CHINA: A woman in China who deliberately flooded her hotel room after her cancellation request was denied ended up paying 280 times more than she would have paid had she just accepted the hotel’s decision.
The woman, who is unnamed in news reports, was supposed to stay at the hotel for one night, having booked her room for 108 yuan (around S$20). She checked in late in the evening, but just 30 minutes later, she asked for a full refund.
She went online to cancel her booking and gave a “change of plans” as her reason, according to the South China Morning Post.
However, she was told by a Mr Xiong, the manager of the hotel, that she could not do so since it was the policy to disallow guests from cancelling once they had checked in.
The guest shot back by saying that soundproofing in the room was bad and that the room itself was of poor quality.
Hearing this, the hotel staff offered her a free upgrade, which she declined. Escalating the matter further, she called the hotline of the local government of Hainan, a southern island province in China, and also lodged a complaint with the police.
However, as she waited for the police to arrive, she began to flood her room at around 2:00 a.m. She turned on both the shower and the tap at the sink to accomplish her purpose. The guest additionally put the sheets and blankets from her bed into the shower cabin and poured shower gel on the bedding.
A few hours later, the hotel staff discovered what the woman had done when the water from the flooded room, which was on the second floor, began dripping onto the lobby.
SCMP quoted Mr Xiong as saying that the guest’s room had been totally flooded, with its floor and walls sustaining damage. All in all, the hotel estimated that the woman’s misdeeds would cost around 20,000 yuan (S$3,662) to repair.
Local police received a report from the hotel on 28 October.
The hotel also told the woman that she needed to take responsibility for what she had done. She has since agreed to pay 30,000 yuan (almost S$5,500) to the hotel.
The law in China says that individuals responsible for deliberately destroying public or private property that costs a substantial amount may be fined or even jailed. /TISG
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