When you stay at a 5-star hotel, you don't expect to worry about the basic in-room facilities, such as clean sheets or sanitised towels and cups.

But it seems that you don't always get what you paid for,

A few months after a video revealed unchanged bed linen and dirty toilets at five international hotels in Beijing, three well-known 5-star hotels in Harbin, Heilongjiang province are now embroiled in a similar scandal.

The hotels are operated by Kempinski, Shangri-La and Sheraton.

Cleaning staff were seen in undercover video footages released on Dec. 26 using the same brush to clean the toilets, wash basins and even drinking cups.

They were also seen drying the cups with used bath towels that they also use for cleaning the toilet.

Hygiene problems confirmed

According to China Daily, results of tests done after the video went viral online confirmed that the hotels had hygiene problems.

The three luxury hotels were also accused of failing to change bath towels, bed sheets and pillow cases for new guests, despite charging a fair bit of price for a room.

A room at these hotels costs anywhere from 800 to 2,800 RMB (~S$163 to S$572) per night.

Sun Chang, the manager of an advertising agency in Beijing, said that he chose to stay at well-known 5-star hotels during his business trips as he heard that such negligence happens in some mid-tier hotels.

However he didn't expect to encounter the same problems in luxury hotels too:

I'm considering taking my own sheets, sleeping bags, kettles and bathrobes on my next trip.

Wu Ben, an associate professor of hotel management at Shanghai's Fudan University, said that it's difficult to monitor cleaners in the hotel rooms without cameras being installed:

Without the proper detection equipment, one is unlikely to notice dirty bedding and poorly cleaned toilet seats.

Harbin has now launched a citywide inspection of all hotels.

Netizens get snarky

Most netizens were snarky about the news, saying that being poor is a blessing in disguise as it means that they won't have to tolerate such poor hygiene practices.

Translation: Luckily I don't have money to stay at a hotel.

Translation: When it comes to hygiene issues, for most Chinese stuff, you shouldn't have any expectations. Perhaps you don't believe me, but this is the truth. China's awareness of hygiene is too poor.

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Gross hotel practices not limited to China

A few years ago, Home Inns Group, which has more than 1,800 hotels across China, also experienced a similar scandal when its Qingdao branch was reportedly caught using filthy cleaning tools and providing unsterilised cups.

A year later, a worker at the Beijing Mehood Hotel in Beijing was caught cleaning the toilets, showers, floors and even tea cups with the same towels that guests use to clean themselves.

But such unhygienic practices are not just limited to China.

Top hotels in the United States (US) have been accused of not changing bedsheets between guests too.

And in case you're wondering, yes, you can catch a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) from contaminated bedsheets.

You can watch the video here:

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Top image via Weibo