Victim of sex attacker who assaulted her after Travelodge gave him her room key refuses hotel chain’s apology and criticises slow progress on safety measures

The victim of a sex predator who attacked her after tricking Travelodge staff into giving her her room key has refused to accept the hotel chain’s apology and criticized its response.

He said he was “horrified” by their response, which left him feeling “dismissed” and “too slow” to be effective following the attack on the Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022.

Kyran Smith, 29, lied to the receptionist saying he was the victim’s boyfriend, so hotel staff gave him a key card and room number allowing him to carry out the attack. He was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison this February.

The survivor said it was ‘pretty shocking’ when hotel chain boss Jo Boydell canceled a meeting with MPs about the attack following a backlash from MPs.

Ms Boydell later apologized to the victim and changed the policy; This means key cards will now only be issued with guests’ explicit consent.

However, the victim, who cannot be named to remain anonymous, rejected his apology. He told the BBC: ‘They actually just do things when they need to, rather than thinking, ‘Actually no, this is wrong’.

‘It’s as if they’re taking slow steps to get to the right spot, but they can’t get there fast enough.

‘I think they should have realized the problem before this and not made me feel so left out.’

Travelodge has changed its key policy after a woman was sexually assaulted at a Travelodge in Maidenhead by a man who was allowed into her room

Smith had attended the same party as the victim, but when she left for her hotel, he followed her and tricked hotel staff into giving her her room key and room number.

Following the attack, the victim alerted Travelodge, who initially offered a £30 refund – which the victim described as an ‘insult’ and eventually apologized for.

The woman claimed the attacker bypassed security checks at the reception just because he knew her name. He called on hotels to seek direct consent from guests before handing out keys.

The BBC stated that there was no security chain in the room to provide additional security and that it was taking legal action against the hotel chain.

Ms Boydell insisted guests were safe at Travelodge hotels and said an independent review had been launched into the investigation and all 12,000 customer-facing staff would receive training on the issue.

But earlier this month Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ‘very concerned’ after canceling a meeting with MPs about the ‘utterly appalling’ attack.

The victim told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB): ‘I think if you’re the CEO of a company then you have a responsibility to answer those questions, intervene in this situation and say how you can improve now.

‘You are not protecting people and I personally find that quite shocking.’

In a separate interview with the BBC, he added: ‘If you’re really that worried about safeguarding and protecting people and you want to make sure your guests are safe, then why don’t you attend these kinds of meetings with MPs?’

Ms Boydell told BBC Breakfast this morning: ‘Obviously we made mistakes and I truly apologize to the victim for what happened to her and the way we subsequently handled the case; clearly wasn’t good enough.

‘That’s why we’ve made some urgent changes and that’s why we’re looking at this long and hard in terms of an independent review to really look into it comprehensively but urgently into what we need to change.’

In her own GMB interview, Ms Boydell added: ‘I’m really sorry if she felt left out and we’re certainly listening to what she has to say.

‘Key card hotels have deadbolts but clearly something is wrong here and this needs to be investigated.’

He admitted he was aware of ‘other cases’ of unwanted persons entering rooms and only heard of the attack after Smith was jailed last month.

On Travelodge’s response, he added: ‘I would expect this to escalate further. It wasn’t, so something went wrong.’

Ms Boydell spoke to a number of MPs about the horrific attack but canceled a meeting with some MPs who wanted to speak to her.

Jen Craft, the Labor MP for Thurrock, spoke to Ms Boydell but told the Today Programme this morning that the chain ‘has a long way to go before people feel safe in their hotels again’.

Travelodge chief executive Jo Boydell issued a formal apology but it was rejected by the victim, who said it was “quite shocking” that Keir Starmer canceled a meeting with MPs about what she described as an “utterly appalling” sexual assault.

He said some of the issues in Travelodge’s response raised by the victim were ‘genuinely concerning’.

Ms Craft said Travelodges were used not only by solo travelers like the victim that night, but also by companies for employees on business trips and even vulnerable people in temporary or emergency accommodation by local authorities.

Asked whether Travelodges should be stopped being used for such official purposes, Ms Craft said: ‘I think they definitely need to ask those kinds of questions.

‘If you have a duty of care about where someone is going to spend the night, I think you have to ask yourself: will they stay safe in this accommodation you’ve put them in?

‘In this case, if it is Travelodge you need to make sure the accommodation is safe.’

Ms Craft said MPs were investigating whether these safety shortcomings were widespread in the hotel industry and ‘whether further action needs to be taken at a regulatory or legal level to ensure people feel safe when staying in hotels’.

But he said initial informal investigations revealed that some chains already had robust security measures in place.

Earlier this month MPs were told they could take part in an independent review into Travelodge’s room security measures; This review will be conducted by solicitor Paul Greaney KC.

The review, which will include a leading expert on violence against women and girls, will examine room security procedures and how the incident was handled, according to Ms Boydell.