Hotel chain Travelodge has changed its door key policy following the conviction of a man accused of sexually assaulting a female guest. David Tremain prosecuted Kyran Smith in a three-day trial at Reading Crown Court in November 2025, securing convictions for sexual assault and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence. Both offences were committed against a female colleague at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, where both were staying separately following a company Christmas party.
After the convictions, the case attracted significant media interest and calls from over 100 Members of Parliament, some demanding a meeting with the CEO of Travelodge. The hotel chain subsequently commissioned an independent review, following widespread nationwide concern questioning how Smith was able to gain access to the victim’s room, and recently announced a policy change
It was agreed at trial that Smith and the victim had been allocated separate rooms, as had each of the attendees of the corporate event. Hours after the victim had retired to her room, CCTV footage played at trial showed Smith approaching reception at around half past four in the morning whilst clearly intoxicated. Falsely claiming to be the victim’s boyfriend, he was able to persuade staff to give him a keycard to her room, which he then entered whilst she was asleep and carried out the assault.
Smith maintained during the trial that the victim had invited him to her room in a conversation hours earlier, an account which was rejected by the jury. The case turned on interactions between the two that evening, shown by CCTV and confirmed by witnesses to have been very limited. Smith accepted in cross-examination that when he called the victim and got no response, he would have assumed that she was asleep. He did not knock before entering her room and undressing. Devastatingly, the victim gave evidence that this was the first time she had stayed alone in a hotel away from her fiancé, and she had been worried about ensuring the door was locked when she went to sleep.
The case raised serious questions about safety procedures in hotels and staff safeguarding training. The extreme vulnerability of the victim, asleep and unable to lock the door against someone entering with a keycard, was reflected in the seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed in January 2026.
Discussing the case, David Tremain said: “The fact that it took so little for Smith to gain a key card in these circumstances is truly shocking. My hope is that all hotel chains will see this case as a wakeup call for the industry and thoroughly review their policies around the issuing of keycards and room security, in order to preserve the safety of vulnerable customers and prevent a recurrence of these events.”