Woken by hotel staff

[HotelStrangers]

I've been at an important 2-day work meeting further from home than usual. Due to a long-term condition, which causes fatigue, I booked myself into a Travelodge overnight to avoid a bit of commenting (me paying, not work).
At check-in the lovely staff gave me a 'quiet room' when I explained the reason for the stay. By 9.30-10pm I was asleep, yay (despite it being like a sauna).
Then at 11.30pm I woke as a stranger was walking into my room! I jumped out of bed and shouted to get out. They did and I barricaded the door assuming I'd forgotten to put the snitch down (was sure I had).
Was just drifting off again when abput 11.55 there was banging on the door. Got up asked through the door if they were wanting me, yes. Had to open the door to a male staff member. I was stood there, bleary eyed, in just a 'Should not be seen in public' nightie, and had to confirm my identity. He said a brisk 'sorry for waking you' and when I said I was already awake as had had a stranger in my room 25 mins earlier he confirmed it was another member of staff as there had been a room mix-up. He seemed a bit annoyed.
No idea why they didn't call my phone and that they had to take my name with me there not dressed, face to face.

I'm now fully awake, hoping they're not coming back, regretting having booked this room, wishing I'd just done the driving, and dreading being exhausted in the meeting tomorrow.

I've just sent an email to the only email address I could find for Travelodge.

Am I unreasonable to complain?
(If I disappear will be due to trying to sleep)

Thank you for all the replies. I’ve re-read my original middle-of-the-night post and chuckled at how matter of fact it is. I can maybe see why some question taking it further with both Travelodge and the Police. Here’s a summary.

First at 23.30 I woke to a member of staff #1 in my room. I jumped up and shouted and they left. After barricading the door I settled back to sleep. At this point staff knew there was a single female sleeping in the room.

Secondl, 25 mins later at 23.55, knowing there was a lone woman in the room a male member of staff, #2, banged on my door to get me to open in to confirm my name. He offered no explanation or reassurance.

Third and most concerning was hearing in the morning that this staff member #2 has done this before and been reprimanded, but has now done it again. This suggests a concerning pattern of behaviour. Hence the call to Police.

What if he called you out of the room to supposedly confirm ur name but really he was taking a look at you to see if you was his type and then would’ve assaulted? It’s very strange behaviour, I can’t think of any reason why at night time they would need you to confirm ur name when you have paid for the room. This is very alarming, I know if this happened to me, I would’ve been petrified and unable to go back to sleep at all

I usually travel as a lone female. This is rather offputting.

What if any number of things happened? What have things that didnt happen got to do with anything?

As has been explained above if there was confusion at the reception and they thought that room was empty they would have needed to check the person who was in it. Absolutely not an excuse for what they did but you not being able to think of a reason doesnt mean there wasn't a simple one

All kinds of crappy things happen, businesses have systems that aren't fit for purpose and people are just bad at their jobs but it's thankfully very rare that anyone is in actual danger

I went away with my 10yo DD recently, after settling in the room I placed our suitcases in front of the door, I’d opened one so if anyone tried opening the door it would get trapped and stop the door opening more than a few inches. My DD asked me what I was doing, I told her that when ever she stays in a hotel room always make sure you can block the door from opening. Obviously I didn’t want to scare her so I said sometimes hotels can mess up and put 2 different guests in the same room.

I’ve travelled the world on my own and I do this in every hotel, usually its a chair but I also use anything I can easily move in a fire but can still block the door from opening. Thankfully I’ve never had issues myself but know others who have, including friends entering their en-suite to find it was a shared bathroom with a couple of naked old people getting frisky in the bed facing their en-suite door.

You’ve done the right thing reporting to the police op.

Also agree with you on the you get what you pay for comment, you pay for a bed to sleep safely in for the night so you should never expect anyone walking in your room, especially staff. My go to hotels are premier inns, cheap, quiet and you know what your getting, in my experience usually great service.

Well done for reporting it to the police. I heard of many crazy stories of lone women being targeted in hotels. This guy needs to be fired for doing this several times. What did the police say?

@Strangecat the Police call handler seemed of the same opinion as me and most posters here. This was that my experience last night was not an incident on its own but the suggestion of a pattern needs to be explored and recorded. I don’t expect further contact from the Police but it was suggested they may call. It felt like a completely appropriate response.

Was cuddling my DD tonight reflecting that both staff members #1 and #2 are very lucky she wasn’t with me in the room. If she had been I would have had a full blown defensive-mother response and the whole floor may have been woken. It would have been like a Alex Ferguson hairdryer response that they wouldn’t easily forget 😁

So you didn't accept the full refund you were offered when you were at the hotel? That was foolish. You should have taken that in addition to pursuing it with Head Office.

Remember the lady who posted on here about being assaulted by a male staff member in a travel lodge in the middle of the night. There was a video of him then locking her outside when she was trying to put something in her car after confronting him. It was 1am ish and he wouldn’t let her in. It was also a news article.
seems it’s a theme for travel lodges. Very worrying for lone females who travel

Gosh this sounds awful I’ll definitely won’t be staying in a travel lodge in future!

Well, Travelodge haven’t appropriately responded to my complaint, but have sent through a ‘Tell us about your stay’ survey. You can guess how this is going to go …

These surveys are often conducted by an outside company, who'll probably ignore you.
I'd keep on with the CEO .

My firm have blacklisted travelodge due to this happening (room mix up, stranger entering a room) on more than one occasion.

I once stayed in a quite pricey spa hotel and was trying to relax from a chronic illness as a birthday treat ALONE. Last thing at night after a relaxing bath I was naked and a man let himself into my room!! I managed to grab the duvet to hide. I was so scared and freaked out all night. He was staff! I complained but nothing came of it except a lame apology! I was so upset! Too upset to deal with it further.

You should get a refund

I thought she said she was offered a refund by the staff on site, but didn’t take it for some reason?

I’d put a review on Trustpilot. Companies often respond to that.

It happened to me, I woke up when the receptionist grabbed my leg I was asleep he let himself into my room. I screamed he ran out, I went to reception to find out what was going on. I said to himWhy where you in my room, He said ' cos you are a pathetic bitch' I turned on video on my phone as no one would beloeve it else .......

Their hallways would have had CCTV, so what happened? Was he at least fired and what did travelodge say?

That’s so awful, and he looks properly pathetic and sounds desperate.

@MandyTraveller that's awful, you must have been so scared! You were so composed but I could hear in your voice how frightened and powerless you were feeling. I hope that "pathetic bitch" of a man got his comeuppance!

Yes, it’s happening a lot with Premier Inn hotels which I’ve used regularly over the years, and I hate it!

Never had intruders though so I feel very sorry for the OP

This happened to me this morning! A housekeeper let herself in without knocking at 9am.. I was asleep (and not wearing a lot to sleep in of course). I was intending to have a lie in after a late night at a gig. I went to reception to let them know and I've written a complaint too as i had other customer service related issues during my stay. I wasn't happy as I stay in this hotel chain loads and usually enjoy it

I’m so sorry this happened to you @MandyTraveller , it’s appalling. How are you and did the Police respond?

That video is shocking! Did you forward to Travel Lodge management's?

I wonder if this is an issue with a limited number of travel lodges or if it’s across the whole company. Name and shame the travel lodges location