FOR most of us, checking into a hotel offers a safe haven for the night.
But for some, it has opened the door to a terrifying nightmare they will never forget.

Wendy Griffith was forced to call 999 after a man tormented her in a Travelodge corridor Credit: Supplied

Lily was sexually assaulted when a stranger broke into her room at the Maidenhead Travelodge hotel, Credit: Google Earth
When 28-year-old Lily* booked a room at a budget hotel to attend a party, she didn’t think for one second she was in danger.
She was wrong. After falling into a deep sleep, Lily woke to every woman’s worst fear.
A man was in her bed, sexually assaulting her.
The horror only intensified when she realised how he got there.

Bungling Travelodge staff had handed the man her room number and a key card.
Following the stomach-churning case in Maidenhead, a Jattvibe investigation has uncovered a dark reality lurking behind budget stays.
A string of horrifying breaches has exposed how lone women are being left at the mercy of predators by dangerously inadequate security.
Now, victims and support groups are demanding an urgent overhaul of hotel safety laws to protect vulnerable female guests.

Kyran Smith tricked hotel staff into giving him Lily’s room key by showing them fake text messages Credit: Supplied

Lily was sexually assaulted by Smith in her hotel room Credit: Getty
Bravely speaking out after her attacker, Kyran Smith, was caged for more than seven years, Lily reveals why she believes no one should ever feel unsafe when sleeping behind a locked door. 
Now in her 30s, Lily recalls the fateful night in December 2022 – the first time she had ever stayed in a hotel alone.
“I went back to my room at about 2am,” she says.
“I suddenly woke up and this guy was in my room.
“I’d been asleep so I was disorientated and confused. I asked how he got in and he claimed I’d invited him. I hadn’t.”
Lily managed to kick the intruder out, knowing she had locked the door before going to bed.
At 5.30am, she confronted reception.
Lily says: “I told them, ‘You’ve just let someone into my room.’

“They just said, ‘I’m so sorry, he said he was your boyfriend’.”
In a move that added insult to her trauma, staff revealed the beast had gained access simply by showing fake text messages. He didn’t even have her phone number.
Distraught, Lily returned to her room. Two hours later, a different staff member was “dismissive” and refused to show her CCTV.

Lily fled the hotel and went straight to the police, the battle for justice was just beginning.

Jo Boydell, chief executive officer of Travelodge Hotels Ltd has apologised to Lily for the security lapse Credit: Getty

Sarah was naked when a man broke in to her room Credit: Getty
When she complained to Travelodge HQ in January 2023, the response from the Chief Executive’s office was a kick in the teeth. They offered her an “insulting” £30 refund and claimed they had followed “all the right procedures”.
Lily says: “A £30 pittance was a total insult. It was rude, shocking, and showed a complete lack of empathy.”
Shockingly, despite Lily emailing within weeks of the attack, hotel boss Jo Boydell claimed she only became aware of the sexual assault during Smith’s trial three years later.
She has apologised saying “Our response was deeply inappropriate and our processes did not work as they should have done in this instance”.
Following a four-day trial at Reading Crown Court in November, 29-year-old Smith, from Staines, was convicted of trespass with intent to commit a relevant sexual offence and sexual assault.

He was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.
More recently in a disturbing new claim, mum-of-one Summer reveals how she had fled from her home to a Travelodge in North Yorkshire after an ex-partner began stalking her.
Summer thought she’d finally found sanctuary in her hotel room, in June last year, but instead, Travelodge staff led her tormentor straight to her door.
When he turned up at the front desk, bungling staff were duped by his sick claim that he wanted to “surprise” her.
Without a single security check or a phone call to the room, they escorted the stalker through the hotel and left him right outside her door.
Summer, who was in the corridor and spotted him just in time, had to bolt back into her room and run for cover.
“I wanted nothing to do with him,” she tells The Jattvibe. “Instead, they led him right to me.

A series of security blunders have occurred at Travelodge putting women in danger Credit: Getty

An ad outside one hotel promises guests can ‘sleep soundly’ Credit: Getty
“I had no phone in the room to call for help. He was taunting me through the door, being verbally abusive and swearing he’d get in.

“It was terrifying. I was a lone woman and I’d never felt more vulnerable.”
Summer was forced to cower in silence as her tormentor waited in the corridor and then the car park, until police arrived to arrest him for stalking.
But the horror didn’t end there. She says the hotel’s response was ice-cold.
“There was no apology. The night manager promised to leave his direct number outside my door in case the beast came back – but he never did.
“I spent the night shaking, checking the door every few minutes.
“I thought I was safe from terror, but they handed him the map to find me.”
In yet another breach, married mum-of-three Sarah* was left dangerously exposed at the Travelodge York Central.
The 37-year-old education worker had checked in for a conference last June when she was targeted by a rowdy stag do at the vending machines.
After being subjected to wolf-whistles and leering comments, a panicked Sarah retreated to her room.
She had heard one of the men shout out her room number, but believed she was safe once the door was locked. She was wrong.

As she prepared for a bath, the door suddenly swung open.
Standing there was the same man who had been leering at her downstairs.
“I was naked,” Sarah reveals to The Jattvibe. “I ran forward and screamed and forced him out.
“He didn’t leave, he was standing outside my door telling me to quieten down, to calm down which I refused to.”
Terrified, Sarah rang reception three times, but nobody answered. In total desperation, she was forced to call the police.
“I have a baby at home, so staying at a hotel should have been a treat, a good night’s sleep,” she says. Instead, she was left cowering in her room.
When she finally reached the front desk, the truth was even more galling.
Staff had handed a total stranger her room key without even checking a name.
“I couldn’t believe he had a key,” Sarah says.
“They didn’t even look on the booking for the name when he asked them.

“He didn’t know my name anyway, he was a stranger to me. It was terrifying but they didn’t see it like that. I was so upset and had a panic attack.”
The weight of the ordeal has changed Sarah’s life.
She now gets up early to travel rather than staying in hotels alone.
“I could have been raped,” she says. “I’m so glad I was able to be so vocal and push him away.
“I didn’t sleep that night as I wondered if he could get my new room key.”
Meanwhile, marketing consultant Wendy Griffith was staying at Travelodge London Stratford in July last year when a man began banging on her door in the early hours of the morning.
Mum-of-one Wendy, from Norfolk, says: “I was in London for work and after a heinous week I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
“I looked through the peephole and saw him performing sex acts outside my room, he was blowing kisses – it was really traumatic.”
There was no phone in the room and no one answered the reception number she found online.
For 90 minutes, Wendy cowered in fear as the incident escalated. In desperation, she was forced to dial 999.

The horror hit a new peak when Wendy later discovered her tormentor had actually gone to reception to demand a key card giving her room number instead of his own
She claimed that the man in question was housed in the hotel by the council, as he had drug and alcohol problems.
When police arrived, they were forced to pepper spray the man, who had already exposed himself to another guest.
But while the other couple were moved, traumatised Wendy was left to sit alone in the bar until dawn.
“No one checked on me,” she says.
Rape Crisis CEO Ciara Bergman told The Jattvibe that she was shocked by our report.
“It’s absolutely appalling that any woman should suffer rape or sexual abuse anywhere,” she says. “Let alone in a hotel she has paid for, and expects to be safe staying in.
“It’s vital that those who have been assaulted, and who have spoken out about it, receive care and support, and see that these incidents will be taken seriously.
“We hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, and that these cases lead to improved sexual safety measures being implemented, adhered to and monitored in the relevant establishments, as part of their duty of care and relevant UK legislation.” 
Lawyers are now examining how strangers obtained key cards and entered rooms without permission or estranged partners were able to discover the room numbers of their victims.

Tom Fletcher, a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who specialises in supporting survivors of abuse, says: “The incident in Maidenhead was a serious and deeply distressing crime which has had a lasting impact on our client.
“What is particularly concerning is that we are now hearing from other women who report similar issues involving key-card access at Travelodge hotels.
“We have been contacted by multiple women who describe deeply concerning incidents in which strangers were able to access their hotel rooms – whether by mistake, through keys issued at reception, or in some cases where abusers were directed to their door.
“This is not about isolated errors. The consistency of these accounts points to a wider pattern of serious security failings which should never occur in any hotel setting.
“Guests are entitled to feel safe behind a locked door, and these experiences represent a clear breach of that trust.”
A spokesperson for Travelodge said: “Any case of an unauthorised person entering someone’s room is a cause for concern. We have 7.5 million room bookings every year and customers should be reassured that cases like these are very rare, but that is no excuse.
“We recognise that any case can be upsetting for the customers concerned and we are focused on strengthening our procedures and training to prevent these situations occurring.
“We have made changes to our room access security policies and incident escalation procedures.
“This includes ensuring that any additional or replacement room keys are only issued with explicit permission from the person (or people) staying in the room, and this has been rolled out to all of our hotels, supported by training for our 12,000 customer-facing colleagues.
“Our room access security policies include providing the hotel phone number on every key card wallet and not saying room numbers out loud – these are written down / shown only (unless the customer asks or needs us to).

“Additionally, we do not allocate ground floor or end-of-corridor rooms to solo female travellers where possible, and we will allocate rooms that are on the first or second floor or close to lifts or main hotel areas.  
“We have also commissioned an independent review to examine our room access security policies and escalation procedures.”
Lily insists that much more needs to be done. “Hotels need tighter regulations,” she says.
“There should be chains on every door and keys shouldn’t be able to override locks.
“You are at your most vulnerable when you are asleep. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable staying in a hotel alone again.”