Women’s charities are now formally calling for industry-wide hotel safety standards, after an independent review found a Travelodge guest was “fundamentally failed” when a man was given a key card to her room. The chain’s response tells you exactly which habits matter: replacement keys now require the guest’s explicit permission, and solo female travelers aren’t placed in ground-floor or end-of-corridor rooms where possible. You don’t have to wait for the industry to catch up – you can ask for every one of those protections yourself, at check-in, in about ninety seconds.
The ninety-second check-in script
- “Could I get a room that’s not on the ground floor, and not at the end of the corridor?” This is now literally hotel policy at a major chain, which means it is a completely normal thing to request. Upper floors and mid-corridor rooms see more foot traffic and have fewer easy entry points.
- Watch the room number moment. If the desk agent says your room number out loud, ask for a different room and say why. Good hotels write it on the key sleeve and point. The best ones now train staff to never read a woman’s room number aloud – the precedent exists, so asking is not awkward.
- “If anyone asks for a key to my room, please call me first.” The Travelodge failure was a key card handed over at the desk. Some front desks will note it on the reservation; all of them can.
The two-minute room routine
Prop the door open with your bag while you do one lap: lock the deadbolt and the swing latch, check the phone works, and confirm any connecting-door lock is on your side. Connecting doors are the most overlooked entry point in the hotel business. If the room fails the lap – ground floor, broken latch, connecting door that won’t secure – go back down and ask for another room. Hotels move solo guests all the time; it is a routine request, not a scene.
The habits that cost nothing
Don’t say your room number in the elevator or bar. Use the peephole every time – “hotel security” at the door gets verified by a call to the front desk, not by opening up. If you’re out after dark, ask the desk about an escort to the car park; the hotels with formal lone-traveler policies already offer exactly that. And share your live location with someone at home on travel nights – the least glamorous item on this list and the most useful.
None of this is about being afraid of hotels. The same review that exposed the failures also showed the fixes are simple and specific. Ask for the room, set the latch, skip the announcement. Then go enjoy the trip you took alone on purpose.
— Source: The Independent, “Charities call for hotel safety policies to do more to protect women,” October 21, 2026.