The Bvlgari Hotel Shanghai Photo: Courtesy of the Bvlgari Hotel Shanghai

At least two five-star hotels in Shanghai have been exposed for compromising guests' privacy following an undercover investigation by a Chinese influencer on Sina Weibo on Monday.

The two hotels are the Bulgari Hotel in Shanghai and the Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland, the micro-blogger revealed.

According to the video of an online influencer who has at least a few thousand followers on Weibo, two out of three five-star hotels they investigated in Shanghai and Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, were found to have loopholes regarding guest privacy. In one case, strangers are able to get the room key and enter any guest's room just by calling a random telephone number and providing some information from a guest's ID card.

"The receptionists didn't personally contact the hotel residents through their registered phone number to confirm the identity of the visitor at all. Instead, they simply approved her visit after she pretended to contact the room guest she was about to visit on her own phone," explained the influencer in the video, "But the visitor was actually calling someone else who pretended to be the room guest."

The Global Times attempted to phone the Bulgari Hotel in Shanghai several times on Monday but did not receive a reply. 

According to the Paper on Monday, the manager at the Bulgari Hotel said that they would notify guests if there were any visitors for them by contacting the guests in person.

"We have no idea of the problem you're asking about but we will strengthen the training of our staff members," the manager added.

The Global Times later reached the Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland on Monday morning, but a staff member refused to talk about the privacy of their guests being compromised.

In addition to the loopholes that allowed strangers to enter guests' rooms, the influencer also noticed that guests' movements inside the room in Shanghai's Bulgari Hotel could be seen clearly from outside through the reflections in its large French windows, a design flaw that undermines guest privacy.

In response, a staff member of the hotel told the influencer that the flaw had been noticed a long time ago, but nothing could be done since it would involve a major renovation.

Some netizens have questioned the purpose of the undercover investigation, claiming that online influencers had "played a trick to set the receptionists up." "You provided the information of the guest's name and their ID number, so of course the receptionists would assume you are their friends."

However, more netizens pointed out that "there's still the possibility that someone who's familiar with the guests might take advantage" of this loophole.

What's more, "information leaks on the internet are so common nowadays, and one can easily obtain anyone's ID number or phone number," noted another netizen.

Global Times