentencing of Kyran Smith, who attacked a woman at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022 and was jailed for seven and a half years in February. Following Smith's sentencing, Travelodge chief executive Jo Boydell said immediate changes were made to the company's room access security policy.
But Freddie van Mierlo, MP for Thame, Oxfordshire – where Travelodge's head office is based – called for Ms Boydell to step down, claiming changes had not gone far enough. He told BBC Breakfast: 'If a company is failing in its most basic duty to look after the safety of its guests, and we've heard the most horrific cases come forward, undermining the trust in the hotel industry, we've seen women, people feeling unable to stay in a hotel into the future, I think that does require accountability.'
He added: 'I don't think the changes that have taken place to date have been sufficient, that's evident, and that's why I think there needs to be a change at the top, because, ultimately, culture and safety needs to come from the very top of the company.'
In line with the changes, explicit permission is now required from guests before additional or replacement keys are issued for their room. This builds on Travelodge's existing policy to never confirm to a third party that a guest is staying at one of its hotels.
