A woman who was sexually assaulted at a Travelodge said it is “quite shocking” the boss of the hotel chain cancelled a meeting with MPs.
The survivor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked by Kyran Smith in December 2022 after he had been given a key card to her room by the hotel’s reception
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote to the company’s chief executive, Jo Boydell, saying he was “very concerned” after she cancelled a meeting with MPs about the “utterly appalling” assault.
Asked for her reaction to the letter, the survivor 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 BBC News, the woman said of the chief executive: “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, you know, these kind of meetings with MPs?”
Ms Boydell apologised to the victim in a statement earlier in March, and said the company had made immediate changes to its door key policy.
She repeated her apologies in interviews with ITV and the BBC, telling the latter she was “genuinely sorry” for the company’s handling of the incident.
The survivor said suggestions from the chief executive there had been deadbolts on the doors were “deflection”, and she knew she had locked her door on the night of the attack.
Speaking to GMB, Ms Boydell said of the woman: “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.”
Ms Boydell said she was aware of “other instances” of unwanted people entering customers’ rooms, and had only found out about Smith’s assault this month after he was jailed more than three years on from the attack.
She said: “We’ve certainly heard of other instances, different to this one, in terms of not keys being obtained by deception, but you know, any instance of somebody entering a customer’s room that they haven’t given explicit permission to, we understand, would be upsetting.”
She added: “We’ve made some changes immediately in terms of how we handle serious incidents.
“I would have expected it to be escalated. It wasn’t, so something went wrong.”
The chief executive said she “can completely understand” that the survivor felt insulted after she was initially offered £30 in compensation by Travelodge.
The woman is taking legal action against the hotel chain, according to the BBC.
Before the attack, Smith, from Staines in Surrey, had lied to reception staff at the hotel in Maidenhead, Berkshire, telling them he was the victim’s boyfriend.
He had been at the same party as the woman before they and others retired to their rooms.
The woman said staff told her Smith had passed their security checks by providing her name.
Smith was jailed in February for seven-and-a-half years following the assault.
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.
