A Travelodge hotel guest claims to have been "petrified" when she woke up to find a shirtless stranger in her bedroom. Kim Hutchison and her partner Harry Grieve, who were staying at the Dundee hotel on July 11, reported that the man was given their key card by mistake and left after about a minute of arguing over room numbers. Travelodge apologized for the incident, which is one of several similar reports made to the BBC, including a case where a man was jailed for sexually assaulting a woman in her hotel bed. The couple were eventually refunded their room costs and given £100 compensation.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The article uses neutral language to report on the incident, but frames the hotel's response in a slightly positive light by including quotes from an apologetic Travelodge staff member and mentioning that the couple was given a room refund and £100.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score +0.25 for article 450 · logged 2026-08-05
- Published
A couple woke to find a shirtless man in their hotel bedroom after he was mistakenly given a key card to their door, BBC Scotland News has learned.
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News → publish → door
Kim Hutchison, 60, and Harry Grieve, 57, from Buckie, Moray, were staying in a Travelodge in Dundee when the early morning incident happened last month.
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incident → stay → Dundee
Hutchison said she was "petrified" before the man - wearing just shorts - left after about a minute of arguing over who was actually in the wrong room.
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who → say → room
Travelodge apologised to the couple and said room access security policies were not correctly followed.
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policies → apologise → couple
It is the latest in a series of similar incidents at Travelodge hotels reported to the BBC.
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It → report → BBC
Earlier this year, a man was jailed for sexually assaulting a woman in her hotel bed after Travelodge staff gave him a key card and her room number.
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staff → jail → card
Kyran Smith had gone to the reception of the Maidenhead branch of the hotel chain in the early hours in December 2022 and said he was the woman's boyfriend.
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he → go → December
Travelodge later said it was investigating more reports of strangers accessing rooms - after two women told the BBC that people they did not know came into their rooms while they were alone.
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they → say → rooms
Hutchison and Grieve contacted BBC Your Voice to share their story.
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Hutchison → contact → story
The couple had been visiting relatives in Dundee and had gone to bed at the Strathmore Avenue branch of Travelodge.
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couple → visit → Travelodge
The incident happened after 02:00 on Saturday 11 July.
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incident → happen → Saturday
"I just woke up, I had heard the door click, and sat up in bed," Hutchison said.
"Here was a guy at the bottom of the bed, just standing with shorts on.
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shorts → wake → bed
He had something in his hand which I took to be the key card for the room."
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I → have → room
The florist said she tried to appear calm but was "absolutely petrified" at the situation.
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she → say → situation
"I asked why he was in this room and he said 'this is my room' and I said 'this is ours'," she said.
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she → ask → room
"He kept saying '316' and I said 'no this is 313'.
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this → keep → 316
After a few polite words - I think I swore actually - he eventually went.
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he → think → words
The couple thought the man was in his mid-20s.
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man → think → mid-20s
Grieve said he got dressed and went down to reception to try to find out what had happened and "get some answers" about why a stranger had been able to get into their room.
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stranger → say → room
He said he did not find anyone at the reception desk.
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he → say → desk
Police later arrived due to a call about another disturbance at the hotel around the same time.
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Police → arrive → time
It is understood no arrests were made.
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arrests → understand → ?
The couple tried to get some sleep, with a chair against the room door, before getting up in the morning.
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couple → try → morning
"We cut our weekend short and headed back to Buckie," said Grieve, who works at the St Fergus gas plant, near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.
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who → cut → Aberdeenshire
"It was a good two weeks before they got back to us, after various emails and attempted telephone calls.
"
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they → get → emails
The couple were given a room refund, as well as a £100 Travelodge voucher - which Grieve said he doubted they would use.
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they → give → refund
They decided to tell their story after reading of the previous sexual assault incident in the Maidenhead Travelodge on the BBC News website.
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They → decide → website
"It's quite concerning," Grieve said.
"
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Grieve → say → ?
It could have been so much worse, the potential for what could have happened is huge.
uncertain
what → happen → ?
It could have been anybody accessing the room, it could have been a female in the room on her own."
uncertain
it → access → own
He added: "We just thought it was right to speak out, hopefully the powers-that-be at Travelodge will get this sorted, and save something bad happening in the future."
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something → add → future
Travelodge said it was "very sorry" for what had happened, and that customer safety and security was a priority.
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safety → say → ?
"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," a statement said.
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statement → enter → concern
"Our updated room access security policies were not correctly followed in this instance, which is not acceptable.
"
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which → update → instance
We have retrained the team at our Dundee Strathmore Avenue hotel on our updated room security and check-in procedures, and would like to apologise again to Mr Grieve and Ms Hutchison for their experience with us."
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We → retrain → us
The previously-announced Travelodge safety review remains ongoing.
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review → announce → ?
