As the “May Day” holiday approaches, hotel prices in China have generally increased. Recently, consumer Ms. Zhang posted on social media that the Hu Tong No.7 Hotel in Liuzhou, Guangxi, unreasonably breached the contract, falsely claiming that the boss had died to force her to cancel the reservation, suspected of cancelling the contract unilaterally to profit from the early booking at a low price.
According to a report from Shin Shin Live on April 27th, Ms. Zhang explained that on February 7th this year, she had booked a room at the Wanda Plaza branch of Hu Tong No.7 Hotel in Liuzhou from May 1st to 5th in advance, with a total price of 494.85 yuan. On April 23rd, the hotel suddenly called her to inform her that the hotel owner had passed away in March, facing a huge amount of debt and was facing a court seizure, the shop would be closing in April, and they could not accommodate the “May Day” accommodation orders. They urged her to apply for a refund as soon as possible. Worried about the tight availability of rooms during May Day, Ms. Zhang cancelled the hotel reservation and subsequently booked another hotel, spending over 900 yuan more, with a total price of about 1400 yuan for the new room.
Ms. Zhang then contacted the booking platform to verify the situation and provided the relevant records of the hotel’s WeChat call with her as evidence. The platform replied that the hotel was operating normally, and the rooms for the May Day were available for external sale.
Ms. Zhang stated that afterwards, she tried multiple times to verify the truth with the hotel, but encountered obstacles in communication. When friends called the hotel to inquire about booking matters, the staff quickly hung up after knowing the purpose of the call. When she personally called the hotel front desk to ask about the reason for the cancellation, the staff falsely claimed that they had just started working that day and knew nothing about the situation. However, after a field visit to confirm, it was found that the front desk staff had been working for several months, and their statements were completely false.
According to the report, when calling the hotel to ask about rumors such as the boss’s death, the store’s involvement in a lawsuit, and the forced eviction of guests, the front desk staff all used excuses such as “not informed” and “just started working” to evade the questions.
Investigation revealed that the luxury double bed room that Ms. Zhang had previously booked at the hotel was showing a price of 569 yuan per night on the booking platform.
After coordination, the booking platform agreed to refund Ms. Zhang the price difference of over 900 yuan after she checked out of the other hotel, and they would investigate the hotel in question.
This incident has attracted attention from netizens, with some expressing that the actions of the hotel have made consumers aware that their business will not thrive nor go far.