A woman said she experienced one of the most “traumatic nights” of her life when she was attacked in her Travelodge hotel room after reception staff handed her abuser a key.
The domestic violence victim, who has not been named, told the BBC she was staying at a Travelodge in London in October last year when she was attacked in her room.
She contacted the broadcaster when she heard about the sentencing of a man who attacked a woman at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022 after being given a key to her room. Kyran Smith was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in February.
The domestic violence victim told the BBC she had booked a room at the hotel for a “night away from the fear” after a period of abuse.
But her attacker was reportedly given access by reception staff.
The woman said of her abuser: “He walked into the hotel and told the receptionist that his girlfriend was upstairs having a seizure.
“He asked what room I was in and what floor I was staying on.”
Staff handed him a key and directed him to her room, she added.
Once inside, he physically attacked her and tried to grab her phone, the woman said.
She managed to convince him to leave, but he returned and became more aggressive.
“Not long afterwards, I heard him knocking at the door. He was banging, shouting. He was just getting more and more aggressive,” she said.
“I was terrified. I was hoping that he was going to stop, but instead, he kicked the hotel room door completely off the hinges.”
The woman said she went downstairs “shaking” and “begging for help”.
She added: “I think the receptionist just panicked. She didn’t call the police. She didn’t check if I needed any medical attention.
“She didn’t ask if there were any family members I could call, anyone that I needed.
“She just offered me a room, another room in the hotel.”
A Travelodge spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry for the significant distress experienced by the customer and we apologise for the way the incident has been handled.
“Customer safety and security is – and remains – a priority for us.
“Any case of an unauthorised person entering a guest’s room is a significant cause for concern and we want to be clear that this should not have happened. Our room access security policies at the time were not correctly followed, which is not acceptable.
“Earlier this year, we made changes to strengthen our room access security policy and incident escalation procedures, supported by training for all of our customer-facing colleagues.”
Travelodge chief executive Jo Boydell previously said immediate changes were made to its room access security policy after Smith was sentenced for the 2022 attack.
In line with the changes, explicit permission is now required from guests before additional or replacement keys are issued for their room.
It builds on Travelodge’s existing policy to never confirm to a third party that a guest is staying at one of its hotels.
The national domestic abuse helpline offers support for women on 0808 2000 247, or you can visit the Refuge website. There is a dedicated men’s advice line on 0808 8010 327. Those in the US can call the domestic violence hotline on 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
