A woman checking into a hotel in the Haitang District of Sanya, China after midnight on October 28 wasn’t happy with her $15 room. Within half an hour, she requested a full refund for her prepaid booking citing a “change of plan” but was told it was too late to cancel – so she complained about the quality of the room and soundproofing. The hotel offered a free upgrade, and she refused.
The woman:
- Called the police. She also filed a complaint with a government service hotline.
- And proceeded to turn on the water in the sink and shower, threw bedding into the shower, and poured shower gel/shampoo on it.
“Around 2 a.m., we discovered that water was seeping from the second floor into the lobby on the first floor. After inspection, we found something unusual.” The hotel surveillance video that [hotel manager] Mr. Xiong retrieved showed that the customer had turned on the sink faucet completely …causing water to overflow and soak the entire room floor.
There was surveillance video showing this! Creepy!
Even more shockingly, surveillance footage showed the customer throwing all bedding, including blankets, pillows, and sheets, into the shower area and turning on the shower continuously. Simultaneously, shower gel, shampoo, and other toiletries were deliberately poured onto the bedding.
“The water flowed from 2 a.m. until dawn, and the room was severely flooded,” Mr. Xiong explained. “The walls and floors were also damaged from prolonged soaking, with preliminary estimates of losses approaching 20,000 yuan.”
Water overflowed from the room into the lobby downstairs. The room was fully flooded. Walls and floor were damaged. Linwang Police handled the situation when they arrived. The guest had called the cops on themselves! She admitted fault and paid nearly 30,000 yuan (~US$4,200) to compensate the hotel for damage, about 28 times the room rate.
According to the hotel’s manager,
According to the platform’s rules, reservations that have already been checked in are non-refundable,” Mr. Xiong stated. “We explained to her that cleaning costs had been incurred and offered her a free upgrade, but she insisted on a refund.”
The intentional property damage could have gotten her arrested, and since she’d caused more than 5,000 yuan in destruction she could have faced criminal charges. That was a huge incentive to settle civilly.
I think that the woman had unrealistic expectations of a $15 room. There’s no cancellation after check-in. Sure, if there’s a problem with the room you might go elsewhere, but the hotel offered her a better room. This wound up as the most expensive shower of the year. She tried to save $15 and it wound up costing her over $4,000 – or, as one commenter put it, “Steal a chicken, lose the rice.”
In the U.S. a hotel owner kicked a family out when they complained their room was flooding. They didn’t cause the flooding! He called them dumb Democrats. Meanwhile, here’s a luxury pool suite in a 50 story hotel where the guests were forced to haul buckets of water.
Which China? The one, true China, the Republic of China, currently located in Taiwan, a free, independent, sovereign country, also, our dear friends and allies? Or, that communist (acting as ‘late-stage-capitalist’) dictatorship on the mainland? Oh, it’s the latter. Darn. That’s what Xi said…
Surveillance footage from INSIDE the room?
What’s creepy is that they have security cameras in the bathroom!
For $15, I’d expect that’s a shared bathroom you have to access via the hallway which is probably why they have some surveillance video.
@BC my thoughts exactly. Surveillance inside the room is crazy but this is China. Expect zero privacy.
Separately, I wonder if this incident will tank her social credit score.
While this was in China, a $15 room? I’d expect pimps and their “employees” along with drug dealers conducting “business” in the hallway. Along with loud rap music coming from most rooms while the other guest not described in the second sentence screaming at the top of their lungs.
@George Romey — Do we really need to explain relative-cost on here? Average income in mainland CCP-occupied ‘China’ is… under $6K per capital nationwide. In the USA, currently, it’s closer to $64K (10x). Pretend, $15/night hotel is… $150/night, like a Courtyard by Marriott Florence, NC, which goes for $97/night. Uh oh, might wanna check your backyard for pimps, sir.