Champagne, a skyline… and a bucket brigade. A couple of hotel guests floord a spa suite in China. The skyline tub was is the star attraction at the Iseya hotel in Chongqing. It comes with its own pool-sized bath and storm-spa theatrics.
An Australian couple asked staff to have the water ready. They returned to their suite, clinked glasses, and eased in—until their phone lit up with a message from the hotel: water was leaking to the floors below.
What followed was a CSI-style cold open: a knock at the door, multiple housekeepers and a manager streaming in, and the guests themselves joining a hurried bucket brigade to keep water from sloshing over the edge. Bonus: a delivery robot rolled up with ice in the midst of the chaos.
A placard in the room (in the local language) says to turn off the taps when full; but after the cleanup, the couple say staff told them a blocked overflow drain helped cause the leak and apologized. They weren’t billed for damages, and… they went back in the bath later.
Half the internet thinks the hotel should charge them. The other half calls it an obvious engineering error for this style of tub, high up on the 50th floor. Either way, this hotel’s amenity accomplished its goal: people the world over now know about them, and where to find the “storm spa” room.
If this happens to you:
- Kill the source immediately. Shut taps; pull power on any tub features.
- Call down to reception, document the incident.
- Keep water away from outlets if possible. Move your bags and electronics to a place they won’t get submerged.
Don’t try to be a hero, stop the water, or clean up unless asked. You don’t want to be blamed further (or hurt). Then insist on changing rooms (comparable or better category) plus restoration costs for any belongings that got hit. Get everything from an incident report to compensation in writing. I’d expect the room night to be comped.
(HT: Joe R)
Well if ‘half of the internet’ says so… then it must be true!
At the risk of being called ‘xenophobic’ by @Un, what happened to these Chongqing-chong ding-dongs actually could happen anywhere. (Like, if it happened at a hotel in NYC, please call me a New Dork-er, or whatever, because this indeed would be silly.)
So, Gary is correct to advise seeking help from the hotel instead of trying to resolve yourselves (like, you aren’t a paying guest and a part-time plumber.)
Seems like a design flaw more than anything. (If they’re as litigious as we are here, frequently blocked drains could be a developer/sub-contractor plumber lawsuit in waiting.)
Reminds me of a couple in a suite on the 12th floor of a hotel with a large Jacuzzi in the room. Both were drinking too much champagne and dozed off while the water kept running.
Customers on lower floors flooded the switchboard with complaints of water gushing from the ceilings.
Instead of filing a claim, the well to do gentleman insisted on paying the damages out of pocket.
As it turned out, the lady in the Jacuzzi was not his wife!!!!