The Victim of a sex attacker who assaulted her after he deceived Travelodge staff into giving him her room key has refused to accept the hotel chain’s apology and criticised their response.
She said she was ‘horrified’ by their response, which made her feel ‘dismissed’ and was too ‘slow’ to be effective following the attack at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022.
Kyran Smith, 29, lied to a receptionist saying he was the victim’s boyfriend so hotel staff handed him a key card and her room number, allowing him to carry out his assault on her. He was jailed for seven and a half years this February.
The survivor said it was ‘quite shocking’ to hear that the boss of the hotel chain Jo Boydell had cancelled a meeting with MPs about the assault, given their response.
Ms Boydell has since apologised to the victim and changed policy, meaning key cards will now only be given with guests’ explicit consent.
But the victim, who cannot be named to protect her anonymity, rejected her apology. She told the BBC: ‘They’re only doing things as and when they need to rather than actually thinking, “Actually no, this is wrong”.
‘It’s like they’re taking slow steps to get to the right point but they’re not getting there fast enough.
‘I feel like they should have realised the problem before this and they shouldn’t have made me feel so dismissed.’
Kyran Smith (pictured) was jailed for seven and a half years in February over the attack, which took place in December 2022
Travelodge has changed its key policy after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given access to her room at a Travelodge in Maidenhead
Smith had attended the same party as the victim but when she had left for her hotel, he followed her and tricked hotel staff into handing over a room key and her room number.
After the attack, the victim raised the alarm to Travelodge who initially offered a £30 refund – which the victim called ‘insulting’ – before finally apologising.
The woman alleged that her attacker had bypassed security checks at reception simply because he knew her name. She has called for hotels to seek direct consent from guests before handing out keys.
She noted that her room also lacked a safety chain for added security and is now taking legal action against the hotel chain, the BBC said.
Ms Boydell insisted guests were safe at Travelodge hotels and said that an independent review had been launched to investigate and that all 12,000 customer-facing staff would receive training on the matter.
However, earlier this month Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ‘very concerned’ after she cancelled a meeting with MPs about the ‘utterly appalling’ assault.
The victim told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB): ‘I think if you are the CEO of a company, then you have a responsibility to answer these questions and engage in that situation, and say how you’re going to now improve.
‘You’re not protecting people and I mean, I personally find it quite shocking.’
In a separate interview with the BBC she added: ‘If you’re really that worried about safeguarding and protecting people and like making sure your guests are safe, then why are you not attending these kind of meetings with MPs?’
Ms Boydell told BBC Breakfast this morning: ‘Clearly we’ve made mistakes and I genuinely apologise to the victim for what happened to her and the way that we handled her case subsequently – it clearly wasn’t good enough.
‘That’s why we’ve made some immediate changes and that’s why we’re taking a good long hard look at this in terms of an independent review to really thoroughly but urgently investigate what we need to change.’
In her own GMB interview, Ms Boydell added: ‘I’m really sorry if she did feel dismissed, and we are definitely listening to what she has to say.
‘The hotels with key cards have deadbolts, but clearly something went wrong here, and that needs to be investigated.’
She admitted she was aware of ‘other instances’ of unwanted people entering rooms and only heard about the assault after Smith had been jailed last month.
On the response by Travelodge, she added: ‘I would have expected it to be escalated. It wasn’t, so something went wrong.’
However, the victim took issue with Ms Boydell’s suggestion there was a deadbolt in the room. She told GMB: ‘There was suggestion from the CEO that I, that the rooms had a deadbolt or something, and I was like, no, even if it does, the key obviously overrides that, because I locked my door.
‘I know I locked my door. That’s deflection, in my opinion’
Ms Boydell has spoken to several MPs about the dreadful attack, but cancelled a meeting with some of those who had requested to talk to her.
Jen Craft, the Labour MP for Thurrock, did speak to Ms Boydell but told the BBC’s Today programme this morning that the chain had ‘a long way to go until people feel safe in their hotels again’.
Jo Boydell, CEO of Travelodge, has issued a formal apology but it was rejected by the victim who went on to say it was ‘quite shocking’ she had cancelled a meeting with MPs about what Keir Starmer described as an ‘utterly appalling’ sexual assault
She said that some of the issues of Travelodge’s response raised by the victim were ‘really worrying’.
Mrs Craft noted that Travelodges are not just used by solo travellers like the victim that night but also by companies for employees on business trips and even vulnerable people in temporary or emergency accommodation placed there by local authorities.
When asked if Travelodges should stop being used in those sorts of official capacities, Mrs Craft said: ‘I think they should certainly be asking these kinds of questions.
‘If you have a duty of care to someone as to where they’re staying for the night, I think you should be asking yourself, are they safe staying at this accommodation you’ve placed them in?
‘In this case, if it’s Travelodge you should be making sure that that accommodation is safe.’
Mrs Craft said MPs were investigating whether these security shortfalls were common across the hotel industry and ‘whether or not there needs to be further action from a regulatory or statutory level to make sure people feel safe when they stay in hotels.’
However, she said that initial informal enquiries found that some chains did have robust security measures in place already.
Earlier this month, MPs were told they can take part in an independent review into Travelodge’s room security measures – which will be led by barrister Paul Greaney KC.
The review, which will involve a leading violence against women and girls expert, will examine room security procedures and how the incident was handled, according to Ms Boydell.
