CP31 Hanting Hotel Hangzhou: Just Casually Committing Illegal Guest Check-ins.

[Kay Oberbrunner]

Indeed, this experience is so outrageous it deserves to be aired out! I will give you a detailed account of the situation in clear English, with hope that our foreign friends can also understand exactly what happened, and help spread awareness so that others don't fall into similar pitfalls!

---

Oh my goodness, I need to complain about the HanTing Hotel! They actually secretly called me on an employee's private number, and shouted at me for half an hour! This is too much for words!

Furthermore, it is said that when some other teachers checked out on Sunday afternoon, they were asked to ask for some small assistance to pack their luggage and send a courier, but the hotel staff complained behind their backs saying these customers were hard to serve.

• I really have no idea where I should complain about such matters so that it would make any difference. This time, I am taking advantage of CP31's popularity (a major comic exhibition held in Hangzhou where many people book hotels in advance) to post about it, and also to apologize to my teacher friends who traveled with me, as this not-so-pleasant event has now been brought up.

• The story goes like this: My friend and I originally booked a room for two nights (from the 16th to the 18th), as we planned to attend CP31. However, due to the despicable "ticket scalpers" (those who use unfair methods to snatch tickets and resell them at high prices), we failed to buy the tickets for the exhibition and thought about cancelling our hotel reservation.

  • But the hotel phone was unreachable. As I had work throughout the day, I could only wait for the confirmation call or email from the hotel, which never came.
  • After work on Friday, I called back the hotel to inquire if cancellation was possible.
    • The receptionist immediately retorted, "What if we can't sell the room after cancellation?"
    • Then, incredibly, he demanded that I add him on WeChat (the most popular messaging app in China)! And:
      • Warning: hotel employees refused to use official landline phones for communication.
      • Note: all further communications via WeChat voice calls, rather than typing out texts.

• Throughout the entire conversation, which lasted for half an hour, he claimed at one point that he couldn't find my order, asking me to share screenshots of the booking and write down my name.

  • After a long while, a manager actually used his private mobile phone to contact me, even proudly confessing that it was his personal number!
  • Upon answering the call, he started yelling, insisting that whether or not I check in, the money was not refundable.
  • I told him that I had hearing issues (with injured eardrums, my hearing is rather sensitive), but he ignored me and continued to yell for twenty minutes, causing persistent ringing in my ears.

• I asked if fees could be deducted and the remainder refunded.

  • He surprisingly stated that he didn't know the fee amount!
  • Additionally, he found excuses like not finding my order because “CTrip” (a popular ticketing app; C here is pronounced like see, pronounced as "see-trip") orders are usually in pinyin names (for instance, Zhang SanFeng), hence he assumed it was a foreigner's booking.
    • Please! It is completely normal for all ticketing platforms, including CTrip and online booking systems, to use pinyin! Are you, the HanTing, not familiar with handling bookings made through CTrip? This lame excuse is treating us like fools, right?
    • I really doubt if your hotel has collusion with those room scalpers?

• In the end, it took me three hours to proceed with the complaint process.

  • Late at night, the customer service representative via CTrip responded, stating that the attitude from the hotel manager remained adamant, and because I did not have a call recording, the complaint regarding the service quality could not be processed.
  • Travel tip in China: When encountering disputes, whenever possible, record a phone conversation as evidence.
  • Nonetheless, thanks to the kind response of the CTrip operator, the cancellation policy according to their platform allowed a refund of the amount charged for the second night's stay, sincere gratitude to CTrip!

• This is basically how it played out. If anyone knows, does it work to place a call at 12345 or 12315 (two consumer complaint hotlines in China) when traveling outside and lodging complaints?

  • My demands are not high. I just want Han Ting to offer an apology and an official explanation for:
    1. Why employees can randomly use customers' personal information (e.g., cell phone numbers)?
    2. How to handle such poor customer service attitudes?

• Had they allowed me to explain myself calmly without interruptions, I wouldn't have felt the urge to simultaneously search for ways to file a complaint while going about my daily duties!
  @Han Ting @Huazhu (Huazhu is the hotel group that owns the brand Han Ting)

• My initial intention was simply to participate joyfully in CP31, but first, I got swindled by the "ticket scalper", then paid more for the hotel reservation unnecessarily, and finally became a scapegoat to vent their frustration! This trip to Hangzhou has truly made me feel like a victim (Internet buzzword, pointing out people who bear huge losses)!

• "Ticket Scalper" and Han Ting Hotel, what will you do for what you owe me?! Am I to be bullied?!

  #Huazhu #HanTingHotel #cp31 #ConsumerRights #IamNoTroublemaker #GenuineHeartacheDoesn'tComeFromHecticScreaming #DontBeTooOverTheTop

[Jeannie Parisian]

Just a heads-up for everyone about the Hanting Hotel in Xiasha University Town – you might want to avoid it. There's a bar on the fourth floor, and we could hear the noise even on the tenth. The area outside was constantly full of sketchy-looking young people, both at night and in the morning, and there was even street racing at midnight. Add to that a Mexican restaurant next door with various groups hanging around... we only felt safe going out during the day and early afternoon; otherwise, we didn't dare leave our room.

[Glenn Ryan PhD]

OMG, thanks for the heads-up! I was actually considering staying there next time.

[Florence Stark]

I've got a hotel to blacklist on my page too!! The Vienna Zhihao Hotel! It made me so mad!! Sweetie, be careful, or they might shadowban your post.

[Felix Glover]

The hotel's incredibly aggressive male owner yelled at me so much, I was shaking the whole way back.

[Tracy Hoppe]

Sweetie, report them on the 'Zheli Ban' app! Are they treating anime fans like they're Japanese or something?

[Samuel Kihn]

Japanese people have it better than you do.

[Timothy Denesik]

Seriously, who on earth keeps hyping up Hangzhou all the time?

[Nathan Dickinson-Steuber]

Xiasha really doesn't have any good hotels. I was there for an exam and couldn't find a single decent, affordable place to stay.

[Abraham Kris]

Huh? I stayed at the one near Nanyang Subway Station, and my experience there was actually pretty good.

[Bonnie Beatty]

I stayed there too! I did my makeup at the long table in the lobby for two days, and I thought the staff were all really nice~

[Leon O'Keefe]

Hey OP, just report it directly on the 'Zheli Ban' app!!

[Edith Friesen]

Got it! I thought 'Zheli Ban' was only for Hangzhou residents, haha.