Think twice before staying alone in a Travelodge

That's totally shocking, I wouldn't blame the poor woman if she never ever stayed alone in a hotel again.
I've stayed in budget hotels a few times as I visit a friend some distance away. She has a degenerative illness and lives in a small flat.
I've always felt safe even though one I stayed in (a budget chain) took in immigrants. though I didn't know that until the morning I left.
She should get £ks compensation, she must have been terriified.

What also does concern me about using cheap chain hotels is if they are used for temp accommodation. Now it could be a nice Mother and her children fleeing DV, it could also be someone newly released from prison. I don’t use chain hotels anymore. Though I think Premier Inn don’t take any type of Council contracts.

I expect their next offer of compensation to her will be a night's free stay at a Travelodge of her choice!

Absolutely appalling. Is this a hotel chain run by men for men?

I carry the rubber door stops when I travel solo because I never quite trust any hotel's security protocols. You shove them under the door so it won't open, or at least not quickly and without shoving.

I also suspect that Travelodge can't do anything to admit liability because they are fighting a court case.

I am not sure that is true - in one case in the past, I checked in earlier than DH to a PI, and they wouldn't give him a key card when he arrived, I needed to go down and let him in. And that was with his name on the booking.

I read this story earlier. How idiotic to not learn from this incident. Never staying there again.

That’s shocking! I also travel alone and recently went to India. I was a bit worried so I used this https://amzn.eu/d/04bimx9B for doors that didn’t have an inside lock, i would recommend it. It’s small too so fits in a handbag.

It’s very well known that most sexual assaults are carried out by people known to the victim.

So of course let’s just hand out key cards to anyone who know’s a person’s name.

I can imagine some poor sod on reception making a mistake and thinking they are being helpful but It’s such a shamefully poor response from Travelodge to claim that this would be anything like a reasonable or normal protocol to try and slither their way out of a legal case.

WTF are they thinking saying that their staff followed the correct security procedures??
Admitting that it can happen at any time and now sex offenders know exactly where to go.

Wasn’t there someone here who checked into a travel lodge, then someone walked in with a key. She posted a few more times overnight and was obviously scared to sleep. Maybe a year or two ago?

I agree - they should have accepted liability. They are thinking about the short term (not wanting to pay compensation), when they should be focusing on the long term damage to their reputation. How can any single woman feel safe staying in a Travelodge from now on?

The company should be renamed TravelDODGE.

I stopped using Travelodge several years ago after two different incidents but both of the hotels were absolutely filthy. I can’t believe that someone in customer service thought a £30 refund was an appropriate solution. I would hope this poor woman has grounds to take legal action.

The £30 is almost another assault it’s so insulting. I hope Travelodge get absolutely shit for this. Their response is just shocking. They could not give less of a shit.

I don’t use them anyway because they let dogs in their rooms (as well as rapists).

I am gong to email them today and ask how they plan to ensure women's safety in light of this. Not that I plan to stay with them again, but they should be held accountable and realise that this massively backfired.

It could happen as easily at Premier Inn....

They would surely be better off accepting liability and sucking up the cost of compensation?

I can't see how they would have any kind of realistic defence if sued, so the chances are, they would lose the case anyway. By denying liability, they are adding the cost of a massive PR disaster on top of any compensation that they might need to pay out.

Appalling.

but I have seen threads on here with people going I’ve booked a double/triple, can I sneak a another person in to sleep on the sofa and generally people are ok with it. With even staff saying they turn a blind eye. So the culture of staff not caring and people taking the piss leads to men like this being able to get in easily and without question. I’d prefer to see hotels properly vet who is coming into the building.

Travelodge don't even admit that their security procedures need to be reviewed. They are showing no compassion or thought to the horrifying ordeal this woman went through.

They know that if they accept responsibility and apologise, they open themselves up to an expensive lawsuit. All about the money, sadly.

Also it is dreadful that it has taken so long for this to come to court. It happened in 2022. All that time waiting must have been awful for the victim. Hope she sues them.

Thank you, I use them rarely but never will again. That’s utterly absurd of travelodge to suggest they did no wrong

It's fucking appalling that they're not profusely apologising and changing their, clearly useless, security protocols. They're basically saying they will give a key card to your room to anyone who knows your name. I try to avoid them anyway because they're shit but I certainly won't ever use one again now.

We stopped staying in Travelodge some time ago after finding out they double book rooms and it’s first arrivals who get them. Found out after moving my son to uni with a car full of stuff. Turned up to our booked room in the evening and well within the arrival time only to find it had been given to somebody else. Person on reception told me it’s done with all rooms and they can normally shuffle rooms about but sometimes can’t.

Imagine if you’re a woman alone arriving late at night! Avoid.They keep it very quiet. Everybody should be aware of the risk of no room on arrival.

Just cancelled my upcoming booking and replaced it with premier inn. Hopefully others will do the same and they will start to see a drop in bookings by solo women. Bet they are too oblivious to even make the link though,no matter how many do it.

Horrendous isn't it, I won't be using them again. There should be a better duty of care under health and safety laws. Surely they must know that lots of women use these hotels when fleeing domestic violence!

That’s shocking.

Like she said, the room was booked for 1 person and was solely in her name with 1 keycard.
They could have asked that she come down to get the keycard for him as it was in her name.

It's appalling. I stay alone in Premier Inns quite often, I hope their security protocols are a bit tighter than, "I know her name, trust me bro".

The fact they gave him a key just because he knew her name, despite the fact she'd booked and checked in as a solo guest, is terrifying - and even more so when they claim this is inline with their security protocols!

The £30 refund would be funny, if the situation wasn't so abhorrent. "Sorry we gave a sexual predator direct access to you whilst you were sleeping, he's thirty quid! Also, we did nothing wrong".

Fucking hell.