Travelodge has changed its room key policy after staff mistakenly gave a sex attacker access to a woman’s hotel room. The company has also apologised following the incident, in which a man was handed a key card to the victim’s room before entering while she was asleep and sexually assaulting her.

The attacker, Kyran Smith, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years earlier this year after deceiving hotel staff into giving him access to the room. At Reading Crown Court in January, the 29-year-old was convicted of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence and sexual assault.

The court heard that the incident took place in December 2022 at a Travelodge hotel in Maidenhead.

According to Thames Valley Police, Smith and the victim had attended the same party earlier that evening before returning to the hotel, where they were staying, in separate rooms.

When the victim went to bed at around 2am, Smith approached reception and obtained a key card to her room after misleading the staff.

Police said the woman woke up to find him sexually assaulting her while she was asleep. She shouted at him to leave, prompting him to exit the room before returning the key to reception and going back to his own hotel room.

Following the case, Travelodge said it had carried out an internal review and introduced new security measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

The company confirmed that replacement or additional room keys will now only be issued with explicit permission from the guest or guests registered to the room.

The new policy has already been implemented across all Travelodge hotels and staff have received additional training on the updated procedures.

Chief executive Jo Boydell said the company was “deeply sorry” for the distress caused to the victim and has apologised to her.

Boydell added that the company has also commissioned an independent review of its room security systems to ensure further safeguards are introduced.

She said the firm would welcome the opportunity to meet the victim to apologise personally and hear her views on how hotel safety procedures could be improved.

The company is also scheduled to meet with MPs and the safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to discuss the case and outline the steps being taken to strengthen customer security.

Travelodge said the changes are designed to ensure guests feel safe in its hotels and to prevent unauthorised access to rooms in the future.