Undercover at Home Inn Express: Dirty towels used to wipe the toilet are then used to wipe the teacup

Home Inn Group is currently one of the largest economy hotel chains in China, owning more than 900 hotels distributed across more than 30 provinces and 150 cities in China. It is a Nasdaq-listed company and one of the most famous economy hotel brands in China. Home Inn promotes its mission as providing guests with "clean and warm" service that feels like "home." Guests who have stayed at Home Inn have all been impressed by its clean rooms. But is Home Inn really as clean and warm as it advertises? On March 24, a reporter applied for a job at the Home Inn Zhongshan Road Pichaiyuan branch in the island city, going undercover as a room service staff member to reveal the true state of Home Inn's room service to the public.

A Application No name inquiry, no training, direct on-the-job
On March 24, the reporter arrived at the Home Inn Zhongshan Road Pichaiyuan branch and saw a large recruitment advertisement on the wall, recruiting positions including room service staff, restaurant waiters, chefs, etc. The reporter called the application phone number on the recruitment ad. When asked about the requirements for applying as a room service staff, the room department supervisor Li told the reporter, "There are no specific requirements, as long as you can work." When the reporter asked if an ID card was needed, they were told it was not necessary.
When the reporter inquired about the salary, Supervisor Li said that wages at Qingdao Home Inn are relatively low, with a base salary of 500 yuan. Home Inn's wages are divided by city tiers: Guangzhou and Shanghai are first-tier cities, Qingdao is a third-tier city, so the base salary is only 500 yuan. However, the minimum wage standard in Qingdao has recently increased, so Home Inn's base salary might also be raised. Besides the base salary, room service is paid per room cleaned, with a commission of 2.5 yuan per room, the more you work, the more you earn. Additionally, Home Inn provides all employees with five social insurances and one housing fund.
Later, Supervisor Li introduced the reporter to an experienced room service staff member, who was to guide the reporter for a few days. Including the reporter, this staff member was mentoring three "apprentices," with the other two women having started a day earlier than the reporter.
At work, everyone addressed each other by surname, such as "Xiao Wang" or "Xiao Guo." One of the women had previously worked selling goods in a supermarket.
The room service staff guiding the reporter is an old employee of Home Inn, having worked at other Home Inn branches in Qingdao before being transferred to the Pichaiyuan branch during its trial operation. According to this employee, during peak season, one can clean 20 to 30 rooms a day and earn two to three thousand yuan a month. Besides working, the main topic of conversation was Home Inn's low wages; normally, a month’s pay is just over a thousand yuan. "Anything is better than this, low pay and hard work." The woman who had worked in a supermarket advised the reporter several times not to do this job.

B Hygiene Using the same cloth carelessly for toilets, basins, and cups
White cloths turn black but are not replaced
During the reporter's undercover period, it was observed that each floor's room service staff had a cleaning cart. The cart contained new bedding sets, pillowcases, sheets, toiletries, and other room essentials, as well as cleaning boxes, cloths, and brooms.
The room service staff guiding the reporter cleaned the room herself and had the other two women clean the toilets. The cleaning box placed at the toilet door contained white small brushes, white long brushes, two bottles of stain remover, pink cloths, toothbrushes, glass brushes, and other cleaning tools. The white small and long brushes were covered in black dirt. Several dirty white cloths, almost black, were casually placed on the cart. One woman picked up a white small brush covered in dirt, roughly scrubbed the basin a few times, then threw it into the cleaning box, then took the long brush and scrubbed the toilet a few times before throwing it onto the white small brush.
The reporter saw that many white brushes in Home Inn's cleaning boxes had turned black. Basin brushes and toilet brushes were placed side by side. Hair-covered floor brushes and towels used for cleaning cups were stored together. Dirty white cloths had turned black but were not replaced with new ones. The cloths on the cleaning cart were mostly hung randomly, with no distinction between cloths used for toilets, basins, or cups.
Dirty towels used to wipe toilets were then used to wipe teacups
To show how dirty the towels really were, the reporter placed a white towel used by guests next to the dirty cloths for comparison, showing a stark "black and white" contrast. This dirty black towel was used to wipe guests' washbasins, shower glass, and toilets. One staff member told the reporter, "The hotel is filthy; I never dare to stay here!"
While cleaning the toilet, one woman used a small pink towel to wipe the basin, then used the same towel to wipe the toilet, and after wiping the toilet, directly used it to wipe the teacup. She muttered to herself, "Why does this cup still have fuzz after wiping?" Then she placed the cup on the table. Another woman used a dirty cloth to wipe the toilet wall but only wiped about two-thirds reachable due to her short height and then stopped.
While working with another room service staff member, the reporter saw her use the same cloth to wipe the toilet, toilet seat, and washbasin. After wiping, she did not clean the cloth but put it directly into the cleaning box and used it again for the next room. Several cloths hanging on one side of the cleaning cart were never used.
Only wiping when dust is visible, rules become empty words
When cleaning rooms, room service staff generally mop the floors clean, but the headboards, bedside tables, telephones, TVs, windowsills, tables, and other furnishings were basically never wiped with cloths unless dust was clearly visible. "If it looks clean, no need to wipe," the room service staff told us. The anti-slip mats in the bathroom were never replaced or cleaned.
In Home Inn's linen room, the reporter saw a bulletin board with cleaning regulations such as "baseboard cleaning," "remote control disinfection," and "telephone disinfection." However, the reporter found that in actual practice, these regulations were almost "empty words." In reality, the baseboards in rooms were never cleaned; the corridor baseboards were wiped once with a cloth. No one wiped the remote controls or disinfected them during room cleaning.
The steps for "telephone disinfection" are basically the same as for "remote control disinfection." In actual operation, no one wipes or checks whether the TV can be used normally. For example, the corridor carpet at Home Inn is not cleaned, and there is a layer of dust on it.

C Safety The disinfection room is just for show, tools are never disinfected
"Never use the disinfection room"
At Home Inn, the reporter saw a door with a pink paper sign reading "Disinfection Room." After pushing it open, the reporter saw some disinfection equipment inside: a bulletin board with disinfection room operation specifications, below which were three small notes labeled "cleaning cloth," "cup cloth," and "disinfection record sheet." The disinfection record had more than ten lines but then stopped; the washing and disinfection sinks had no water; on one side was a disinfection cabinet without power and a blue cup disinfection bucket.
According to the hotel's disinfection room operation specifications, the kettle, mouth cups, and teacups used by guests need to be disinfected. So the reporter asked the waiter, "Do our cups and such need to be taken to the disinfection room for disinfection?" The room service staff told the reporter, "No need to disinfect, we never use that disinfection room; disinfecting there would be too tiring."
While cleaning the room, the reporter saw that the teacups used by guests were rinsed with water in the bathroom and wiped dry by the room service staff, then placed back on the table without any disinfection. The kettle was not disinfected with white vinegar as stated on the bulletin board; in most cases, water was just poured out and the kettle put back. The cleaning cloth was used daily without disinfection. When cleaning the bathroom, the washbasin and toilet were scrubbed directly with brushes and cloths, basically without cleaning agents and no disinfectant was used.
Used towels are placed back on the rack
"Really, this guest stayed for an hour, slept on the bed, wiped with the towel, and said they wanted to change rooms." The room service staff complained while folding the quilt that the guest increased their workload. "Don't the quilts used by guests need to be changed?" the reporter asked the room service staff. "It's okay, he just lay down for a while," the room service staff replied.
In the bathroom, the reporter saw two white towels placed on the washbasin, obviously used. "Do you want to take a new one?" the reporter asked. "No need, it's fine." The room service staff touched the towels, probably dry, then folded the two towels used by guests and hung them back on the towel rack.
While cleaning a guest's extended stay room, a new staff member took down the guest's towels and threw them into the dirty towel pile. The room service staff noticed towels were missing after cleaning the room. "Where are the guest's towels? Why are they missing?" the room service staff asked. "I told you, towels in extended stay rooms don't need to be changed unless the guest puts them in the washbasin." After saying this, the room service staff picked up the towels that had just been thrown away, tidied them, and hung them back on the towel rack.
The elevator breaks down often, repaired once a week
According to national regulations, hotels are not allowed to provide free toiletries, but during the reporter's undercover visit, Home Inn was still providing free toiletries. The back of the toiletry package showed the manufacturer as "Yangzhou Kelete Hotel Supplies Co., Ltd." "Are the toiletries here provided free to guests?" the reporter asked while packing. "Yes, they are free," the room service staff answered.
"Are the toiletry sets produced by us?" the reporter asked. "No, we don't produce them ourselves. They are produced by an external manufacturer on our behalf," the room service staff answered.
When the reporter finished packing the dental kit and was about to go downstairs, the elevator was found to be out of order. "Is this elevator broken?" the reporter asked. "Not broken, it's under maintenance," the staff replied.
The room service staff told the reporter, "This elevator needs repairs often, once a week, it always breaks down. Because the elevator is too small, it can't bear the load." "Why not install a bigger elevator?" the reporter asked. "Bigger elevators are expensive," the room service staff said.
      
These places are done well
1. Bed sheets and quilt covers are changed on time
Home Inn's bed sheets, quilt covers, pillowcases, and towels are of a uniform color and texture nationwide. The bed sheets and quilt covers are green with small white flower dots, while the pillowcases and towels are white, giving a comfortable feeling. During the undercover visit at Home Inn, the reporter saw that the bed sheets, quilt covers, pillowcases, and towels used by guests were changed daily by the room service staff. Home Inn contracts a factory to clean the bed sheets, quilt covers, pillowcases, and towels.
The reporter tentatively asked the room service staff if quilts and bed sheets that looked very clean could be left unchanged. The room service staff sternly told the reporter, "They must be changed! We are a formal chain hotel, we must change items used by guests, unlike some small inns that don't change them." Every day, the room supervisor inspects each room to see if it meets the requirements.
2. Items are arranged uniformly and orderly
"Working at Home Inn is quite hard." This was the first thing the room service staff told the reporter when starting work: "Because Home Inn has strict requirements."
Working in room service at Home Inn requires carefulness: slippers must be placed "blue right, white left," with blue-edged slippers on the right and white slippers on the left; bed sheets and quilts must be neatly spread; trash bins must be placed in a unified position; guests must be greeted; towels must be arranged neatly. The orientation of each cup, the placement of each dental kit, and the arrangement of each pillowcase all have unified regulations. "When finishing cleaning the room and closing the door, leave the corridor light on," the room service staff told the reporter, so that when guests insert their card at night, the corridor light will turn on.
3. Provide employees with five social insurances and one housing fund
Many hotels do not provide the five social insurances and one housing fund for grassroots employees, but Home Inn does. "I chose Home Inn because it provides me with the five social insurances and one housing fund. The company pays 400 yuan per month, and I pay 200 yuan myself. If I work for another half year, I can retire and receive double salary then." An aunt who is about to retire happily told reporters that Home Inn treats employees well by providing the five social insurances and one housing fund, so they can work without worries.

Home Inn CEO Sun Jian responds to the "Towel Gate": Individual cases will be strictly investigated.

　　Home Inn Group currently has 1,426 stores, with 51% being franchised. The problematic store this time is a franchised store of Home Inn. Are franchised stores outside the management system of the headquarters? Is their quality unguaranteed? In response, Sun Jian said, "Both franchised stores and directly operated stores are included in Home Inn's management system, and there will be no laxity towards franchised stores."
　　At the same time, he also explained that hotel expansion inevitably involves mistakes and some dilution in quality, but Home Inn strives to improve and continuously enhance service quality, and does not want to sacrifice quality for rapid expansion.
　　The general manager of the marketing center of Jinjiang Inn, another budget hotel under the Jinjiang brand like Home Inn, said that managing franchised stores is very difficult and requires the headquarters to send personnel for supervision. To prevent incidents like the "Towel Gate," frequent inspections and penalties for non-compliance by the headquarters are necessary, but franchisees strongly resist such supervision. Regarding this Home Inn cleaning incident, industry insiders said that major economy hotels vigorously develop low-cost franchised stores to increase profits. However, rapid expansion has exposed management loopholes, leading to situations where the same towel is used to wipe both toilets and cups.