Hotel guest drinks detergent left in ‘complimentary’ water bottle

A tourist received 4,000 yuan (HK$4,650) compensation from a hotel in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, on Thursday after drinking a significant amount of detergent from a “complimentary” bottle of water in his room, the West China City Daily reports.

He had to have his stomach pumped and spent four days in hospital, a “nightmarish experience”, the family of the 41-year old told the newspaper in Chengdu.

The man works at a large state-owned steel factory in Sichuan, and had invited his wife and daughter who lived in another province for a nine-day vacation, on which Dujiangyan was their first stop.

They checked in on Monday of last week. On a tray in their bathroom sat two bottles of water with a sign saying they were complimentary. The man opened a bottle, poured the liquid into a cup and took a few mouthfuls before he detected a fragrant smell.

“He asked our daughter if she had put her perfume in the bottle, and she said no. Everyone froze,” the victim’s wife was quoted by the newspaper as saying.