Travelodge’s chief executive, Jo Boydell, has stepped down as the group continues to overhaul its safety procedures after a sexual assault at one of the chain’s hotels.
The firm said Ms Boydell leaves after 13 years with the group and will be replaced by chief financial officer Ray Reidy on an interim basis while they hunt for a permanent successor.
Ms Boydell was heavily criticised for how she handled the incident and concerns over safety across the chain, prompting former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to step in earlier this year and urge her to “seriously engage” with the government on the issue after she cancelled a meeting with MPs.
A guest at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given a key card to her room.
Kyran Smith was jailed in February for seven-and-a-half years following the attack in December 2022.
Mr Reidy said: “We remain focused on the safety and wellbeing of our guests and will continue taking the actions necessary to strengthen the business.
“We will also continue to engage proactively and constructively with Government and the wider hospitality industry on the issue of safety and security.”
Good Morning Britain and ITV News learned earlier this year that the woman who was sexually assaulted in the Travelodge hotel room after her attacker had managed to gain a key wrote directly to the chief executive of the hotel chain in January 2023 after the attack.
In an interview with Ashna Hurynag, Good Morning Britain Correspondent, in March, the hotel boss said she was horrified to learn about what happened to the survivor and has apologised for the way they have handled the case.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Ms Boydell made it clear she only found out about the incident in early March, after another news organisation alerted her to it, weeks after Smith was jailed.
Jo Boydell told ITV News at the time: “I am absolutely horrified that it had happened in one of our hotels, desperately sorry for what happened to the survivor and really sorry for the way that it took us so long to actually escalate that and handle that properly in the way that we are now.”
She said: “I first found out about the details of the case when it was reported by the BBC, and that’s one of the issues that’s very clear to us. It absolutely should not have been the case and we made mistakes. And that’s part of the review to understand why it took so long.”
Travelodge said it had “acted quickly” to improve safety procedures following the assault and as claims emerged that staff were giving out duplicate keys without the proper security checks.
The group said an independent review by Paul Greaney KC had been carried out, and an internal review is ongoing, with changes being rolled out, including new room access security that is live across more than 600 of its hotels and extra training for its 12,000 customer-facing staff.
It said a guest must now give explicit permission for an extra or replacement room key to be given out and that it will never confirm to a third party if a guest is staying at one of its hotels.
The firm has also taken action to check and confirm that all key-card doors have a secondary deadbolt.
Travelodge bosses are also undertaking a training programme put together by an expert in tackling violence against women and girls.
The group said: “The safety and security of customers in our hotels is extremely important and we want everyone to be safe, and feel safe, in our hotels.“We have acted quickly to make changes to improve safety and security across our operations.”
Ms Boydell was appointed chief executive in May 2022 and was the chief financial officer from March 2013.
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