Politics Home Article | Travelodge Pulls Out Of Meeting With MPs About Hotel Security

(Alamy)

3 min read1 hr

It comes after a woman was sexually assaulted in one of its hotels in 2022 by a man given a key card to her room by hotel staff.

An MP involved in organising the meeting said the move had sent “entirely the wrong message to victims and undermines confidence in their commitment to safeguarding”.

In February, Kyran Smith was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting a woman in a Travelodge in Berkshire in December 2022. Smith had attended the same party as the woman and had later acquired a key card to her room after falsely claiming to hotel staff that he was the victim’s boyfriend.

The BBC reported that the company had initially offered the woman a £30 refund, which the victim described as “insulting”. 

Labour MPs Matt Bishop and Jen Craft wrote to Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell last week, demanding a meeting about the case.

MPs Bishop and Craft met with Boydell on Monday, alongside the victims minister Alex Davies-Jones and the safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, with Boydell pencilled in to meet with a larger group of MPs later today. 

However, MPs were informed on Tuesday night that the CEO would no longer be attending the meeting. It was unclear at the time of writing why Travelodge had decided to no longer attend.

Bishop told PoliticsHome: “I am extremely disappointed that Travelodge has chosen not to meet with us as a group of MPs.

“When serious concerns are raised about the safety of women, there is a clear responsibility to engage openly and transparently. Refusing to do so sends entirely the wrong message to victims, and undermines confidence in their commitment to safeguarding.”

PoliticsHome reported on Tuesday that Bishop, who is a former police officer, was working on a new law to improve hotel security following the assault, after concerns that any new guidance would not go far enough.

The proposals, set to be introduced as a Ten Minute Rule Bill, would introduce industry standards to ensure the safety of individuals staying in hotels. PoliticsHome understands that the government is willing to work with Bishop on the plans.

Boydell previously apologised to the victim and said that Travelodge had done an internal review of its security policies, making “immediate changes to ensure that an additional or replacement room key is only issued with explicit permission from the person, or people, staying in the room”.

In a statement on Tuesday night, Boydell said that the meeting on Monday had been “productive and helpful”.

Travelodge has commissioned an independent review and agreed to work with ministers and MPs to ensure that a leading violence against women and girls expert is appointed who can work closely with the KC leading the review.

Boydell said the review “will look at the lessons we can learn to help us improve the way we handle complex and sensitive cases, as well as how we can improve our room security procedures and what additional training we can offer to our colleagues over and above our existing health and safety, security and safeguarding training, including a specific focus on violence against women and girls”.

“As part of the review we will be seeking inputs from the wider group of MPs and Peers who care passionately about this topic.”

Boydell said she was “deeply sorry for the significant distress experienced by the victim and for our handling of her case”, and “would welcome the opportunity to meet with her to personally apologise and hear her thoughts on how we can improve our processes, if she would like to”.