Three luxury hotels in northern China have come under fire after a video has been released showing their cleaning crews engaging in a number of not-quite sanitary practices-including using a toilet brush to clean the in-room drinkware.
The video was reportedly shot for Pear Video, a Chinese streaming site, by an undercover journalist who was also working as an intern at one of the properties. The video shows a number of other troubling cleaning behaviors, including washing a hotel towel in a toilet bowl before using that towel to clean the floor and using one rag to clean the toilet bowl, the garbage can and the glassware.
The footage was shot at some of the leading hotels in northern China including the Kempinski Hotel Harbin, the Harbin Shangri-La and the Sheraton Harbin Xianggang. The hotels are all located in Harbin, which is the capital of China's northerly Heilongjiang province.
Since the footage was released earlier this week, a government official responsible for hygiene, tourism, food and drug safety in Harbin has confirmed the video is genuine, according to the South China Morning Post. Additionally, the city has conducted a joint inspection of the properties and has reportedly fined them, although no official figures were released. The hotels have also been ordered to clean up their clean-up act.
In a statement, the Harbin Shangri-La said it would be conducting an internal investigation.
"If what was shown in the video was proved to be true, it would be a serious violation of our hygiene standards and it would not be acceptable," wrote the hotel. It also said it would continue to monitor staff and up its training program..
"At the same time, we will also cooperate with local government to properly implement all hygiene measures."
The video's release comes just as China is struggling to clean up its somewhat dubious reputation for unsanitary restroom facilities. In early December, CNN reported that China's president Xi Jinping would be "doubling down" on a "toilet revolution" campaign he introduced in 2015.
In response to the initial campaign, a number of attractions announced they would be upping their toilet game. Among them was Shiyan Lake in the Hunan Province, which introduced glass-encased toilets that allow users to enjoy unfettered views of the forest outside the facility.
As restroom culture continues to take center stage in China, however, some facilities are reporting a rush of toilet paper theft. Some have even announced they will be installing facial recognition software in the restroom to limit the amount of toilet paper available to each user.
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