Travelodge safety failures: The key card scandal behind a chief executive’s exit

Travelodge is searching for a new boss after the hotel security case

Travelodge’s initial response also drew criticism, as the hotel offered the woman a refund of around £30 following the assault, which she described as “insulting”. The company later apologised for how the incident had been handled.

The victim then contacted Travelodge’s chief executive, Jo Boydell, directly in January 2023, raising concerns about what had happened. More than three years later, Boydell has now left her position at the hotel chain.

Travelodge’s finance chief, Ray Reidy, has stepped in on a temporary basis while the company begins the search for a new permanent chief executive.

‘Serious failures’ at the top of Travelodge

The change at the top of Travelodge comes after the hotel group began reassessing its approach to security and guest protection, following questions over how the incident was dealt with internally.

Boydell faced criticism over the company’s response, particularly because the victim had contacted her directly in January 2023, shortly after the assault.

However, Boydell later said she had not personally been made aware of the case until much later. She said the message had been “handled on my behalf”, while also admitting that “serious failures” had occurred in the way the complaint was managed.

The pattern of incidents Travelodge guests have described

The Maidenhead case is not the only incident to raise questions about guest safety at Travelodge, with several other customers reporting that strangers were mistakenly given access to their rooms.

One couple from Scotland, for example, said they were left terrified after waking up to discover a shirtless man standing inside their hotel room, after he had apparently been given a key card for their door by mistake.

There was also an incident at a Travelodge in Newham, east London, in April, where guests claimed they were handed keys that opened other people’s rooms on two separate occasions in the same week. John Nowell, who was staying at the hotel as part of a corporate group, told the BBC that his key card opened a room where another guest was actually in the shower.

The BBC also spoke to a woman earlier this month who said she was attacked inside her hotel room after reception staff mistakenly gave her abuser a key to the room. She said the man kicked the door off its hinges, leaving her terrified and feeling that the hotel had failed to protect her.

According to the woman, she fled downstairs “shaking, crying and begging for help”, believing that someone at the hotel would intervene. Instead, she said staff simply offered her another room, describing the incident as one of the “most traumatic nights of my life”.

The company’s interim chief executive, Ray Reidy, said the chain remained committed to protecting guests and would continue introducing measures aimed at improving safety across its hotels.

"We will also continue to engage proactively and constructively with government and the wider hospitality industry on the issue of safety and security."

- Ray Reidy