How a year-long luxury resort stay landed one Chinese man behind bars
Guest fails to pay thousands in unpaid hotel bills and goes missing but that’s not the bad behaviour that ultimately lands him in jail
A court in southwestern China has detained a man for 15 days for abusing court officers over a case linked to an unpaid year-long stay at a luxury hotel resort, according to a Chinese media report.
The man, a travel agent identified only as Li, and his wife moved into the unnamed resort in Kunming, Yunnan province, soon after they got married in early 2013 and while their flat was being renovated, The Spring City Evening News reported on Saturday.
The couple lapped up the resort’s facilities, including its spa and buffet, and initially paid the bill using a rechargeable card given to Li by an airline company as a gift for selling flight tickets, the report said.
The 10,000 yuan (US$1,560) in credit on the card was soon exhausted but the couple liked the facilities so much that they decided to stay on, recharging the card several times, it said.
But they stopped adding value to the card after a few months, racking up 88,000 yuan in unpaid bills in the year that they were there.
The couple eventually moved out but the hotel sued Li after he failed to settle the bill as promised, the report said.
Li was not present when the case was heard in the Wuhua District People’s Court, which found in favour of the hotel. Li had changed his name and disappeared, the report said.
At the same time, Li was embroiled in a financial dispute over a housing estate with another unnamed party before the Xishan District People’s Court. That court, too, found against Li and ordered the sale of one of Li’s properties, the report said.
The case was settled and 100,000 yuan was left over from the sale of the property, which the Wuhua court requested and received to pass on to the hotel for the unpaid bill, the report said.
Li then resurfaced at the Wuhua court building “recently”, shouting at officials for several hours and demanding the return of 50,000 yuan.
The court responded by putting Li in custody for 15 days, the report said.
