Nusiance/Security Problem in Shanghai Hotel
 

Though this is about an experience at a Renaissance hotel in Shanghai, it has ramifications that go beyond the specific chain and the specific city, so I've posted it here.

We are at the Renaissance Yangtze in Shanghai. Three times in the last week, we received late-night phone solicitations from "massage girls," i.e. prostitutes. Last night I called the manager to complain. She told me that the caller had asked for me specifically by name and room number. I told her this was impossible -- no one in Shanghai knew my room number and name except for hotel staff. The manager suggested that it might have been our travel agent (who is located in China). I said that was impossible -- my wife (who is Chinese) made the reservation in her Chinese name and did not provide mine. The manager said she'd investigate, but acknowledged that this is a significant security issue.

I know that the massage girl calls are common in lower-class hotels, but this is the first time I've had this happen in a 5-star hotel in all of my visits to China. This gives new meaning to "full service" hotel. I'll be following up with Marrott when I return home. Aside from the annoyance of being disturbed after 10 pm in my hotel room, it is very disturbing that hotel staff are giving out personal information to criminals.

Forewarned is forearmed. (But five warned is not five-armed. :))

WOW - I'm shocked. This is a major security/breach of the hotel confidentiality. This should not happen in a five star hotel. Thanks for the heads up. My husband travels to Shanghai and I travel in other places in China (though I'm doubtful I'll be getting those calls). Please update us with what the manager tells you.

I've heard a few reports of solicitations at top hotels in both Beijing and Shanghai, but the level of cunning that it took to identify you and your location indeed disturbing. We all joke about it, but I guess there really is no such thing as anonymity for waiguo's travelling in China

SO scarily true.

This will probably get moved to TS/S, but I've had similar calls at both a Holiday Inn and the SAS in Beijing. They didn't ask for me by name, but I'm sure that they were calling from the hotel, looking for business. Someone knew that they were there, and I'm sure getting a cut of the action.....

When I mentioned it to my work associates the next day they certainly didn't seem surprised, all I got was a grin from them.

The local authorities at times crack down pretty hard (I'm told) on ladies of the night..... It will be interesting to see what happens as we get closer to the Olympics.....

I too got a call at the Holiday Inn in Beijing - didn't worry about it. Getting a phone number is one thing - getting a key to a room is another.

Stay at the Yangtze in Shanghai - great, modern hotel. Awesome location (very very close to People's Square subway station) and price and friendly staff with good English skills.

I have stayed in plenty of 4-5star hotels in China that seem to also own the local "hair salon" down the street. I was recently in Dandong at a decent 4 star hotel and was actually woken twice during the night by girls offering services, on the second time I was not very happy to be woken again.

OT - I am always freaked out when I have a room without a real lock and the bolts have been taken off. Both places were Holiday Inns and I slept very little.

Did the manager actually go through the call logs (or was she just assuming that that's how those calls were connected to your room)?

If it's the latter, then it's possible that the caller simply used a random room number, and connected via the hotel's PBX system (where your room number = an extension number), or DID (some hotels have direct numbers, allocated to each guest room).

Hasn't happened to me in a while, but I used to stay a lot at a fairly upsacle hotel (Capital Plaza, or something like that; comparable with a good Hyatt) in Bao An near Shenzhen, and this happened there all the time - usually several times per night, every night.

After the 1st night of my 1st stay I just started unplugging the cord from phone when I went to bed, and plugged it back in when I got up. Of course that means no wakeup call :(

Hasn't happened to me at a US chain, and I would be furious if it did.

I had the same thought -- how would the manager know that the caller asked for the OP "specifically by name and room number"? The OP's conversation with the manager came long after the calls from the prostitutes. The hotel might have a record of an incoming call to a particular room, but I doubt very much that a hotel worker would make a record of how the caller specifically asked for the OP.

That leaves the possibilty that the hotel workers on duty remembered that the callers asked for the OP by name. Here again, why would they remember something so trivial? This is a big hotel, right?

My guess is either 1) what KVS describes, above, or 2) there's someone at the front desk guessing that certain men might like some company, so they have their lady friends call the room. Annoying? Very. A security issue? I doubt it.

I received NO such calls at the Intercontinental in Shanghai!

What are the rates like at the Renaissance? :D

I called the manager right after the 10 pm call. Apparently, she spoke with receptionist who confirmed (supposedly) that I was asked for by name.

You can't do that at the Yangtze Renaissance, e.g. all house phone calls have to go through reception.

Never had this problem at the Westin, Royal Meridien or Sheraton in Shanghai or the St. Regis in Beijing or the Sheraton Resort in Haikou.

This would support my desk clerk kickback scheme hypothesis. Perhaps someone with access to guest information is passing on names/room #s to call girls, with their promise that if services are rendered, the clerk gets some dough.