5-star hotel cleanliness: Undercover sting highlights shocking truth

Five renowned 5-star hotels in Beijing were exposed for sanitation problems, including unchanged bed linen and used condoms, after a test conducted by a domestic review organization.

The hotels were W Hotel Beijing, InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun, Hilton Beijing, JW Marriott Beijing and Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing.

Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development said on September 5 that they have invited the hotels for a meeting to discuss the situation.

The review institution, Lanmei Test, made reservations in the hotels and placed invisible marks on the sheets, pillows, quilt covers, bathtubs and toilets with fluorescence stamps after checking in. The marks are only visible under UV lighting.

The next day, staff from the institution returned to see whether or not the marks were still visible.

Test results showed that the bed linen had not been completely changed, but that wasn't the most shocking finding.

None of the tested rooms' bathtubs or toilets had been cleaned adequately, leaving some or all of the marks still visible under UV light. 

On top of that, three of the hotels hadn't cleaned the glasses used by guests to rinse their mouths after cleaning teeth. 

Some of the hotels hadn't changed the bathrobes, and a used condom was found under the bed in JW Marriott Beijing.

A video was released of the test results on the institution's official Weibo account on September 4 in the hope that it would gain the attention of the hotel industry and encourage them to pay more attention to cleanliness and sanitation.