$868 to disinfect a room? Hong Kong hotel refunds 'cleaning fee' for guest who tested positive for Covid-19
A Hong Kong hotel has refunded a HK$5,000 (S$868) "cleaning fee" it imposed on a guest who tested positive for Covid-19 recently, after the family protested.
Homemaker Vivien Siu told the Post she objected because the charge was not made clear when her Australian in-laws made an online booking to stay at the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel.
She said it was only after they arrived from Sydney last month that they were told while checking in that they would have to pay HK$5,000 if they tested positive for the Covid-19.
When her father-in-law's first compulsory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test turned out positive, the hotel arranged for him to go to the government's Penny's Bay isolation centre and charged him the cleaning fee.
"Not only was the HK$5,000 cleaning fee excessive, but the fact that they only told their guests about the fee upon check-in was also completely unreasonable and felt very much like a trap for tourists," Siu said.
The Hongkonger said her in-laws, who are in their 60s and preferred not to be named, were visiting for a month to see her two daughters for the first time. Her husband is an Australian citizen and a Hong Kong permanent resident.
PHOTO: South China Morning Post
Under Hong Kong's current "0+3" pandemic regime, arriving travellers must undergo three days of medical surveillance, during which they must have two PCR tests and may visit some places but cannot enter restaurants and bars.
Arrivals no longer have to spend their compulsory quarantine in a hotel, a measure that lasted more than two years, but many foreigners like Siu's in-laws stay in hotels.
She said her in-laws agreed to the cleaning fee when they were told about it at check-in "because at that point it was simply impractical to refuse and have to scramble to find another hotel".
The hotel made a refund after they complained, and her father-in-law returned to continue staying there after he left Penny's Bay on November 24.
Their experience highlighted varying practices among Hong Kong hotels, which charge different amounts for cleaning when guests test positive for Covid-19. Some do not charge.
Checks by the Post found that Holiday Inn Golden Mile in Tsim Sha Tsui charged Covid-positive guests a HK$3,500 cleaning fee, whereas Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and Lan Kwai Fong Hotel in Central charged HK$1,000. Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City charged between HK$1,000 and HK$1,500 depending on the room size.
The Conrad Hong Kong in Admiralty said it did not have such a fee.
A spokeswoman for the Accor group, which includes the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel, said charging cleaning fees was a "local hotel practice" but it had "adjusted the rates upon review".
She did not give details, but calls to the hotel reception showed it now charges HK$2,000 as the cleaning fee.
A Consumer Council representative told the Post it received two complaints relating to cleaning fees imposed by hotels on guests who tested positive for Covid-19.
The consumer watchdog said hotels were generally allowed to charge additional fees only if the guest had agreed to pay or accepted or incurred liability.
"If the amount of the additional fee is not expressed in the terms and conditions, the hotel may only charge an amount that is reasonable. Whether the customer has agreed to pay for the additional fee or incurred liability to do so, and what amounts to a reasonable fee, is fact sensitive," the representative said.
The council advised consumers to check carefully for additional charges before confirming their hotel bookings.
But it said hotels should charge reasonably, as deep cleaning of rooms had become a new normal during the pandemic and could be considered a standard procedure rather than an extra service.
Hotels should also ensure that their terms were communicated clearly to guests in advance, such as at the time of booking rather than when guests check in, it added.
Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, defended the practice of charging cleaning fees.
Chui, who is chief operating officer of O Hotel in To Kwa Wan, said his hotel also charged the fee.
He added that hiring external companies to help with disinfection was not cheap, but agreed that hotels could do better at informing guests about such charges.
Last year, Nina Hotels charged guests a HK$5,000 disinfection fee if they tested positive within 24 hours of arriving or leaving the hotel.
The practice was exposed on social media, sparking public outrage. The hotel group then dropped the charge.
Receptionists at two Nina branches in Causeway Bay and Wong Chuk Hang said on Friday that guests were not charged cleaning fees
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