Travelodge boss quits amid fallout over hotel chain’s security failings

Joanna Boydell steps down after widespread criticism over company’s handling of guest safety issues

The boss of Travelodge has resigned after a backlash over security failings at the hotel chain, including a case where a domestic abuser was given a key to a woman’s room before assaulting her.

In a company statement on Thursday, Travelodge said Joanna Boydell had stepped down and been temporarily replaced by its finance chief, Ray Reidy. The company has launched a formal search for a permanent substitute.

The Travelodge chair, Stephen Shurrock, said the announcement “does not change anything about our focus on safety and security”.

In March, Keir Starmer, the then prime minister, wrote to Boydell warning that she must “seriously engage with MPs” over concerns about women’s safety after a spate of security breaches had left guests at risk of attack.

The letter was sent after a hotel guest in Berkshire was sexually assaulted by a man who had wrongly been given access to her room in 2022. He had falsely claimed he was her partner, before sexually assaulting her in her hotel bed. The victim was later offered what she described as an “insulting” £30 refund.

Earlier this month, it emerged that in October another woman who had been staying in one of Travelodge’s London hotels to escape her domestic abuser had been attacked after the man was given a key to her room by reception staff.

He had persuaded staff to give him access, saying his girlfriend was upstairs having a seizure. Staff did not check with the woman before giving him the card and pointed him to her room where he kicked in the door, assaulted her and tried to grab her phone.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, said she had run “shaking, crying and begging for help”.

“I thought someone would protect me,” she told the BBC. Staff then offered her another room in the hotel.

Travelodge has previously defended itself, saying such instances were “very rare” and customer safety was a priority.

Jo Mackie, an employment law partner at the law firm Michelmores, said there was a risk Travelodge would go into “freefall” if it failed to regain public trust. “Travelodge has been beset by awful stories involving sexual assault and poor security at hotels,” she said. “The CEO is likely to have been under great pressure to resign for some time to try and reset the brand by hiring a new leader who will overhaul the image and try to regain trust.

“That is going to be incredibly hard for the incoming CEO to do, as these stories continue to appear in the media. It’s difficult to see who Travelodge could bring in who would instil trust and confidence quickly and stop the business going into freefall.”

Alongside the company’s latest financial results, released on Thursday, Travelodge said a leading barrister had conducted a review of its room access security policies and escalation procedures, and its own internal review was ongoing.

The company added that it had also conducted an “audit” to ensure all of its UK rooms had a secondary deadbolt, and was making changes to its room access security policy.

Travelodge said: “Any additional or replacement room key now requires explicit permission from the guest staying in the room. This builds on our existing policy to never confirm to any third party that a guest is staying at one of our hotels.”

The company said 12,000 of its customer-facing staff across more than 600 of its UK sites were being trained in the new room access security policy, and a violence against women and girls expert had been brought in to train Travelodge’s senior bosses.

“They have reviewed our existing policies and procedures and will assist with how we respond to the independent review and its recommendation,” the hotel chain said. “The safety and security of customers in our hotels is extremely important and we want everyone to be safe, and feel safe, in our hotels. We have acted quickly to make changes to improve safety and security across our operations.”