Guest slams Orchard Road hotel over room 'infested with cockroaches'

What should have been a place to rest their heads became nightmare fuel after they realised their room was crawling with pests.

Cassie, who recently stayed at Hotel Supreme near Orchard Road, shared with AsiaOne how a pleasant trip with her boyfriend was marred by her experience with the hotel.

"Once we checked in, we saw cockroaches already," Cassie, a Singaporean in her 30s based in Kuala Lumpur (KL), told AsiaOne.

"It was more than one cockroach… we saw them everywhere."

She had planned to use the room as a place to rest for two nights as she toured the Orchard Road area with her boyfriend - a non-Singaporean based in KL - and was looking for accommodation nearby and on the cheaper end.

She came across Hotel Supreme, which has rooms available for approximately $80 per night, she said.

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However, the room's condition was horrific, she recounted.

In multiple pictures and videos she shared with AsiaOne, Cassie depicted how cockroaches were all over the room, crawling over the dresser, fridge and parts of the toilet.

In particular, there were "three or more" sighted on the dresser, while her boyfriend killed a few more in the washroom.

"We definitely expected it to be an older hotel without facilities, but we didn't expect it to be infested with cockroaches," she said.

As they left the room to tour the area, Cassie and her boyfriend mentioned this issue to an elderly housekeeper, who allegedly informed them that he would spray insecticide if he "had the time" afterwards.

When they returned after 10pm however, they felt like nothing had changed - cockroaches were still everywhere in the room.

She recalled: "It was so bad… it's like a whole colony was invading the hotel.

"Frankly speaking, I think the housekeeper wasn't shocked when [we mentioned the cockroaches]… he just asked, 'Where?' - so I think he gets this a lot from guests he sees in the hotel."

Not an isolated incident?

Further explaining that the infestation wasn't simply "one or two cockroaches" climbing out from drains, Cassie felt that there might be a nest somewhere in the room, or "many, many other rooms".

She said: "If you look at the Google reviews now, you'll see that there's not just us, but also other guests complaining about cockroaches… so it's not just a one-off thing."

Cassie also wondered if this hotel might have been overlooked by the Singapore Hotel Association.

A quick search of Hotel Supreme's Google reviews confirms that there have been multiple complaints made regarding the cleanliness of the rooms, with some mentioning cockroaches as part of the problem.

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However, Cassie and her boyfriend still slept in the room despite their uninvited guests crawling about because they were too tired after their day out.

"If not for the cockroaches, the room would be fine. We knew it was going to be an old hotel and also not the best one… it's just that [the cockroaches] are quite disgusting."

She added: "We don't know where they are when we're asleep, but we have no choice but to sleep… that was quite disturbing, but the hotel being old is fine."

An 'ironic' mask policy

While Cassie's main gripe with the hotel was the cockroaches in her room, she also shared with AsiaOne how the hotel mandated that they wear masks in the lobby, enraging them.

"The hotel is so unhygienic… that's the ironic part, they demanded that [we wear masks] when it's no longer the rule, while their hotel is infested with cockroaches… that's what got us quite pissed," she explained.

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When her boyfriend went to use the hotel's washroom on the first floor, Cassie, who was waiting in the lobby, was warned by an elderly staff member about their mask policy.

According to staff, the hotel's boss was in that day and would be very upset if he saw someone without a mask in the lobby, she recalled.

Singapore has stepped down all Covid-19 measures and the practice of mask-wearing is no longer required except in healthcare settings. 

AsiaOne has reached out to Hotel Supreme for comment.

khooyihang@asiaone.com

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