Travelodge 'fundamentally failed' woman sexually assaulted in hotel room

A woman who was assaulted at a Travelodge when a man was given a key card to her room was treated in a "disgraceful" way by the hotel chain, an independent review found.

The hotel guest was attacked at the Maidenhead site in Berkshire, by a man who was wrongly given access to her room.

Kyran Smith, who had claimed to be her boyfriend, was jailed in February for seven-and-a-half years following the assault in December 2022.

A review into the failings conducted by barrister Paul Greaney KC found so-called "room intrusions" are a problem across the whole of the UK's hotel industry, with security issues widespread and not restricted to the one business.

He said the victim of the attack at a Travelodge, referred to in the report as "Lily", was "fundamentally failed" by company "at every stage".

She was "treated by Travelodge in a way that was inappropriate and unfair; indeed, it was disgraceful", he concluded.

Former chief executive Jo Boydell quit this August amid a backlash over the chain's handling of the incident.

She was criticised by the victim of the assault, who told Sky News she was "frustrated" by "very slow progress" in Ms Boydell's handling of her case and claimed there was a lack of accountability at Travelodge.

Ms Boydell, who had run the chain since May 2022, was also criticised by then-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who urged her to "seriously engage" with the government on the safety issue after she cancelled a meeting with MPs.

The victim sent an email of complaint to Travelodge in January 2023, asking bosses to review security processes, but this did not come to the attention of Ms Boydell until more than three years later.

The complaint was handled by the customer services team and investigated by a senior manager of the hotel, which Mr Greaney described as "inadequate and downplayed to a substantial extent the seriousness of what had happened".

The victim was subsequently made an "insulting offer of a reimbursement of her night's stay" which she "understandably interpreted as an offer of £30".

The report said Travelodge's treatment of the victim, following her complaint in writing, "fell short of every standard the public would expect of an organisation such as Travelodge".

"It was simply appalling," the report added.

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There were also reports by guests of room intrusion across nearly one-in-10 Travelodge hotels, which represents about 60 hotels.

Ray Reidy, who took over from Ms Boydell as interim chief executive of Travelodge, said: "I apologise unreservedly on behalf of Travelodge to all guests where we have failed, and particularly to Lily."

He acknowledged the review "makes it clear that there were failures in Travelodge's room access security policies and procedures and in the way customers have been treated".

Mr Reidy said "significant progress" had been made "in preventing and addressing these issues over the past six months, and we recognise we still have further to go".

He added the business was dedicating "significant resources" to the overhaul.

UK Hospitality set out new guest security guidance for the hotel industry, including how to respond to requests for replacement room keys or access by those not named on bookings, and managing group and corporate bookings.

(c) Sky News 2026: Travelodge 'fundamentally failed' woman sexually assaulted in hotel room