Woman sexually assaulted at Travelodge after staff gave attacker room key hits out at bosses for 'deflection'

Kyran Smith, 29, told reception he was the victim's boyfriend and was given her key card and her room number in the early hours of the morning.

This allowed him to enter her room and sexually assault her while she was asleep.

The victim, who is now in her 30s and cannot be named for legal reasons, was offered a £30 refund when she reported the attack to staff the next morning.

Smith, from Staines, was jailed for seven years and six months for trespass with intent to commit a relevant sexual offence and sexual assault on January 23.

Read more: Aspiring rapper, 41, jailed for owning XL bully that mauled pensioner to death

Read more: Man, 68, arrested on suspicion of murder of teenager missing since 1998

It later emerged that 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 the refund, which was labelled as "insulting."

The victim, who can't be named for legal reasons, told 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."

She said she met with the company's Chief Executive Jo Boydell last week, but the meeting instead left her feeling "deflated" and says her actions that night were questioned.

"There was a suggestion from the CEO that the rooms had a deadbolt or something and I was like, no, even if it does, the key obviously overrides that, because I locked my door. I know I locked my door," she said.

"That's deflection in my opinion, because that's also then saying, oh well, hang on a second, you could have done this.

"But no, I did everything that I would say is correct and there wasn't a chain on the door, there wasn't any of that. So her saying that kind of just made it worse, in my opinion."

She added: "It's literally easier to get into a hotel room where someone is asleep and vulnerable, than it is to get into a nightclub.

"I woke up and I had this person literally in my bed against me. And I was just really confused and I just got out of the bed and sort of like, how did you get into my room?"

Responding to the claims, Ms Boydell told ITV: "I am absolutely horrified that it had happened in one of our hotels, desperately sorry for what happened to the survivor and really sorry for the way that it took us so long to actually escalate that and handle that properly in the way that we are now."

She added: "I would say I’m really sorry if she did feel dismissed says Ms Boydell and we are definitely listening to what she [the survivor] has to say, which is hugely helpful for us in terms of making sure that we do the right thing going forward.

"The hotels with key cards have deadbolts, but clearly something went wrong here and that needs to be investigated and that will absolutely form part of this independent review."

Smith, 29, had been at the same party as his victim earlier that night in December 2022 and had booked a different room at the hotel.

Travelodge later apologised to the victim for the "way this incident has been handled" and told LBC that the subsequent £30 refund offered was "inappropriate".

The woman, who had never stayed in a hotel on her own before, said she awoke to Smith carrying out his sexual assault in her bed and she shouted at him to get out.

He then put his clothes on, returned the key to reception and went back to his own room.

The victim called the £30 refund "very insulting" and called on Travelodge to change their security measures.

"It’s not protecting people staying in hotels if you can just access by saying things to reception – that’s not OK," she said.