Cleaners In China's 5-Star Hotels Found Scrubbing Cups With Toilet Brushes

All the three hotels are well-known and highly-rated hotels in Harbin.

To record the footage, the online video-news site Pearvideo had sent one of its workers undercover as an intern, who secretly filmed the housekeepers at the three hotels.

In the footage, housekeepers at the Kempinski and Shangri-La are shown using the same brush to wipe drinking water cups and then drying them with used bath towels.

The cleaners are also shown using toilet water to wet a bath towel before using the same to wipe down the floor.

At the Shangri-La, an employee cleans the bathtub with a toilet brush, before telling the intern, "When a customer is around, don't clean like this."

As the footage spread on social media, causing quite a sensation, inspectors from the health commission, tourism office, market supervision department, food and drug administration, and legislative affairs office descended on the properties to collect samples for testing, whose results confirmed that the hotels had hygiene problems.

All three luxury hotels were accused of failing to change bath towels, bed sheets and pillow cases for new guests, despite charging from about 700 yuan to 2,700 yuan (USD105 to USD410) for a room per night, AsiaOne reported.

While the Kempinski said that it "deeply regretted" the transgressions and has enhanced protections to ensure that all staff work in accordance with the strictest hygiene standards, the Shangri-La said that it is investigating the issue.

Shangri-La added that if what was shown in the video is proved to be true, it is "unacceptable" and the company will immediately strengthen training and supervision and make sure that all employees follow its quality standards.

The Sheraton Harbin Xiangfang Hotel, meanwhile, said that it was "deeply sorry" that certain employees did not strictly execute sanitation standards and re-trained its entire staff on Wednesday, 27 December.

Back in September, the Intercontinental Beijing Sanlitun, Hilton Beijing, W Beijing Chang’an, JW Marriott Beijing and Shangri-La Hotel Beijing were found to be failing to properly clean hotel rooms in between guest stays, reported media company, Caixin.