Travelodge boss to meet MPs over hotel sex attack

Travelodge's chief executive is set to meet MPs who raised concerns after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man given a key card to her room by hotel staff.

A letter written by Labour MPs Matt Bishop and Jen Craft demanded a meeting with Jo Boydell to discuss security at her hotel chain. It has now been signed by more than 100 of their parliamentary colleagues.

Kyran Smith was jailed in February for seven-and-a-half years following the attack in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022.

Travelodge, which offered the victim an "insulting" £30 refund and has since apologised, said Boydell would meet Bishop and Craft on Monday.

The company, based in Thame in Oxfordshire, added that she had also requested a meeting with the safeguarding minister.

Smith, from Staines, Surrey, had been at the same party as the woman during a night out in December 2022 when they and others retired to their rooms.

He went to reception in the early hours and was given the key card after lying to staff that he was her boyfriend.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed staff told her Smith, who was known to her, had passed their security checks by providing her name.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast earlier, Craft described the security lapse as "absolutely horrific" and said it raised "serious questions".

"[The meeting is] an opportunity for [Boydell] as much as anything to explain why women are safe staying in Travelodges," she said.

"For me, and for a lot of my colleagues, the thing that we really want to know is how can we be assured that women are safe while they stay at those hotels?"

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer said 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," he added.

Travelodge said its focus was on taking actions to strengthen its room security measures and commissioning an independent review of its procedures.