Shanghai sex scandal exposes shady 'designated hotel' system
Staff Reporter 2013-08-13 08:52
The Hengshan Resort in Shanghai is a "designated hotel" for government officials. (Internet photo)
Authorities in Shanghai have punished five Shanghai High Court judges after they were caught on camera allegedly soliciting prostitutes at a nightclub, with four including Chen Xueming — chief of the Shanghai Higher People's Court's No. 1 civil court — expelled from the Communist Party and subject to administrative detention, while another, Wang Guojun, has been placed on two years' probation, reports the Chinese-language Beijing Evening News.
The nightclub in question is located at Shanghai's Hengshan Resort, which is classified as a "designated hotel" for government officials to stay during their business trips and conferences. The resort has been closed during the ongoing investigation and has also been stripped of its classification. However, the recent scandal has led many to question the classification system and the practices of the designated hotels.
According to recent figures, there are a total of 5,000 "designated hotels" for government and party officials conducting business trips this year, up from 2,600 hotels when the government first introduced the classification six years ago, the paper said.
Authorities said that choosing designated hotels can strengthen the supervision of public spending to curb waste and corruption. The hotels, which send in voluntary tenders, are chosen after they are vetted by the government.
Guidelines set the maximum price of one-night stays at 600 yuan (US$98) for deputy minister-level officials, a standard room or single room for bureau chief-level officials at 300 yuan (US$49), while two low ranking officials sharing a standard room will pay 150 yuan (US$24).
The designated hotels are mainly three-star or below, however four- to five-star hotels are also included if they can accept the pricing requirements and agree to offer no fewer than 70% of their total available rooms for government and party officials.
In Beijing alone there are a total of 131 designated hotels and 324 designated conference hotels. The system of designated hotels over the past six years has offered cheap and quality services, but some hotels have violated the agreements by issuing invoices to officials to cover some questionable services.
Although some high-end hotels in first-tier cities agree to offer very cheap prices in a bid to be a designated hotel, it is not that easy to get a room at the agreed price. For example, a twin room at the Beijing Jin Lin Hotel has a market price of 3,580 yuan (US$585) but an agreement price of only 280 yuan (US$46), but when a reporter tried to reserve a room at the lower rate, the hotel reception said no such rooms were available.
In theory, the government accepts three types of invoice from the hotels: conference fees, accommodation fees and catering fees. However, the conference fee can be used to cover anything, said Ye Qing, deputy director of Hubei province's Bureau of Statistics. Ye said that officials can include all kinds of expenses by claiming to hold a conference, even covering the cost of the services of prostitutes under the category by using dummy accounts. Such accounts are difficult to check as hotels will usually fully cooperate with the officials, Ye added.
