A woman sexually assaulted by a man who was given a key card to her Travelodge room has criticised the company's chief executive, Jo Boydell, for cancelling a meeting with MPs. More than 20 MPs had requested the meeting to discuss the hotel chain's security procedures and the 'insulting' £30 refund offered to the victim.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote to Boydell expressing 'very concern' about the cancellation, urging the company to 'seriously engage' with MPs over the 'utterly appalling' assault. The survivor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked by Kyran Smith in December 2022. Smith was jailed for seven and a half years in February after being convicted.
Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain, the survivor said: 'If you are the CEO of a company, then you have a responsibility to answer these questions... You’re not protecting people and I personally find it quite shocking.' In a BBC interview, she questioned why Boydell would not attend meetings with MPs if she was 'really that worried about safeguarding'.
Boydell apologised to the woman and said immediate changes had been made to the door key policy. She told the BBC she was 'genuinely sorry' for the handling of the incident. However, the survivor dismissed Boydell's suggestion that deadbolts were available, stating she had locked her door on the night of the attack.
Boydell acknowledged 'other instances' of unwanted people entering customers' rooms and said she only learned of Smith's assault this month, over three years after the attack. She admitted the incident should have been escalated but 'something went wrong'. The woman is taking legal action against Travelodge, according to the BBC.
