Recently, in Kunming, Yunnan, three female postgraduate entrance exam candidates missed their exams due to a malfunctioning door lock in the Airbnb they were renting and getting accidentally locked inside. Currently, the three students and the Airbnb landlord have reached a settlement.
On the night of December 22, a Yunnan netizen posted about being “locked inside the hotel for the last postgraduate entrance exam.”
The netizen mentioned that she and two others were staying together in an Airbnb for the postgraduate entrance exam. On the morning of the 22nd, the small lock on the door broke, leaving the three locked inside and unable to leave. By the time the locksmith managed to open the door, they were already late for the exam. “I had high hopes for this exam, but now all our efforts have gone to waste because of this incident. I feel really lost now. As for whether I will continue taking the exam next year, I haven’t decided.”
On December 23, a reporter from Benliu News contacted the student Zhang who posted about the incident. She mentioned that for the convenience of the entrance exam, she and her two classmates booked an Airbnb near the exam location for 287 yuan for two nights.
“The small lock that got stuck was made of plastic. We felt it was a bit loose the night before, and the next morning when we tried to open it, it broke,” Zhang explained, adding that in a rush, they contacted the Airbnb landlord.
Around 8:50 am, the locksmith opened the door; however, by that time, the exam had already started for 20 minutes. It would take more than 10 minutes from the Airbnb to the exam venue. According to the rules, no one is allowed to enter the exam room 15 minutes into the exam, so they clearly missed it.
Zhang said, “The landlord believed that the poor quality of the lock was not their fault and even asked us to compensate for the lock’s cost.” Helpless, they reported the case to the Shilong Lake Police Station in Chenggong District, Kunming.
After negotiations, the Airbnb landlord and Zhang’s group agreed to split the cost of unlocking the door and the entrance exam registration fee equally. Zhang was not satisfied with the mediation result but didn’t want to waste more time and energy, so they signed the mediation agreement and disclosed the incident on the 22nd.
Mr. Li, the Airbnb landlord, told Benliu News, “Our door lock was ordered along with other surrounding Airbnb’s locks, all of the same specifications of electronic password door locks with guaranteed quality, valued at over a thousand yuan. Previous guests who stayed in this room did not report any issues with the lock.”
Regarding the small lock that got stuck, Mr. Li mentioned it could only have been twisted to break due to brute force or incorrect operation, or else there would not have been any problem. He expressed sympathy for the three students missing the exam and mentioned that he had refunded a portion of the accommodation fees to the parties involved.