A domestic abuse survivor, referred to as Lucy, has described being attacked in her hotel room after Travelodge receptionists handed her abuser a key card without verifying his identity. The attack took place at a Travelodge in October 2025, and Lucy says she was "failed" by the chain during what she called one of the "most traumatic nights" of her life. She came forward after learning of the sentencing of Kyran Smith, who sexually assaulted a woman in her bed at a Travelodge in Maidenhead in 2022.
Travelodge has said that while incidents of this kind are "very rare", customer safety remains a priority and staff have recently undergone additional training.
What happened on the night of the attack?
Lucy said she had booked the room in October 2025 for "a night away from the fear" after enduring a period of abuse that had left her "frightened and exhausted".
"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,"
She said the receptionist gave him a key and directed him to her room.
"I couldn't believe it. The one place I thought he could never get to, he had somehow reached. I felt sick with panic. My safe place disappeared in an instant,"
Lucy said the man physically attacked her and attempted to grab her phone. After she persuaded him to leave, he returned and became increasingly aggressive.
"I was absolutely terrified. I froze, hoping he would stop. Instead, he kicked the hotel room door off its hinges and forced his way back inside."
She said she fled downstairs "shaking, crying and begging for help", adding that she had believed "someone would protect me". Instead, she was offered a different room within the same hotel.
How has Travelodge responded to Lucy's case?
Travelodge confirmed it investigated the incident and found that the attacker had provided Lucy's full name and room number at reception. A spokesperson said the company's established policy of never confirming to a third party that a guest was staying at one of its hotels had not been followed, stating "this should not have happened".
Following Smith's sentencing, Travelodge said it had made:
"immediate changes to our room access security policy to ensure that any additional or replacement room keys are only issued with explicit permission from the person (or people) staying in the room."
According to a broadcast news report, this updated policy has since been rolled out across all Travelodge hotels, with training delivered to approximately 12,000 customer-facing staff. The same report states that Travelodge has commissioned an independent review of its room-security measures in the wake of the incidents.
What happened in the Kyran Smith case?
Smith was jailed for seven and a half years in January 2026 at Reading Crown Court over the assault at the Maidenhead hotel in December 2022, which occurred after he and the victim had both attended the same gathering before staying at the property, according to the same report. Police said Smith obtained the victim's room key "by deception" after telling staff he was her boyfriend, and the victim woke to find him assaulting her in bed. He was found guilty of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence and of sexual assault.
A national broadcaster's report also states that Travelodge later described a £30 refund offered to that victim as "disrespectful" and apologised for the way the refund had been handled.
Have other guests reported similar incidents?
Jo, from Leeds, contacted the broadcaster after coverage of the Maidenhead attack. In July 2025, she woke to find an unknown man standing at the end of her bed and screamed for help.
"It was just horrible, it was horrendous. Terrifying. I was shaking so badly,"
Her friend, who was staying in the same room, said the man told them:
"I'm sorry, they gave me this key,"
Jo said she had considered staying elsewhere after the 2022 attack came to light but was reassured by Travelodge chief executive Jo Boydell, who had previously said:
"The safety and security of customers in our hotels is extremely important and we want everyone to be safe, and feel safe, in our hotels."
Jo said those assurances had not held up.
"What happened to us shouldn't have happened. And the assurances [Travelodge] gave are not accurate. The systems are failing."
Travelodge said an investigation had found that its updated room access security policies, in place at the time, were not correctly followed, calling this "not acceptable", and said staff at the hotel involved had since been retrained on current room security and check-in procedures.
A related case emerged at a Travelodge in Lincoln, where staff mistakenly issued a key card to a stranger for another guest's room, prompting retraining and a policy review, according to a separate report. A similar episode was also reported at a Travelodge in Dundee, where a couple from Buckie woke to find a shirtless man in their room after he was mistakenly given a key card to their door; Travelodge apologised and said security procedures had not been followed, as detailed in our earlier coverage.
Andy Smith, a musician who stays in dozens of Travelodge hotels annually while touring with his band, said he had recently been given keys to rooms already occupied by other guests.
"On Friday, we went up to the room and there was a guy already asleep in there in a state of undress,"
He said a similar incident had occurred around 18 months earlier, when another man gained access to his room by telling reception staff he was checking in under the common surname "Smith".
"I think he just chanced it. Because my name's Smith, I think it's just the pure luck of it. I mean, why wouldn't anyone be asking for ID or anything, like a booking reference or an email address. It's beggar's belief."
Travelodge responded that "any case of an unauthorised person entering a guest's room is a significant cause for concern and we want to be clear that these incidents should not have happened".
What is the industry doing about hotel security?
A spokesperson for the trade body UKHospitality described the recent incidents as "extremely serious" and said the organisation understood guests' concerns. The group said it was working with its members to produce new guidance on customer security, due to be published shortly.
"Developed with sector experts, we have continued to engage with ministers on this important work and received positive feedback from government on the work taking place to further bolster guest security,"
What happens next?
Travelodge said it had commissioned an independent review, led by a barrister, "to examine our room access security policies and escalation procedures". The company added:
"While the independent review is progressing, we have also conducted an internal review and have since made changes to our room access security policy and incident escalation procedures supported by training for all of our customer-facing colleagues."
Per the broadcast news report, the updated key-card policy and training programme have already been rolled out nationally, and findings from the independent review are expected to inform any further changes to security measures.
Lucy said the night of her attack had "changed me forever" and that she is now unable to stay in hotels because of the fear and anxiety it triggers.
"Hotels need safeguarding procedures... because one mistake can have devastating consequences,"
Key Facts
- Lucy was attacked at a Travelodge in October 2025 after staff gave her abuser a room key.
- Kyran Smith was jailed for seven and a half years in January 2026 for a 2022 sexual assault at a Maidenhead Travelodge.
- Travelodge says its updated key-issuing policy and staff training have now been rolled out to around 12,000 customer-facing employees.
- Similar incidents have also been reported in Leeds, Lincoln and Dundee, and by touring musician Andy Smith.
- An independent review led by a barrister is examining Travelodge's room-access security and escalation procedures.
