Towel found with used "Viagra," woman stays at Orange Hotel, changes rooms three times in one night

Ask AI · With missing surveillance footage, what challenges does hotel liability determination face?

On April 5, Ms. Liu from Beijing reported to @Li Caijing that on April 3, she checked into the Jindu (Orange) Hotel on Fuxi Street in Taiyuan. When she entered the first room, she noticed obvious stains on the faucet. She immediately reported it to the front desk and requested a room change. After she was moved to the second room, when Ms. Liu finished her shower and took out a bath towel, she was shocked to find that a box of an unpacked and already used “Viagra” had fallen out from inside the towel. This made the parties involved feel extremely uncomfortable, and she contacted the front desk again right away.

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Ms. Liu said that the front desk told her they had no authority to handle compensation matters. That night, they could only upgrade and switch her to a suite. After contacting the hotel manager, the other party offered a solution of 100 yuan in cash compensation plus a room upgrade to a suite. Ms. Liu clearly said she did not accept it. However, because she needed to catch a flight the next day, Ms. Liu temporarily stayed in a third room—only to find again that the room was full of cigarette odor, resulting in a very poor stay experience.

“When I communicated with the manager the next morning, the hotel had already clearly refused and wouldn’t pay me triple compensation,” Ms. Liu said. “Also, the hotel wanted to take back that medicine box, and I didn’t give it.”

After that, @Li Caijing contacted the Jindu (Orange) Hotel on Fuxi Street in Taiyuan involved in the incident. Regarding the core issue that an unpacked Viagra appeared inside the bath towel, the staff said the matter was unclear—everyone had a suspect, because there was no surveillance in the guest rooms.

They also disclosed that the hotel’s higher-level leaders already knew about the matter and were actively coordinating and handling it. When asked about the specific solution, the staff member said they were only the front desk and did not know the final handling plan from the leaders. “We will follow the plan provided by the leadership.” In addition, the staff member said that this was the first time the hotel had encountered such a situation.

At present, Ms. Liu has filed complaints in turn with Huazhu’s headquarters, 12315, and the Ctrip platform. As of now, 12315 has not issued any handling result, and Huazhu has not provided an official solution either. In the end, after negotiations between the Ctrip platform and the hotel, Ms. Liu received a refund of the room fee for that night.

In addition, on the afternoon of April 4, the hotel contacted Ms. Liu by phone, saying that after investigation through surveillance, no one had put the medicine into the room. This statement made Ms. Liu believe that the hotel was implying that she herself had brought the medicine into the room. Ms. Liu then asked the hotel to provide the relevant surveillance videos; as of now, she still has not obtained them.

Source: Li Caijing