A guest of the luxury Peninsula Hong Kong hotel was fined HK$3,000 (US$387) after a room was trashed following a birthday celebration, with video footage of the aftermath going viral online.

The room — complete with “Happy Birthday” balloons — was filled with garbage, and food waste and bottles of alcohol strewn all over the carpet, the sofa and the coffee table, according to footage shared by the Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union on Facebook on Sunday. White foam — believed to be cream — was seen on the television cabinet and the screen. The blinds also appeared to have dirt on them.

The Peninsula Hong Kong confirmed to Apple Daily that the video was shot at the hotel and said it was disappointed by the incident. It has already contacted the customer about the fine. The video was shot for internal reference, but it was shared on social media by unknown people without authorization, and the hotel declined to comment any further citing privacy concerns.

The video was taken around a month ago and the hotel fined the customer HK$3,000, according to Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union chair Alex Tsui. Although more Hongkongers had recently booked hotel rooms for parties and celebrations, it was rare to see such a messy room, he said.

A grand deluxe room at the hotel costs up to HK$3,280 a night when checking in on a Friday, with a deluxe room setting back guests HK$2,880 to stay on a Saturday.

Hotels had clear guidelines on circumstances where customers would have to pay a cleaning fee and the rules were made clear to customers, according to Tsui. Outrageous cases were not unheard of at five star hotels, including one guest slapped with a HK$20,000 cleaning fee after feces were found on the bed.

As hotels were getting fewer customers with the lack of tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff were forced to take unpaid leave and those remaining at work would face even more cleaning tasks, Tsui said.

Other than cleaning issues, hotel staff have complained about customers hosting parties with more than 20 people in a small room, sometimes to use drugs, and for demanding free birthday cakes and room decorations, he said.

Other customer complaints that have recently increased include not being granted a late check out and too many hotel customers having breakfast at the same time.

Local hotels have been offering promotions to attract Hong Kong customers in the past six months, according to budget tourism website Flyday.hk founder Herman Yip. More than one hundred people had booked packages at four and five star hotels every month in the past half year, representing a sharp increase, Yip said.

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