Rochdale’s MP has called on the Travelodge hotel chain to urgently improve their security after a woman was assaulted in her room while she slept.
Paul Waugh joined more than 100 MPs in urging a meeting with the company’s boss to explain why the company gave the woman’s attacker a key card to her room and her room number without her permission.
Mr Waugh led a national media campaign demanding answers from Travelodge – which has a hotel in Sandbrook Park – after Kyran Smith was jailed for seven and a half years for assaulting the woman in a hotel in Maidenhead.
Smith went to reception in the early hours and was given the key card after lying to staff that he was the woman’s boyfriend.
Travelodge, which offered the victim an “insulting” £30 refund, came under fire for its claim that the man had passed its own security checks.
Mr Waugh was the first to raise the case on social media website X, with 56,000 views of his post stating “How can any woman feel safe in its hotel rooms if it can give out a spare key card so easily?”.
He and other MPs signed a letter summoning the company’s Chief Executive to Parliament to explain such a shocking failure to protect its guests.
Travelodge boss Jo Boydell has since apologised for the “significant distress” the woman endured and invited her to a meeting to discuss improvements to the company’s procedures.
But the MPs have said that’s not good enough and have asked Travelodge to explain its policies on issuing key cards and room numbers to people not named on bookings and staff training.
Mr Waugh said the case had sparked serious concerns about the safety of women staying alone in hotels.
“This case is utterly appalling and raises serious questions about hotel security,” he said.
“No woman should ever have to worry that someone could be given access to her room in the middle of the night simply by claiming to know her.
“Hotels have a clear duty of care to their guests. If someone books a room on their own, there must be robust safeguards in place to make absolutely sure that no one else can gain access without their explicit consent.
“That is why I have joined colleagues from across Parliament in demanding urgent answers from Travelodge about its procedures and what steps it will take to strengthen them.”
CEO Ms Boydell has written to Mr Waugh offering to meet to discuss the case.
Travelodge has said it is commissioning an independent review of its room security policies to learn from this incident and further strengthen its procedures.