A guest who experienced a naked man performing sex acts outside her room says the independent review into Travelodge's policies validated survivors but exposed gaps she wants fixed across the hotel industry.
An independent review found room intrusions reported at nearly one in 10 Travelodge hotels this summer and no policy on violence against women and girls.
Wendy Griffith, who was targeted at Travelodge London Stratford in July 2025, says staff failures left her trapped and traumatised and has launched a petition for national hotel safety standards.
Travelodge accepts the review's recommendations, is working with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on a new safety policy, and says changes have been under way since March.
# What happened
Wendy Griffith was staying alone at Travelodge London Stratford in July 2025 when a man began banging on her door late at night and, through the peephole, she saw him perform sex acts in the corridor. She says she felt rising panic over an hour, repeatedly attempted to contact hotel staff and could not reach help because there was no room phone and no emergency contact number in her room. She dialled 999 when she could not summon assistance.
The man involved, Trevor Reece, 40, pleaded guilty to outraging public decency in September 2025 and received a sentence of four months of alcohol dependency treatment, plus court costs and a small compensation order.
# What the independent review found
Barrister Paul Greaney KC carried out an independent review after the BBC exposed a separate serious assault where a man was given a guest's key and sexually assaulted her in her bed at Travelodge Maidenhead. Greaney's report found that room intrusions were being reported at nearly one in 10 Travelodge hotels during the summer and that Travelodge had no policy specifically addressing violence against women and girls at the time of the incidents.
The report criticised inconsistent application of key security procedures and identified frontline failures, such as reception staff handing keys or room numbers to people claiming to be partners without verification or training.
# Travelodge's response
Travelodge issued an unreserved apology to the woman assaulted and to other guests where the chain's policies and procedures had failed. The company said it welcomes the review's recommendations and has been implementing changes since March. Travelodge interim chief executive Ray Reidy said the chain is working with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a personal safety charity, to develop a policy on violence against women and girls.
# Wider industry perspective
Carolyn Pearson, CEO of travel security company Maiden Voyage, described the practice of handing a key to someone claiming to be a guest's boyfriend as an "incredibly basic" failure but one that happens frequently across the hospitality sector. Dawn Brennan, CEO of the women's safety charity Wise Women, said hotels should register and check ID for anyone requesting room access and have extra checks when someone claims to be a partner without a key.
Griffith echoed those concerns and said the problems point to industry‑wide weaknesses in guest security.
# What the victim wants next
Griffith describes the review as an emotional read: validating but also frustrating, because she believes serious incidents were necessary before the issues were taken seriously. She has set up a petition calling on the government to establish minimum safety and guest security standards for all hotels in the UK. Her clear objective is to make a locked hotel room genuinely secure for solo travellers.
# Practical takeaways for hotel guests
Report finds complaints of room intrusions at nearly one in 10 hotels, after woman attacked by man given a copy of her key An independent review into Travelodge after a serious sexual assault has found that guests are still at risk, with room intrusions reported at nearly one in 10 of its hotels this summer. The damnin
Room intrusions were still being reported at one-in-10 Travelodge hotels this summer, a review finds.
A woman who was assaulted at a hotel run by the Thame-based Travelodge when a man was given a key card to her room was treated in a “disgraceful” way and “fundamentally failed” by the hotel chain, an independent review has found.
A review found that guests are still not as safe as they should be in Travelodge hotels.
'Can honestly say it was the absolute best hotel we've ever stayed in. Beautiful hotel in a stunning location. Every room was very grand and oozing history'
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