Hotels charge ‘Covid-positive guests’ hundreds of dollars for ‘cleaning’!

A hotel in Hong Kong was forced to repay one of its customers US$642 (HK$5,000) due to an erroneous ‘cleaning fee’ charge. During the online reservation for a room, it appears that the hotel imposed the cost on its visitor without giving them any previous notification. South China Morning Post reports that Australian in-laws of a Hong Konger named Vivien Siu were charged $642 USD by the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel after her father-in-law tested positive for coronavirus.

After they came from Sydney last month, the hotel reportedly just told the guests about this fee. They were informed that if they tested positive for COVID-19 they would be required to pay HK$5,000 upon check-in. The government’s Penny’s Bay isolation facility was where Siu’s father-in-law was quarantined according to protocol, yet they were still had to pay the ‘excessive’ price.

Foreign visitors to hotels in Hong Kong currently only have to endure three days of medical monitoring during which they must take two PCR tests, as opposed to being required to spend a mandatory period of quarantine there. The fact that they only informed their clients about the price upon check-in was also totally unjustified and gave the impression of being a trap for visitors, in addition to the HK$5,000 cleaning fee being exorbitant, added Siu.

It was ‘simply impracticable’ to reject at that time since doing so would have required them to rush to locate another hotel, according to the woman who said they were charged the amount when they checked in. Siu’s protest forced the hotel to refund the charge. however it emerges that the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel is not the only one charging this fee. Different hotels charge different amounts.

Although hotels are often permitted to levy additional costs, they must disclose them to the visitors in advance, the SCMP was informed by Consumer Council that they had received two such complaints. These additional costs may only be incurred when the visitors accept responsibility. The customer service agent encouraged customers to carefully check for additional fees at the time of booking.

‘The hotel is only allowed to charge a fair amount if the additional fee’s amount isn’t specified in the terms and conditions. Facts must be taken into account when determining whether the consumer has consented to pay the extra cost or has incurred responsibility to do so’.