'Worst hotel in JB': Singaporean finds roaches crawling on bed and in minibar

[UPDATE March 13, 3.45pm] In response to queries by AsiaOne, a spokesperson for Thistle Johor Bahru said that the video has now been brought to their attention and the team is now "in the midst of investigating this report".

"As part of the hotel's hygiene and safety routine, a professional pest control service carries out scheduled treatment and fumigation works in all areas of the hotel property on a regular basis," the spokesperson said.

"Additional treatment is requested if feedback is received from any parties."

The spokesperson then added that guest satisfaction is "of utmost importance" to the hotel, and that the "well-being, safety and security of our guests continues to be our highest priority".

"We welcome feedback from our guests and strive to work closely with them for our improvement moving forward," the spokesperson said.

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To some, the comfort of your place of accommodation can be just what you need after an exhausting day while travelling.

However, some might not be as lucky to experience this, especially for this traveller who said he found cockroaches crawling around in his hotel room in downtown Johor Bahru.

In a TikTok video uploaded on March 4, small cockroaches can be seen crawling on the mattress and inside the minibar in his hotel room.

This guest identified the hotel Thistle Johor Bahru in his video. 

@mmmmm_jl

thistle worst hotel in jb. when we brought up the issue to front desk they js told me to send then the vids and will have a change of room. they didnt even apologise or at least smth to make up for their mistake. 🤮 rlly jialiat

♬ OMG - NewJeans

Speaking to AsiaOne, the 21-year-old student Jaren Lam said he was travelling with his girlfriend on Feb 18 when the incident happened.

"My girlfriend had booked the hotel on Agoda and the reviews there were fantastic, so she chose it as the hotel to stay at," he explained.

Lam said that he felt "disappointed and disgusted" when he and his girlfriend found out about the cockroaches, adding that they had slept on the bed that very night and had only discovered the cockroaches after waking up to something "crawling".

He also said that their bags were open as well, and was "pissed" that their room was "filled with cockroaches or bugs".

"I was also disappointed with their response as they didn't even feel apologetic or sorry," he said.

"They didn't apologise for what happened to us and they only told us to send the video to them and then gave us a new room."

Aside from the new room, they were not given any other form of compensation or service recovery.

Lam also said that he requested to speak to the manager, but the front desk "didn't allow him to" and wanted to deal with it themselves.

Despite the situation, he didn't lodge any formal complaints to the hotel.

Aside from the bug situation, the man also said that "the rice during during breakfast was cold", adding that it took them "very long to top up [the food]" and that "no one was clearing the tables".

Other netizens also seemed to share similar experiences with this same hotel, with one saying that the roaches "were all over the room".

On TripAdvisor, the hotel has an average 3.5-star "very good" rating, with cleanliness scoring the same individually.

In a February review on the website, another traveller also found cockroaches in their hotel room at "broad daylight".

A review all the way back in September last year also said that the hotel was "cockroach infested" and had "poor cleanliness".

AsiaOne has contacted Thistle Johor Bahru for comments.

Bed bug bites

While some Singaporeans might experience bad hotel services when we pay our neighbours a visit, the same could be said for the reverse as well.

In June last year, a Malaysian was "petrified and traumatised" after she was bitten by bed bugs at a hotel in Singapore.

Phia Boo and her friend had stayed in ST Signature at Jalan Besar, which was branded as a "co-living hotel".

In a response given to AsiaOne, ST Signature stated that they had engaged a pest control vendor Autopest Pte Ltd to clean the affected room after the first complaint, where they found "a couple of bed bugs but no eggs".

The hotel also considered the case an "isolated incident" and that the bugs were "very likely" to be brought in with luggage – a claim which Boo refused.

wongdaoen@asiaone.com

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