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.

Never use travelodge. Always grotty and full of undesirables

Well to be fair it wasn’t their fault. It would have been nice if they had given you a partial refund, although I doubt you had a right to one. They must know that pissing off customers is not good for future business. I don’t blame you for never going back.

Who would have thought that possible!
It sounds as though they’d watch while someone gets killed.

Absolutely terrifying and a shocking response from Travelodge.

I travel alone for work a lot and bought myself one of these after hearing too many stories like this of women staying alone in hotels:

www.amazon.co.uk/Door-Stop-Alarm-Portable-Lock/dp/B0FQJJNWDN?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ACJ1G8H1GT6UM

Highly recommend every woman travels with a Doorjammer if staying in ANY and ALL hotels. Incidents aren't isolated to one hotel chain.
door-jammer.co.uk/

Travel lodge work with local councils and often house homeless/asylum seekers. The one at the end of my street has lots of young men staying there. They are definitely not suitable for female travellers imo.
This case beggars belief though, their response is unbelievable.

I use travelodges alot. Saw this earlier & it was really concerning. I have stayed at that particular travelodge quite frequently when flying from Heathrow & alone.

The whole point of you needing keys to get through to the accommodation part is meant to keep us safe. Can’t speak of now but I do recall my friend coming to meet me at one & the reception called me to come down & escort them in over just letting them in so I can’t understand why they have been so lax

I was flabbergasted by this. Not only that it happened at all, but the casual brushing it off as a minor inconvenience that could be smoothed over with a perfunctory cash distraction, as if the victim were a small child who would forget a grazed knee on production of an ice lolly. Adding insult to injury doesn't begin to describe it.

Jesus wept, that is horrific, the appalling negligence and then to offer her what feels like a deliberately insulting £30 which seems to have been done to trivialise the hell she went through.

Shocking and disgusting response from Travelodge.

I do a fair amount of solo travel, including Travelodge stays on occasion, and like PPs already pack a little rubber doorstop and move a chair behind the door for my own peace of mind but FFS why do we need to do this?

I've just emailed Travelodge and asked for a copy of their lone traveller policy and staff process documents for such situations.

I doubt they have the first at the very least.

I would encourage others to consider doing the same, it took me 2 minutes.

I will report back.

I think it's a good idea for lone female travellers to always keep a door wedge in their luggage.

Electronic keys are too easy to get hold of.

Of course we shouldn't have to go to such measures but knowing nobody can open the door is a comfort.

I was SO shocked at this. Not at the mistake being made (although hideous) or even at the £30 offered (even more hideous) but at the fact they didn’t say they were going to learn from it. In fact, they did the opposite and doubled down that they’d not done anything wrong!

It's appalling.

I've got a room booked in a v cheap hotel (not TL or PI) next week. I will be ensuring the front desk are clear that I am a solo booking and that no one else should be given a key to my room. Although I'm also worrying about stressing that I'm a lone woman

So many on here saying they block the door or put extra locks on which then delays the exit if there is smoke or a fire. Men will never understand it. How we have to increase the risk in one area to reduce the risk in another. We block the fire door because we know we've a higher chance of being attacked than caught in a fire. Im so angry for us all.

He passed their security procedures? Wtf?
He says he knows her? Tick. Here you go sir, here's the key.

That is outrageous. Even if someone actually does know you, its still not ok to give them a key to your bloody room when their name isnt on the reservation. You could be fleeing a dv situation for example.

I bet I know what the security procedure was passed. Money. Passed from him to the person at the front desk

I bought a door wedge but couldn't make it fit under the door at all. I often put up the ironing board/stick a chair in front of the door. At least I'd hear anyone coming in

All of this. Thanks for this thread, OP.

Thanks for this. I've got a long drive in a few months and was thinking I would book one of these. Now thinking farmhouse bed and breakfast instead.

I've stayed alone in both and IMO Premier Inn are a cut above Travelodge. When they gave me my key they put it face down and didn't say the room number out loud.

Ive just emailed their ceo to communicate my disgust at their handling of this.
Poor woman having to be subjected to the attack and the minimising afterwards.

I stayed in a farmhouse B&B. It was in a ground floor extension with French doors. It was hot and there was no window so I had the doors open a little. Not only was I uncomfortable about this, even though we were miles from anywhere, but in the middle of the night I became aware of something in the room and lay there rigid with fright. It turned out to be a cat that insisted on being let out into the corridor!
So pick carefully!

It's really awful that as a lone woman she couldn't trust this hotel company. Well we ladies all know where not to stay in future. I'll bet that it wouldn't have happened if a lone male was booked into a room.

They'll soon regret this action by either posting a big fat Loss, or go under. What a PR mess. A Ratner scenario.

Other hotel chains aren't perfect, either. I always sleep with a door wedge and anything else I can put against the door, like an ironing board, table or chair.

I checked into a Premier Inn late one night last year. Was given the room key to someone else's room - with them fast asleep inside.

In another PI, I got to my room and was sure the TV was on. Refused point blank to open the door and possibly frighten whoever was in that room out of their minds. Reception did assign me to another room.

Absolutely outrageous on both the original act and post.

https://docs.planning.org.uk/20240517/208/SBMED6JYHNR00/brvk6n4i0vuudvbw.pdf

“Checked in guests gain entry using a keycard that is issued upon proof of a
verified booking.”

or instead by just knowing someone’s name it seems!