Travelodge investigating more reports of strangers accessing rooms, boss says

Travelodge is investigating more reports of strangers accessing rooms, after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who was given a key card to her room by staff.

It is carrying out a full review after two women told the BBC that people they did not know came into their rooms while they were alone.

They got in touch after a woman was sexually assaulted by Kyran Smith, 29, in Maidenhead in 2022 and was subsequently jailed for seven-and-a-half years for the attack

Jo Boydell, CEO of Travelodge, said: "I apologise to all of those people that have had a frightening circumstance."

Philippa, 20, who only wanted to give her first name, said on her first night alone in a hotel, two strangers unlocked the door of her room and walked in.

In another case, in December 2025, Jan Palmer said shortly after midnight her door opened and someone came in, leaving only after she shouted at them.

Philippa said one of the men who walked into her room told her there had been a mix up with the bookings and asked if she had checked in properly. After a brief conversation, they left.

"It was scary," she said.

Philippa reported the incident to the receptionist the following day, who told her he was the one who had entered her room that night and had been checking in another guest.

She made a complaint and received a partial refund. Her door didn't have an internal lock or chain.

During Jan Palmer's stay in Bristol she said, after hearing a lot of noise from the hotel's landing, her door was opened abruptly and someone walked in.

She said: "I just shouted go away," and heard a woman's voice apologising and the person then left the room. But after that, she was frightened and unable to sleep.

She said that after she submitted a formal complaint she was refunded for that night of her stay, but she never managed to find out what exactly happened.

"I just felt fobbed off," she said.

In response to the two further reports, Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell said: "What happened was very upsetting and shouldn't have happened, and I would like to apologise to them both.

"I would also like to apologise for our response and handling of their cases, which was inappropriate. We will ensure these cases form part of the independent review of our room security procedures and our handling of these types of incidents."

The victim assaulted in Maidenhead has been calling for change to the hotel key procedures.

Responding to news of the other incidents, she said: "It doesn't surprise me.

"Imagine both sides of that equation where you've been given a room key and someone's in there, or you're in a room and someone comes in – it's not exactly a nice experience for anyone.

"That's what I was trying to raise with them about their system. You are most vulnerable when you are asleep so you can't have a system that's not good enough."

Travelodge initially offered the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, a £30 refund, which she described as "insulting", before the company issued an apology.

Speaking to the BBC for the first time, Boydell admitted the hotel chain's handling of the case fell short.

She said: "I'm so sorry this happened to her, I'm so sorry it happened in our hotel, and I am so sorry for the way we handled it afterwards.

"I clearly apologise to the victim for what happened to her and the way that we handled her case subsequently - it clearly wasn't good enough.

"I'm genuinely sorry that the victim feels dismissed and I really genuinely do apologise for that."

Boydell said the reports of other incidents were being investigated.

She said: "Absolutely everything that comes out of that will feed into the independent review and I apologise to all of those people that have had a frightening circumstance and particularly to those that we haven't dealt with subsequently very well.

"We're working really really hard to make sure that we get this right going forwards."

Smith, from Staines, Surrey, had been at the same party as the victim during a night out in December 2022 when they and others retired to their rooms at the Maidenhead hotel.

The woman claimed staff told her Smith, who was known to her, had passed their security checks by providing her name.

The Travelodge hotel chain says it has made changes to its door key policy to ensure additional or replacement keys were only issued with permission from the person staying in the room.

Additional reporting by Grace Dean and George Sandeman