Politics Home | Labour MP Bringing Forward Law To Tighten Hotel Security After Travelodge Assault

(Alamy)

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The plans, set to be introduced as part of a Ten Minute Rule Bill, would introduce industry standards to ensure the safety of individuals staying in hotels.

It would also include a requirement for those requesting access to specific hotel rooms to be named on the booking, while hotels found not to be meeting safety standards would face fines, with any money collected to be put towards helping victims. 

The proposals are being led by Matt Bishop, Labour MP for the Forest of Dean and a former police officer. 

While ministers had previously said that they would look at introducing new guidance amid outrage over the case, many MPs feel that any changes need to be legally binding.

PoliticsHome understands that the government is willing to work with Bishop on the plans.

A Ten Minute Rule Bill allows a backbench MP to invite Parliament to support legislation they have drafted. In the end, most do not make it into law. However, those with the support of the government have the best chance of being successful.

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 claiming to hotel staff that he was the victim’s boyfriend, which was a lie.

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

Bishop, who has taken a special interest in the case along with Labour MP Jen Craft, wrote to Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell last week demanding a meeting about the case.

The two MPs met with Boydell on Monday afternoon, along with ministers Alex Davies-Jones and Jess Phillips. Boydell is set to meet a larger group of MPs on Wednesday, PoliticsHome understands.

Boydell has apologised to the victim and said that Travelodge had done an internal review of its security policies and made “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”.

Last week, Keir Starmer told Prime Minister’s Questions that the case was “absolutely shocking”.

“My thoughts are with the victim who had the right to be safe, and was failed in the most appalling way.”