Eleven unnamed individuals suspected of running a prostitution ring inside the five-star Hotel Nikko Shanghai were detained by the police during a five hotel room raid on the 18th floor on Jan. 3.
The Changning District police said in a statement that the gang behind the illegal operation would often advertise its service online via a phone number, Shanghaiist reported.
After the initial contact, the client would then have to arrange a meeting with one of the gang members near the hotel, which is located at 488 West Yan’an Road, Shanghai, China.
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The client is escorted to the 18th floor of the hotel, which holds 382 luxurious guestrooms and suites, where he may choose the woman to spend time with. The transaction is then moved to a different room, where the gang is paid for their services.
It was not reported how long the group has operated inside Hotel Nikko Shanghai or how much they charged for their services. But a one night stay at a “Premier Room” in the hotel costs more than 700 yuan ($107.58), while you’d have to fork over 900 yuan ($138.31) for a “Deluxe Room”.
Hotel Nikko Shanghai’s public relations manager defended the establishment by telling Shanghai Morning Post that the management was completely unaware of the gang’s operation. The PR manager further explained the gang’s meticulous way of exploiting the hotel’s registration system by booking rooms through different identities, different length of stay and platforms.
Ge Zhihao, a Beijing-based lawyer, told the newspaper that there must be a loophole in the hotel’s registration system, which it should address immediately.
Meanwhile, several other five-star hotels in China have recently been caught in a massive scandal over how some of its employees handle the rooms’ cleanliness. Last month, Shanghaiist reported that some hotels in Harbin have cleaners who use toilet bowl water to wet a bath towel before wiping the floor.
In Beijing, multiple five-star hotels were exposed for not changing their bed sheets and cleaning toilets after officials investigated.
Featured Image Shanghaiist via Medium
