Wealth Blog | One third of Chinese travellers admit stealing hotel furniture

A hefty 35 per cent of global travellers admit to pocketing hotel property when they check out. Most popular pilfered items are towels; linen, books and magazines, but mainland Chinese guests take it a step further, often removing furniture, such as lamps, clocks and even the pictures off the walls, according to a survey by hotel booking site hotels.com.    

So, own up. Do you remove things from hotel rooms?  It seems not just slippers and toiletries are fair game – they can’t be given to the next guest once used anyway – but it seems almost anything not nailed down frequently walks out with guests, even furniture and art work. 

What do you pay for?

So what, precisely, is included in the room price and what remains hotel property? Perception of this varies according to nationality. Last year, while involved with a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel catering chiefly to mainland visitors, I realised guest attitudes to hotel property is a moveable feast. We had some who literally stripped the room and removed everything that wasn’t nailed down. When challenged, they claimed that they had rented and “owned” the room for the night, so everything inside belonged to them. There was a similar problem with breakages – some took the view that if they cracked the TV screen, the hotel should pay to fix it, not them.

Unhappy endings

Invariably these arguments ended in the police being called and much unpleasantness. Most hotels deal with this by making guests sign a disclaimer regarding damage and payment for items removed from rooms when they check in.  Read the small print, it’s usually there.

But hotels in China and some in Hong Kong now go one step further, and have a price list displayed on the back of the guestroom door. This itemises everything from a towel to a pillow case. That way there is no doubt: remove the hairdryer or bathrobe and your credit card will be charged.