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.

tbh I'd prefer to sleep in a hotel room with a dog - better protection than the hotel staff.
Where else do you expect dog owners to stay on long journeys then?

I will never stay in a Travelodge again. What an appalling response to a shocking and preventable crime that they were complicit in.

I hope they go bankrupt.

😱 19 yo Dd stayed alone in the one in Aldgate last week as she had an assessment at a London firm.

She was delighted at the hotel rate which the limited expense allowance covered but defo wouldn’t have stayed there if she had known how lax they are.

Disgraceful!!

I find it unbelievable that what happened here was in line with the specific policies of a single Travelodge location, let alone the entire chain! I don't want to minimise the impact to the actual victim, but the general public also need and deserve an explanation of how this happened and the steps that Travelodge will take to prevent similar incidents.

Not specific to Travelodge (haven't stayed in one since 2016), but in general, travelling solo (and female):

• I've had my room assigned again to another guest who has then tried to enter with a custom keycard (and in one case, a physical key). I've also arrived in a room that's obviously already assigned/occupied and has also been assigned to me.

• I've had others try to get into my room mistaking it for their own (and in one case, a drunkard hammering on the door because he thought it was his room and his partner had intentionally locked him out).

• I once, in an Ibis in France, had housekeeping leave my room door wide open during a routine cleaning mid-stay and never come back.

• I've often (although much less often over time as awareness of risks has risen and security policies have become more sophisticated) had the front desk give me a duplicate key card on request without checking my ID or escorting me to my room to check it.

• I've heard credible stories about hotels that don't reprogram the electronic key cards after every stay, and even one that just gave guests a master key that would open any guest room door.

But to let someone ELSE into an occupied guest room, intentionally, KNOWING he's not on the reservation? I believe that it could have been done by mistake, but if it's the actual policy there is HUGE issue which needs to be addressed urgently, not defended!! That hasn't been the norm or even generally considered acceptable in decades.

Has anyone had a response from the CEO?

No response to me.

I gave up on Travel Lodge a long time ago. I use Premier Inn or ZHotel, plus a door wedge.

I have messaged a work colleague and told her not to book anyone at work into travelodges. Horrendous lack of security and no accountability.

I am deaf. What do I do if staying alone? I haven't had to yet, but was thinking of heading off to Italy to see Pompeii, no one else is bothered, but now I'm so put off.

I wouldn't hear an alarm, well maybe if it was really high pitched like a fire alarm. Damn, so I'm female, staying on my own, deaf. I haven't a hope.

I’ve booked a travel lodge next week for solo travel work trip - have just bought the door wedges

I have a complaint in with Travelodge at the moment - had a male member of staff knock on my door while I was sleeping and demand I open the door to him as they’d made an error at check in and needed to verify who was in the room. Initially didn’t say who he was upon knocking, and I was already feeling uncomfortable as they’d put me in an end room on an enclosed dead end corridor.

I complained in the morning and was completely gaslit at reception…

We stayed at the same travelodge and the window lock in our room on the ground floor was broken. So we had to sleep in an unlocked room all night in the middle of London. No other rooms available apparently.

That is shocking. No care at all for security and safety, I certainly won't be staying with them. I travel a lot for work and mostly use the same trusted hotels where they know me and look out for me, but sometimes I'm in a new city and just have to hope all is okay. Think I'll invest in a door wedge.

Could you go with a specialist tour company? You would be one of a group where everyone would, I feel sure, look out for you.

Shocking response from Travelodge. I stopped using them a few years ago after a couple of dodgy experiences which they refused to respond to. A colleague experienced similar treatment. I’d hope they might have got their act together, but sadly they clearly have not.

Why aren't Travel Lodge announcing a change in policy on this??

I've heard that a door stop can help stop someone open a door (or even better a security wedge or portable alarm door stop).

I think this is just what hotels are like now

I very rarely complain but I had a near miss in a hotel last year - balcony door was apparently on one hinge and obviously no one had noticed it, I very nearly had a nasty accident with that

This was in a place that marketed itself as quite smart. Reception couldn't care less. It was only when I pointed out that they were lucky I have been able to get hold of it so to speak, it could've fallen and landed on a child... I shudder to think.

They then gave me a voucher for food. That was it. I could say I'd never use that chain again, but I just think this is what they're all like now.

This I shocking. I never stay in travelodges anymore anyway (travel frequently for work), have stayed in one too many dodgy ones where I could imagine this sort of thing happening. Same for premier inn, I had someone try my door in one a while ago and the staff were really unhelpful and unsympathetic.

Not to say there aren’t dodgy people everywhere - I had a man try and follow me back to my room in a particularly maze like Malmaison where it was all too easy to be trapped down a dead end without knowing it, but the staff handled it really well and moved him on. It’s all about how they handle it.

Both incidents show the inexperienced of the staff

It's a major major breech

@shuffleofftobuffalo agree all staff should get training on this.

Had a dodgy experience at the King’s Cross travelodge - male member of staff entering room in middle of night.

I do a lot of business travel and use Prem Inn where possible.

presumably because Mumsnet are happy to take their money and advertise them?
Perhaps you should write to Justine (MN CEO) about this policy:
[email protected]
as well as writing to Jo (Travelodge CEO):
[email protected]
?

Hi, yes I could and I did once or twice to different major sites.

The problem is that I am just accompanied by the group. I cannot hear the commentary, guide, or anything like that. I do have an attachment for the hearing aid that helps with that, but honestly on a moving bus/at a special site etc. it's not great.

So I usually travel alone and get a map/guide at the site and go ahead on my own. There are apps that have guides in them which I can listen to via bluetooth hearing aids also.

I'm not complaining! I manage quite well. It's staying in a room on my own after reading this thread that has me a bit concerned TBH. I do use a door wedge but I sleep with one eye open since I'd never hear anyone trying to get in!!

I've had a response to my email (below). I wonder if Travelodge might actually become safer for women if they've had a serious backlash and staff have had room safety drummed into them? Although saying that, surely a full review of room security policies should have happened now back in 2022, not only now and because of a heap of bad publicity.

We're very sorry for any worry or concern this has caused you, the safety and security of our customers is always our number one priority.

We agree that feeling safe and secure is an absolute priority when choosing where to stay. And would like to reassure you that our hotel teams are trained to follow industry standard approved policies.

We have apologised to the victim for the way the situation which occurred in 2022 was handled.

While industry standard procedures were followed at the time, Jo has asked the teams to carry out a full review of our room security policies to learn from this incident and further strengthen our procedures.

Please be assured that we are taking this very seriously and we hope to welcome you back to Travelodge again in the future.

Bloody hell!

The management team must be idiots, given the way they’ve handled this.