Alleged Sexual Assault in Chiswick Travelodge Leads to Review
Housing Association might no longer use chain for temporary accommodation
Kelly Butler and Ashley Dudman outside the Chiswick Travelodge. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon
A housing association is reviewing its use of hotels as temporary accommodation following reports of two sexual assaults including a woman who alleges she was targeted at the Travelodge in Chiswick.
Kelly Butler, 39, waived her right to anonymity to speak publicly about the alleged assault at a Chiswick Travelodge this summer.
Ms Butler told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) in July how a man had allegedly tried to grab and kiss her twice during her stay at the hotel. She, her partner and her daughter were based at the hotel temporarily by their housing provider, Notting Hill Genesis, to allow for repairs to be completed to their Ravenscourt Park flat.
Ms Butler said the man, who was also a Notting Hill Genesis tenant, was reported to the police and removed from the hotel by Travelodge.
Our reporting was followed by an ITV investigation, which also spoke to Ms Butler and revealed that more than £78 million of taxpayers’ money had been spent with Travelodge since another woman was sexually assaulted in December 2022.
Kyran Smith was jailed for more than seven years after assaulting the woman at a hotel in Maidenhead, having lied to staff to get a key card to her room.
The ITV segment reported how most of the money has been spent by councils on “emergency accommodation, rooms for staff, and rooms for the homeless”.
Notting Hill Genesis, which manages 60,000 homes in the capital, has now said it is reviewing the hotels it uses. A spokesperson told the LDRS this includes those provided by Travelodge.
While welcoming the update, Ms Butler said she is still waiting for repairs to be completed to her flat to resolve issues such as damp and mould. The family are currently living in another Travelodge in Park Royal.
She said: “This has been months of living in one hotel room, on top of the disrepair that put us here in the first place. Our daughter was blue-lighted to hospital with an asthma attack and dangerously low oxygen levels because of the state of our flat, that’s how this nightmare started.”
Ms Butler said she has witnessed anti-social behaviour in the hotels which she claims were not addressed. Along with the assault, she said such instances have led her to believe there are issues regarding how safety and safeguarding are being managed.
“I also believe there needs to be far more care in how vulnerable guests, including those with social or mental health needs, are placed,” she added. “Housing families alongside guests in crisis, with no proper support, supervision or separation in place, isn’t safe for anyone involved.
“The strain this has put on my partner Ashley’s health, on our daughter, and on our whole family has been immense. We’ve had to fight every single person and organisation who should have been protecting us just to be listened to.”
Ms Butler said she believes all housing associations should be held accountable for what families like hers have gone through, with temporary accommodation “properly and regularly reviewed for safety”.
“After everything, months in a hotel, everything we’ve fought for, the disrepair work has only just started. That is not good enough.”
A Notting Hill Genesis spokesperson said: “We have offered a range of alternative accommodation for Ms Butler and her family while they have had to be away from home during repairs, and have always been responsive to her feedback, finding alternative options quickly whenever requested.
“We have offered her a move to a serviced apartment until she is able to return home later this month, as the works to her home are now nearly complete, and this offer remains available to her at any time.
“We are looking at the temporary accommodation provided for our residents when they have to be away from home, and this will include a review of the hotels being offered.”
Travelodge declined to comment on Notting Hill Genesis reviewing its hotel use.
A spokesperson previously told the LDRS in response to Ms Butler’s case: “The safety and security of our guests and colleagues is our absolute priority, and we take any allegations of inappropriate or criminal behaviour within our hotels seriously.
“Following an allegation brought to our attention, we investigated and removed the individual from the hotel. We also cooperated fully with the police investigations, who were in agreement with the actions taken by our colleagues and did not find grounds to investigate further.”
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter
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