A Chinese family on holiday in Singapore panicked after they received a warning letter from their hotel in Sentosa, informing them that they would be charged S$500 if hotel staff detected durians or even the smell of the fruit in their hotel room.

The family had purchased a durian and brought it back to their hotel.

The mother subsequently publicised her experience on Chinese social media Xiaohongshu so that others would not repeat her mistake.

What happened

According to the post, the mother chanced upon a Mao Shan Wang durian after dinner, and she decided to purchase it even though her family members were not diehard fans of the fruit.

As she had a big dinner, she decided to bring the durian back to her hotel and feast on it later.

As such, she sealed the plastic bag containing the durian tightly, knowing that the fruit had a strong smell.

To her surprise, the next day, upon returning to her hotel room, she received a warning letter from the hotel, informing her that guests were not allowed to bring durians into their rooms.

In the letter written in Chinese, a hotel manager explained that while the hotel recognises that durian is a fruit loved by many, the hotel has a strict "no-durian" policy because its strong smell tends to linger in the room.

"If our room service staff notice durians or the smell of durians in your room during or after your stay, we regret to inform you that we will need to impose a S$500 fine, which will be used to pay for the additional cleaning services," read the letter.

The Xiaohongshu user lamented that while she knew one should not consume durians on public transport, she never thought she also could not feast on them in her hotel, including on the balcony.

Hotel eventually waived the fine

While the warning letter sent the Xiaohongshu user into a panic at first, she said her stress was relieved after the hotel told her it would waive the fine as this was her first time making the mistake.

However, she would not be so lucky next time should she ever repeat the mistake.

At the end of her post, the Xiaohongshu user also expressed her gratitude for the hotel's flexible policy and said she would not make the same mistake in the future.

Top images via W Singapore - Sentosa Cove/Facebook & 水工匕禾页/Xiaohongshu