Think twice before staying alone in a Travelodge

[MeridianB]

Just seen this on BBC:
How Travelodge in Maidenhead gave sex attacker key to woman's room - BBC News

I did search to see if anyone had already posted - apologies for any duplication.

Such an awful thing to happen and such a stunningly bad response from Travelodge - no accountability, no transparency of their security procedures, no apology.

Unbelievable. I look forward to them being sued out of existence.
What are they on about saying he was able to show them text messages when they didn't exchange numbers?

It's not just a Travelodge problem unfortunately. I suffered a serious physical assault in the lobby of a Premier Inn a few years ago.

My attacker wasn't a guest but was able to access the lobby and bar after midnight. My friend asked staff to call the police whilst I was being attacked and they refused.

The hotel refused to accept any liability at all.

Wow. Their response is absolutely disgusting, let alone that they created the situation for it to happen in the first place.
I actually frequently use them whilst away but I won't anymore. It's one thing to cock up but to not apologise after the worst has happened... unforgivable.

Just a wedge will usually be enough.

They would be lying to try (unsuccessfully) to cover their backsides.

Travel Lodge
”At the time of the incident our hotel team followed the correct security procedures. We continue to ensure our hotel and customer services teams are trained to follow our approved policies."

Their procedures cannot be ‘correct’ because quite obviously they did not work.
Tgey need to review their procedures and pay this woman damages.

They also lied about text messages they could not have seen.

Travel Lodge is not safe if these are their procedures. No one should stay at Travel Lodge when they are alone.

That is extraordinary. Did you consider suing them? What possible excuse was there for not calling the police?

Then they're even more stupid than I'd thought. Like that isn't going to come out?

Someone really needs to give their PR team a kick. What a bunch of complete amateurs. This is almost up there as a Ratner moment.

The CEO should be offering a sincere and fulsome public apology followed by a clear statement on their upgraded security policy and how it will protect lone women.

Travelodge’s comment that its safety procedures were followed just beggars belief.

What this company is essentially saying is that women are only attacked by strangers. If someone knows your name they are safe.

What the bloody hell? Have they no idea that women are attacked by people who know their name, address, DoB, phone number, email address?

I carry a door wedge with me and i use it if I’m in my hotel room on my own. It’s easier to move it quickly in the event of a fire than if you’ve piled up furniture, luggage etc in front of the door, but it should stop the door being opened.

Travelodge's CEO is a woman.

Her email address is [email protected]

I'm going to write her a brief email saying what I think of the company's response to this appalling case. Maybe some PPs would like to do the same?

It's unsafe if you have to resort to wedging/jamming the door - what if there's a fire, you're unconscious and firefighters are trying to get in to get you to safety? If you can't rely on the standard locks being safe, better not to stay there at all.

That's insane. I would want at least 50 grand in compo and a public apology

I once had someone else unlocking my room with a key card late in the evening when I was about to go to bed. Luckily this guy was as shocked as I was, we went to reception and they just laughed it off “oh yeah, double booked, this happens all the time” 🤯 Then the gave the man a different room. No apology.

Had the same happen to me. Woman not a man though, and we were equally shocked.

My daughter and a female friend stayed in a Melia hotel abroad a couple of years back. She called me at 3am to say a man had entered her room, he was literally in the room when she called me , I could hear both girls screaming, as they physically pushed him out, it was horrific . As they pushed him out they found his friend in the corridor unbuttoning his jeans. They managed to get him out but he had entered with a key card and the hotel refused to do anything at all, and told them cctv wasn’t working. Even local police dismissed the whole thing . Absolutely zero action taken.

Absolutely horrific!!!

Would love to see 'the proceedure' that was followed that enabled a man to be given a key for a room he had not booked!

Thanks for sharing OP.

Am going to buy a doorstop. (And never use TL again).

Travelodge customer service is absolute trash, but frankly with the way they treat their employees I’m not surprised. You can’t pay absolute pennies to staff, leave them largely unsupported and then expect them to do their job properly.

I don’t know about this specific location but there are locations where during the night is one person for the entire hotel, it’s beyond unsafe. Reception staff is often really young women barely out of their teens and expected to deal with drunken guests on their own - and there’s no CCTV in the corridors, only on fire exits and by the reception entry.

When I was a student our university issued all the females with a rape alarm. It had an attachment that turned it into a door alarm, by jamming it between the door and the frame. I don't know if something like that is available still.

I rarely use budget hotels and never Travelodge due to their policy of allowing dogs into rooms. I am even less inclined to use them now.

I have never used a Travelodge after a bad experience when I was 22. I was on a grad scheme where hotels had been booked for us. There was a minor fire in the kitchen one night and the evacuation process was so piss poor I vowed never to use them again. There was literally one guy present who couldn’t speak English who was fumbling with the guest numbers for the fire bridge. I was so young but knew enough to know if there had been something more serious, there would have been zero help from staff.

Did you as the guest whose privacy was violated raise merry hell with them? What did they say?

This is really helpful thanks. I am going to email her.

I know door wedges are being recommended but isn't this a risk in case of fire? Why should women have to choose between fire safety and risk of assault- ridiculous.

@FolioQuarto I wonder if that varies on location, where I trained I was told straight away dogs weren’t allowed and to watch out for guests trying to sneak their smaller dogs in.

Yes, I spoke to a solicitor about it but was unable to get anywhere with it. To be fair, I gave up pretty quickly as I just wanted to move on.

They didn't really try to justify refusing to call police other than saying their policy was that guests should make the call themselves. I was shocked mainly by how little they cared.

I booked a travelodge 2 days ago for myself and 3 friends, just off to cancel my booking. Note to Travelodge, will never use you again.