Man upset staycation room same floor as guests on quarantine, M Social Singapore responds

'Tis the season for staycations — though some may have to endure a longer wait for their rooms during this holiday period.

For one man, however, who was assigned level seven at M Social Singapore hotel, his staycation mood turned sour when he realised that his level has guests serving isolation notice — adding there was "[no] proper safe management measures and no physical segregation of rooms".

"We have to pass by all the quarantine guest rooms before reaching our room at the very end of the corridor," Wong Kok Leong, 34, told AsiaOne on Monday (Dec 27). He and his family checked in on Nov 27 to celebrate his wife's birthday.  

Wong, who works in facilities management, said the whole corridor was full of luggage racks — with bento boxes and rubbish bags on the floor — that he said were intended for quarantined guests. 

After checking with the hotel several times to address this issue, he said, "The staff mentioned that the physical segregation between leisure and quarantine guests is not required."

For his family's safety, he decided to check out immediately without refund and after checking levels three and four, he found there weren't any luggage racks placed outside the rooms.

Though this arrangement is new, Wong felt that the hotel could have accommodated to their request of having a safer environment during their stay.

"We booked the staycation back in October," he added. "If we knew this was the arrangement, we would not even go ahead with it."

Wong said: "Imagine if we are booking a stay with our elderly parents or vulnerable groups of people such as those with chronic illnesses, we will be exposing ourselves to unnecessary danger."

Responding to AsiaOne's queries, General Manager of M Social Singapore Guillaume Places said: “Following the recent relaxation of safe management measures in November, there are no longer any floor segregation requirements across different groups of guests (such as those serving isolation notice, on vaccinated travel lanes or local staycation).”  

He added that the regulation is issued by the Ministry of Health and Singapore Tourism Board via the Singapore Hotel Association.

"M Social Singapore has provided luggage racks outside each room so as to minimise points of contact for employees delivering items to room guests. This measure is part of the Infection Prevention & Control protocols we have in place, which is in compliance with guidelines issued by the authorities," he said.

He also said that guests who are serving isolation notice are strictly confined to their rooms for the duration of their isolation and they have isolation monitoring measures to ensure this. 

"We fully understand the guest’s concerns, and assure that we have in place strict protocols that are in compliance with government guidelines to ensure the safety of all guests and employees," Places said.

READ ALSO: Staycation frenzy: Guests wait for hours to check in at hotels

zakaria@asiaone.com