Travelodge guests given keys to other people’s rooms TWICE in a single week

Oliver Partridge
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:26:30 +0000

Hotel guests at a Travelodge in east London were issued key cards granting access to already-occupied rooms on two separate occasions within a single week.

John Nowell, a lighting technician working at the Excel Travelodge in Newham, first reported the security failures.

His key card opened a room where another guest was showering, while days later a colleague discovered voices coming from inside their assigned room before deciding against entering.

The budget hotel chain confirmed it was retraining staff on security protocols following the incidents.

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Upon checking in, Mr Nowell proceeded to his allocated room, only to discover another guest's belongings scattered across the bed and the sound of someone showering in the bathroom.

"I immediately walked back out the room, shut the door, went down to reception," he told the BBC.

Staff at the front desk apologised, but were unable to provide an explanation for how the error occurred.

The hotel manager subsequently attributed the breach to a combination of staff mistakes and a recently implemented key card system.

Mr Nowell expressed disbelief that new technology could permit such failures, particularly given previous security incidents at other Travelodge branches, including a 2022 case in Maidenhead where staff gave an attacker access to a woman's room.

Despite receiving apologies and assurances that additional training would prevent further incidents, the same problem occurred just two days later.

"Two days later, a colleague of mine had exactly the same experience. He could hear voices in the room so he didn't go in," Mr Nowell said.

When he raised the matter with management a second time, he felt the manager was unwilling to address his questions.

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The repeated failures have fundamentally damaged his confidence in the hotel chain.

"I will not choose to stay in a Travelodge again if I can possibly avoid it," he said.

A Travelodge spokesman acknowledged the incident "clearly should not have happened", and stated that guest safety remained the company's "absolute priority".

The chain confirmed it was retraining hotel staff on room security and check-in procedures, while both an independent review and internal assessment of room access security were under way.

In a separate incident, a woman from Leeds described being left shaken after a stranger walked into her Travelodge hotel room in Lincoln, having been handed a key card by reception staff.

Chris Adamson, 63, was on a short break with her husband Paul at the Lincoln branch on April 8, when an unknown man suddenly entered their accommodation.

The most prolific incident, in February, saw Kyran Smith, a 29-year-old from Staines in Surrey, sexually assault a woman in her room at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022.

Smith had gained access after staff provided him with a key card to the victim's accommodation, and later received a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for his offence.

Liberal Democrat MP Freddie van Mierlo, whose Henley and Thame constituency contains Travelodge's headquarters, has demanded "wholesale change" at the company following dozens of complaints about conditions across its hotels.

The Prime Minister has also written to Travelodge regarding the security breaches.

Travelodge stated it was working "at pace" to review its security processes.