What’s trending?

Hotels have started a pilot project of chipping their bedding in the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The trial in selected hotels is meant to make hotel sanitation more transparent as Chinese guests have expressed concerns over cleanliness for years. The hashtag #Hangzhou-hotels-chipped-beddings-and-towels# has been viewed over 230 million times on Weibo.

What’s the story?

Room attendants in some Hangzhou hotels can upload the hygiene conditions of a room to the cloud by scanning the neatly sewed chip on bedding and other fabric. The guests can use their phones to scan QR codes ,in their respective rooms to get access to the sanitation information. One hotel in Xiacheng District even chipped their towels to prevent the cleaning staff from using the wrong towels to mop inappropriate places, such as using face towels to clean the toilet. In this particular hotel, every room attendant was issued a hand band. When the hand band detected that the staff was misusing the towel, it would ring an alarm and report it to the hotel and the government hygiene departments.

In 2017 and 2018, there were a number of high profile bloggers all over China who reported on hotel room attendants using face towels to clean places where they should not be used. One of the prominent whistle-blowers was Weibo blogger “Huazong.” During his stay in 14 different five-star hotels in China, he used a hidden camera to capture room attendants using the same towel to clean the toilets, floors and even cups.

What are people saying online?

People on Weibo overwhelmingly praised the technology and the convenience that came with it. “This is so advanced and I think the hygiene is guaranteed,” said one Weibo user. One popular comment reads, “Bravo Hangzhou! I will not have to bring my own sheet next time when staying in a hotel.”

But some commenters also pointed out that technology is not the only solution. “Huazong” said on Weibo, “New technology is a good thing indeed… (but) we cannot merely put our attention on the chips and let go of the real problem – improving the working conditions and increasing salaries for the room attendants.”