Travelodge staff gave sex attacker access to woman’s room | UK | News
Travelodge has changed its room key policy after staff mistakenly allowed a sex attacker into a woman’s hotel room. The company also apologized after an incident in which a man gave the victim a key card to her room before entering her room while she was sleeping and sexually assaulting her.
The attacker, Kyran Smith, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison earlier this year for deceiving hotel staff into allowing him to enter the room. The 29-year-old was found guilty of a sexual offense and trespass with intent to commit sexual assault at Reading Crown Court in January.
The court heard the incident took place at the Travelodge hotel in Maidenhead in December 2022.
According to Thames Valley Police, Smith and the victim had attended the same party earlier that evening before returning to the hotel where they were staying in separate rooms.
When the victim went to bed around 2am, Smith approached reception and took his room key card after misleading staff.
Police said the woman woke up and saw him sexually assaulting her while she slept. He shouted at her to leave and asked her to leave the room before handing the key to the front desk and returning to her own hotel room.
Following the lawsuit, Travelodge said it had carried out an internal review and implemented new security measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
The company confirmed that replacement or additional room keys will now only be issued with the express permission of the guest or guests registered to the room.
The new policy has already been implemented at all Travelodge hotels and staff have received additional training on the updated procedures.
Chief executive Jo Boydell said the company was “deeply sorry” for the distress caused to the victim and apologized to him.
Boydell added that the company also commissioned an independent review of room security systems to ensure further security measures were in place.
He said the company would welcome the opportunity to meet the victim and apologize personally and would listen to their views on how hotel security procedures could be improved.
The company is also scheduled to meet with MPs and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to discuss the issue and outline steps being taken to strengthen customer safety.
Travelodge said the changes were designed to make guests feel safe in their hotels and prevent unauthorized access to rooms in the future.
