Lawyers warn of board-level accountability in the face of Travelodge CEO resignation after repeated safeguarding failures.
Last week, we reported on the news that Travelodge was under scrutiny after a woman was attacked by her domestic abuser, who’d been given a key to her room by hotel staff.
The woman was staying at a branch of the hotel in London last year when she was assaulted and almost had her phone stolen. A similar incident occurred in 2022, when another woman staying at a Travelodge in Berkshire was sexually assaulted in her bed after a man was given access to her room.
Now, Joanna Boydell, the boss of Travelodge, has announced her resignation. She has been temporarily replaced by its finance chief, Ray Reidy and the company has launched a formal search for a permanent substitute.
Commenting on the news, Jo Mackie, an employment law partner at the firm Michelmores, said: ‘Travelodge has been beset by awful stories involving sexual assault and poor security at hotels.
‘The CEO is likely to have been under great pressure to resign for some time to try and reset the brand by hiring a new leader who will overhaul the image and try to regain trust.’
‘This is going to be incredibly hard for the incoming CEO to do, as these stories continue to appear in the media,’ she added. ‘It’s difficult to see who Travelodge could bring in who would instil trust and confidence quickly and stop the business going into freefall.’
In a statement, Travelodge noted: ‘Any additional or replacement room key new requires explicit permission from the guest staying in the room. This builds on our existing policy to never confirm to any third party that a guest is staying at one of our hotels.’
The company have revealed staff across its sites are being trained under the new room access policy and a violence against women and girls expert had been brought in to work with Travelodge’s senior bosses.
Chloe grant, senior associate at the law firm Bellevue Law, said: ‘Where organisational failures are repeated rather than isolated, responsibility should rest at the top. That’s what we’re seeing here at Travelodge with Jo Boydell’s departure.
‘The danger posed by unauthorised access to hotel rooms is both obvious and and preventable, particularly for women alone. It should never have taken a serious assault and subsequent incidents to trigger meaningful change.
‘The fact that the chief executive has stepped down in consequence reflects the gravity of the issues highlighted – and shows that when foreseeable risks are not acted upon, accountability can and will reach the boardroom.’
Image: Shutterstock
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