Independent Review – Update

Travelodge today publishes in full an independent review conducted by Paul Greaney KC into room access security, and escalation procedures for serious customer incidents and complaints following an assault at its Maidenhead hotel

  • Travelodge unreservedly apologises again to the woman assaulted at its Maidenhead hotel (referred to as “Lily” in the report) and to all guests where Travelodge has fallen short
  • In releasing the full report, Travelodge is aligning with the wishes of both Paul Greaney KC and Lily, whose courage has been instrumental in bringing these issues to light
  • Travelodge welcomes the recommendations from the report and has established a dedicated Board committee to oversee implementation of the recommendations and commits to undertaking independent progress assessments after 6 and 12 months
  • Guest safety remains a top priority and this work will build on the large-scale programme of change to drive improvements across both operations and customer services, including partnerships with leading independent experts, that Travelodge launched in March this year when the Board became aware of the Maidenhead incident
  • Travelodge also commits to continuing to work with hospitality industry and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) partners including the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to elevate safety standards at its hotels and across the sector for women and girls both as customers and for those working in the industry

Travelodge Group has today published in full the findings of an independent review conducted by Paul Greaney KC into room access security and escalation procedures for how it deals with serious customer incidents and complaints. 

The review was commissioned earlier this year following the conviction in January 2026 of a man for a serious sexual assault that took place at a Travelodge hotel in Maidenhead in 2022 after he obtained a room key by deception.

Travelodge would like to unreservedly apologise again to the woman assaulted (referred to as “Lily” in the report) and to all guests where Travelodge has fallen short due to failures in its policies and procedures for room access security and in its response to complaints.

Travelodge commissioned the review to ensure the root causes of room intrusions were fully understood, to identify opportunities to strengthen room security measures, and to fundamentally transform how customer complaints and serious incidents are handled.

Travelodge has chosen to publish the report in full, reflecting our commitment to transparency and in keeping with the wishes of both Paul Greaney KC and Lily, whose courage has been instrumental in bringing these matters to light.

Travelodge is committed to addressing the issues raised by this report in a thorough and accountable way and will undertake independent progress assessments after 6 and 12 months.

When this assault came to the attention of the Travelodge Board in March this year, it instigated a large-scale programme of change to drive improvements across both hotel operations and customer services. 

The KC’s review recognises that, since March, Travelodge has undertaken a major drive to improve the policies and procedures relating to room security, as well as training in those policies and procedures. These include:

  • Any additional or replacement room key now requires explicit permission from the guest staying in the room, building on the existing policy to never confirm to any third party that a guest is staying. 
  • This policy has been rolled out across all 600+ hotels, backed by immediate and ongoing follow-up training for 12,000 customer-facing colleagues and by Travelodge’s ongoing independent audit review and mystery shopper programmes.
  • Travelodge has completed a full deadbolt audit across all UK rooms, ensuring all key-card operated doors have a secondary deadbolt facility. In addition, door stickers across key-card hotels ensure guests know how to double-lock their room using the secondary deadbolt.
  • All hotels have 24/7 reception and our teams also conduct regular security walks on the floors throughout the night.
  • Travelodge provides the hotel phone number on every key card wallet.
  • Reception colleagues won’t say room numbers out loud – these are written down / shown only (unless the customer asks or needs us to). 
  • Additionally, for lone travellers, Travelodge does not allocate ground floor or end-of-corridor rooms to solo female travellers where possible, and will allocate rooms that are on the first or second floor or close to lifts or main hotel areas (unless they request otherwise).

Changes have been underway since March to strengthen and amend Travelodge’s policies and procedures including partnerships with leading external experts, including the global consulting firm AlixPartners to transform customer services. Work with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust continues at pace to further improve the safety of women and girls at Travelodge hotels and develop VAWG policy and colleague training.

To build on this work and ensure the recommendations of this report are addressed, Travelodge has established a dedicated Board committee for Customer Safety, Security and Services, chaired by Ray Reidy, the Interim Chief Executive Officer.

This committee will maintain direct oversight of all workstreams relating to the recommendations of the independent review, and on working towards establishing industry-leading standards in customer safety and security.

Ray Reidy, Interim Chief Executive of Travelodge, said:

“The independent review published today makes it clear that there were failures in Travelodge’s room access security policies and procedures and in the way customers have been treated. I apologise unreservedly on behalf of Travelodge to all guests where we have failed, and particularly to Lily. We have made significant progress in preventing and addressing these issues over the past six months, and we recognise we still have further to go. We are working hard to transform our customer service so we respond appropriately when things don’t go right. We will continue to improve so customers get the right level of support and empathy when they need it most.

That is why we are dedicating significant resources as well as implementing governance changes needed to drive the ongoing improvements. We will continue to work with UKHospitality and other partners to elevate standards both within Travelodge and across the wider sector.

“I would like to thank Paul Greaney KC for the robust recommendations and all the valuable suggestions in the review. We are committed to making the changes required to improve safety and security in our hotels.”

Travelodge has also been working with UKHospitality, the hospitality sector trade body, and collaborated on its recently published guidance “Guest Security: Hotel Industry Principles and Good Practice”, which will help to improve standards of guest safety and hotel security across the industry. Travelodge will continue to work closely with UKHospitality and other partners. 

The Board of Travelodge recognises that further work will be required to transition from reactive to an end-to-end customer and colleague safety proposition. The Committee for Customer Safety, Security and Services will provide executive oversight to ensure strategic alignment with disciplined execution at pace.

Actions will be assigned to seven workstreams: 

  • VAWG & Safety Policy – Establish and implement a comprehensive and effective policy in relation to Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) 
  • Customer Service – Transform to a customer-centric culture, providing rapid, empathetic, and timely resolution across all routine and complex customer interactions
  • Training – Enhance our training model, to a blended approach including manager validation and follow-up
  • Physical and personal security – Trial and develop a plan for the rollout of personal and physical security equipment
  • Ways of working – Establish robust protocols for incident investigation with a trauma-informed response
  • Technology enhancements – Simplify the front-line delivery of security processes through technology to make it easier for our colleagues and for customers to validate their details when required
  • Controls & Assurance – Expand and strengthen measures to test the operational efficacy of room security processes on an ongoing basis.

Travelodge remains firmly focused on the safety and well-being of its guests and colleagues and will continue taking the actions necessary to strengthen the business.

The full report can be viewed on the Travelodge website: https://www.travelodge.co.uk/our-business/about-us/__independent-review/

ENDS

Enquiries:

FGS Global      

Tel: 0207 251 38 01 

Email: Travelodge-LON@fgsglobal.com 

Travelodge Press Office  

Tel:  01844 358 703

Email: pressoffice@travelodge.co.uk  

  

About Travelodge 

In 1985, Travelodge became the UK’s first budget hotel brand when it opened its first hotel at Barton-under-Needwood. Today, we operate over 600 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain and annually welcome over 22 million guests. Travelodge has a well-known brand that offers a good value proposition for customers, focused on domestic travel. We offer standardised, modern guest rooms at affordable prices to both business and leisure customers. We aim to offer our customers a well-priced, well-located stay they can trust.  Travelodge employs over 13,000 employees and is dedicated to creating an environment where everyone can learn more, earn more and belong. 

For further information visit travelodge.co.uk or the Travelodge Hotels Limited LinkedIn page.