Travelodge Report Reveals Widespread Security Lapses After Sexual Assault

An independent review has uncovered significant security failures at Travelodge hotels, with staff granting strangers access to guest rooms on 60 separate occasions. These breaches occurred years after a man sexually assaulted a woman in her room after being given a key by hotel staff.

In December 2022, Kyran Smith obtained a key to a female colleague's Travelodge room in Maidenhead by falsely claiming to be her boyfriend. He subsequently sexually assaulted her and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in February. The hotel staff's response at the time was limited to providing CCTV footage to the police. The former CEO, Jo Boydell, was not made aware of the incident until March 2026, following media reports.

The independent review, conducted by Paul Greaney KC, revealed that "room intrusions" by unauthorized individuals continued to occur in the summer following Smith's conviction, even during a period when Travelodge was purportedly enhancing its security training. Mr. Greaney described these findings as "disturbing" and suggested that such inadequacies in customer safety might be prevalent across the hotel sector.

The review commissioned earlier this year involved a mystery shopper investigation testing the security protocols at five Travelodge locations. Investigators were able to gain access to rooms that were not their own in all five tested hotels by posing as guests and interacting with housekeepers, without needing to verify their identity or being directed to reception. In two of the hotels, guest room numbers were announced publicly during check-in, and in 80 percent of cases, receptionists did not ask for the names of additional guests checking into a room.

These mystery shopper findings from April were so concerning that Mr. Greaney issued an urgent alert to Travelodge, mandating immediate guidance to staff on new security policies. However, further breaches were documented thereafter. Wendy Griffith, a 44-year-old marketing consultant, recounted waking up to find a man performing a sex act outside her room at a Travelodge in east London in August of the previous year. She was unable to reach reception and had to call the police, who arrested the man, Trevor Reece. It was later revealed that Reece had been given Griffith's room number by reception after falsely claiming to have lost his key card.

During the period when Travelodge was implementing changes, reports from actual guests indicated room intrusions across nearly 10 percent of its hotels, totaling approximately 60 incidents.

Handling of Initial Assault

A separate focus group held at the Maidenhead hotel where Smith's assault occurred found that no supervisor had verified staff comprehension of key security training. Observations included staff members incorrectly checking in a couple and failing to follow outlined procedures. Junior female employees even expressed concerns for their own safety at work.

Mr. Greaney's 70-page review, published on September 21, stated: "To say the least, all of the above reflects extremely poorly on Travelodge as a business. I consider that Lily* was fundamentally failed by Travelodge as an organisation at every stage. So too was the general public, because what Lily's case reveals about the inadequacy of the room security processes created a risk for all guests, as subsequent reports to the media and to me confirm."

The review detailed Travelodge's failures in handling the initial assault reported by "Lily" in December 2022. When Lily reported the incident to staff, the response was described as offering "no support or assistance of any meaningful nature." Mr. Greaney wrote: "Their conduct was lacking in any understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities and was not remotely trauma informed. As I have ultimately found, this was principally the result of a lack of adequate training of them in the topic of Violence against Women and Girls ('VAWG') and the existence of an unacceptable culture within Travelodge in which room intrusions were tolerated."

Despite Lily and her manager informing staff again the following day, no internal investigation was initiated. Two days after the incident, on December 18, police arrived at the hotel and were only provided with CCTV footage.

Lily submitted a formal complaint in early 2023 to, among others, CEO Jo Boydell, detailing her ordeal and expressing a desire to prevent future occurrences. However, due to an internal process flaw, the email did not reach Ms. Boydell until March 6, 2026, after media coverage of the scandal. The staff member who initially handled Lily's report was assigned to investigate her complaint. The subsequent investigation was deemed "inadequate" and "downplayed to a substantial extent the seriousness of what had happened," according to the report. No review of room security policies followed, and Lily was offered a £30 refund for her stay.

The report characterized the response as "simply appalling" and driven by a desire to quickly and cheaply dismiss the complaint rather than genuinely address Lily's concerns. It further stated that Lily's treatment was "disgraceful, but that was largely down to systemic failures by Travelodge as an organisation, as opposed to failings by the individuals concerned."

Sector-Wide Issues

Mr. Greaney was highly critical of the room security policies and procedures in place in 2022, deeming them "capable of ready exploitation and circumvention" and "not fit for the purpose of keeping guests safe." Lily's victim impact statement highlighted her reluctance to stay in hotels alone again, citing a breach of trust due to lax security procedures. She emphasized guests' right to feel safe and secure in their rooms.

A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead stated that they take the issues seriously and will discuss the report's findings with South Oxfordshire District Council, Travelodge's primary authority for health and safety legislation enforcement. They will also consider implications through their Community Safety Partnership.

Jo Boydell stepped down as CEO on August 17, 2026, with Ray Reidy appointed interim CEO. Mr. Reidy issued an apology on behalf of Travelodge, acknowledging failures in room access security policies, procedures, and customer treatment. "We have made significant progress in preventing and addressing these issues over the past six months, and we recognise we still have further to go," Reidy stated. "We are working hard to transform our customer service so we respond appropriately when things don't go right."

Travelodge, which operates 600 hotels with 13,000 staff and serves over 22 million guests annually, is committed to addressing the report's issues and will undertake independent progress assessments at six and twelve-month intervals. The company stated that significant resources and governance changes are being implemented to drive ongoing improvements and work with industry partners to elevate standards across the sector.