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Travelodge staff gave abuser key to his victim's room

newsAug 10, 20261526

A woman the BBC calls Lucy told BBC Breakfast that a Travelodge receptionist handed a key to her abuser while she was staying at a London hotel in October 2025, allowing him to go upstairs to her room. Lucy said the man physically attacked her, tried to grab her phone, left after she persuaded him to go, then returned shouting and kicked the door off its hinges to force his way back in. Travelodge told the BBC it had investigated and found the attacker had given Lucy's full name and room number at reception, and that an established policy to never confirm a guest's stay was not followed. Travelodge said such incidents were very rare, that customer safety remained a priority and staff had recently undergone training. The company also said it made immediate changes after the February sentencing of Kyran Smith, who was jailed for seven and a half years for sexually assaulting a woman in a Travelodge in Maidenhead in 2022, to require explicit permission from guests before issuing additional or replacement keys. Another woman, Jo from Leeds, told the BBC that in July an unknown man stood at the end of her bed and that a friend heard him say staff had given him the key, which she said showed the systems were failing.

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