A Chinese tourist visiting Singapore has gone viral on social media after sharing her story of how she spent $13 on some snack and ended up paying $200 as the hotel she was staying in charged that amount as cleaning fee.
The Chinese tourist apparently ate the snack in her room, according to a post on Xiaohongshu. In the post titled "Spending $200 in Singapore on one durian" was a satire on how a simple act of eating a durian in her room incurred a fine of $200.
In her video, the tourist also warned other tourists to refrain from eating durians in their hotel rooms.
A day earlier, she recalled walking with her friend on the streets when they came across a durian shop. Since it was a market and there were no seats available, she took the fruit back to her room to eat.
The durian was already deshelled and placed in a styrofoam container. After consuming the fruit that night, she went out with her friends the following day to tour around the area.
When she returned, she found a letter addressed to her room, notifying her that the housekeeper discovered a durian small and that a $200 cleaning fee would be charged.
She later discovered many other tourists who have shared similar stories and how they didn't know that durian was not allowed in hotel rooms.
There were some who were luckier and were stopped by staff before they took the durian back to their rooms or were let off because it was their first time committing the offence.
She later apologised to the hotel staff and admitted that she didn't know about the regulation. She also tried to request for a discount to the cleaning fee, but was rejected by the staff who explained that they charge less than other hotels, which apparently charge up to $500 for the offence.
Carlton City Hotel charges a $500 fee for cleaning should a durian smell be discovered, while Park Regis charges $300.
She later joked that the silver lining to this was that they didn't take the train back, as that would have incurred an even greater fine.
She also commented that
"I hope that my experience can help other tourists save $200."
Miyuki
