The woman says the incident left her ‘shaken and struggling with panic’
Man enters room of naked woman at York Travelodge ‘after asking staff for a key’(Image: Tripadvisor)
A woman has spoken the moment a stranger was able to walk into her hotel room after he was given a key by reception. The woman, who was referred to as Lucy, told LBC about the “terrifying” incident that happened at Travelodge in June 2025.
Lucy said she was on a work trip in York when she walked past a group of men she believed were on a stag do. She told the radio station that as she walked past, one of them called her “gorgeous”.
Lucy claims she then heard him say: “She’s in room 260.” She said the comment left her feeling uneasy, but she could not have fathomed what would happen next.
When she returned to her room, Lucy prepared to take a bath when suddenly, a man walked in. She later learned the man had been given a key by reception staff. She says the incident left her shaken and struggling with panic, Yorkshire Live reports.
She told LBC: “I was completely naked and I was screaming, ‘get out, get out’, he was by the door saying, ‘calm down, calm down’. There were no checks, they recognised his face as a guest and that was enough.”
“I felt like I could have been sexually assaulted, a man was telling me he was attracted to me and went to reception to get that key with intent.”
Her experience comes after a similar case in Maidenhead in 2022, where another woman said she woke to find a stranger in her bed after he was handed a key. That case has since become a backdrop to growing concerns about hotel security standards at Travelodge.
Lucy says what compounded her distress was the response she received. After reporting the incident, she says she was met with what felt like a dismissive, “generic” reply focused on a refund rather than reassurance. She also strongly rejected the company’s description of the man as having merely “disturbed” her but Lucy strongly disagrees.
She added: “He didn’t disturb me, he came into my room without consent.”
The York incident has drawn attention from politicians including Freddie van Mierlo, who has questioned whether enough is being done across the hospitality sector to prevent similar breaches. Travelodge, however, says changes have been made.
In a statement to Yorkshire Live regarding the York case, the company said: “We are deeply sorry for this customer’s experience.
“Any case of an unauthorised person entering a guest’s room is a significant cause for concern and we want to be clear that this should not have happened – our room security policy at the time was not correctly followed, which is not acceptable.
“We have retrained the hotel team on room security and check-in procedures, including the recent changes, and would like to apologise again to the customer for their experience with us.
“As well as the recent changes to our room security policies, we have commissioned an independent review led by Paul Greaney KC, a leading barrister specialising in public inquiries concerning security, serious violent crime, and health and safety, to examine our room security and escalation procedures.
“In parallel to the review, which is underway, we are working at pace on a further internal review of our room access security processes to ensure our guests are safe, and feel safe, in our hotels.
The safety and security of guests is extremely important to us, and we take this situation with the utmost seriousness.”