'We were given keys to occupied hotel rooms twice'

A group of hotel guests have said they were given keys to other people's rooms twice in one week at a Travelodge branch in Newham, east London.

John Nowell, who was part of a corporate group staying at the hotel, told the BBC that his key card allowed him into a room where the occupant was in the middle of a shower.

Separately, Nowell's colleague reported "hearing voices" inside their allocated room and decided to return to reception before entering.

Travelodge said staff were being retrained on security. Last month, Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell apologised for similar incidents across the chain and said: "We're working really really hard to make sure that we get this right going forwards."

Nowell contacted BBC Your Voice to explain what had happened at the Excel Travelodge, where he was booked to stay for a week whilst working with his team as a lighting technician at Excel.

"I checked in, was given a key card for a room, went up to the room, went in, could immediately see there was somebody else's possessions on the bed and I could hear that somebody was in the shower," he said.

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

Reception staff at the hotel were apologetic, Nowell said, but they could not explain how the incident had happened.

Nowell said the manager explained it was a mixture of "human error" and a recently installed new card system.

Nowell said he had read about people accessing occupied rooms at Travelodge branches, which were reported after Travelodge staff gave an attacker a key to a woman's room in the Maidenhead branch in 2022.

He said: "It seems astonishing they'd have a new system installed which allowed that to happen."

Despite Nowell's complaint, and the apologies and reassurance from staff that training would take place to ensure it would not happen again, it did.

"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," Nowell said.

Nowell approached management again, but said he felt the manager was "reluctant" to answer questions.

Nowell said the experience had eroded his trust in the hotel chain.

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

A Travelodge spokesperson said Nowell had received an apology and this incident "clearly should not have happened".

"The safety and security of our guests is our absolute priority and any case of an unauthorised person entering a guest's room is a significant cause for concern.

"We are retraining the hotel team on room security and check-in procedures," they added.

The company said an independent review was under way to strengthen procedures and training, alongside an internal review of room‑access security to improve guest safety and confidence.

Dozens of people have been getting in touch with their stories about Travelodge via the BBC Your Voice.

This has led to the MP whose constituency is home to Travelodge's headquarters getting involved.

Freddie van Mierlo, Liberal Democrat MP for Henley and Thame, called for "wholesale change" at Travelodge.

Travelodge said: "Hotel security is - and remains - a priority".

It said it was working "at pace" to review security processes.

The prime minister also wrote to the company following the security breaches.

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