A woman who was sexually assaulted by a man who was handed a key card to her room at a Travelodge has said she was shocked to learn the hotel chain’s boss cancelled a meeting with a group of MPs seeking to discuss concerns about the case.
More than 20 MPs had demanded the meeting this month to discuss the matter – including details of the chain’s security processes and procedures that led to it offering the victim an “insulting” £30 refund after the incident.
It emerged last week Keir Starmer had written to the company’s chief executive, Jo Boydell, saying he was “very concerned” about the meeting’s cancellation. The prime minister pressed the hotel chain to “seriously engage” with MPs over the “utterly appalling” assault.
The survivor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked by Kyran Smith in December 2022. Smith was jailed in February for seven and a half years after being convicted of the 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 making sure your guests are safe, then why are you not attending these kinds of meetings with MPs?”
Boydell has previously apologised to the victim, who cannot be named. She said the company had made immediate changes to its door key policy. Boydell repeated her apologies in interviews with ITV and the BBC on Monday, 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, Boydell said: “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.”
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.
“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.
“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 had lied to reception staff at the hotel in Maidenhead in 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.
