Travelodge gave stranger key to couple’s room in another lapse of hotel security
A stranger who was given a key card by staff broke into a couple’s room as the Travelodge hotel reportedly faces a number of complaints about its security measures.
Chris Adamson, 63, was taking a short break with his husband in Lincoln on April 8 when a man entered their room and appeared “surprised”.
Travelodge has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks after a man was jailed for sexually assaulting a woman at a hotel in Maidenhead after he was given a key card by staff.
The firm’s chief executive, Jo Boydell, vowed to improve security measures and said it was making “immediate changes” to its door key policy.
Ms Adamson said she would no longer be staying at the Travelodge alone because of the incident.
She told the BBC that she and her husband checked in shortly after 2.30pm and reported a fault with the television to staff.
After the problem was resolved, one of the staff suggested that they could change the room if the overly hot air conditioning did not improve.
However, the couple rejected the offer and stayed in their original room.
While we were getting ready to go out for the evening, a man walked in with his suitcase and quickly left.
“We had both just gotten out of the shower and were ready to go out, but we wouldn’t have if we had left half an hour earlier,” she said. “That would be very unpleasant.”
Ms Adamson followed the man to reception to complain and questioned how such a mistake could have happened given recent criticism of the hotel.
“The people at the front desk said we were really sorry, that accidents happen and they didn’t quite care about it,” he said.
Dozens of people have contacted the BBC to report “industry-wide failings” in hotel security since Kyran Smith, 29, was jailed in February for attacking a woman at a Maidenhead hotel in 2022.
A Travelodge spokesman said the couple was “extremely sorry” for their experience, which “should not have happened”.
They said: “After Ms Adamson complained about a fault in her room, we offered to move her to another room and we processed the move into our systems.
“We were then able to rectify the fault and Ms Adamson decided to stay in her original room, but this was not reflected in our systems. This led to another guest being mistakenly given the key to Ms Adamson’s original room.
“We are retraining hotel staff on room security and check-in procedures.”
