Hotel toilets open to the public
(XING BAO)
07/12/2002
Starting this month, all toilets in public places such as department stores, hotels, restaurants and hospitals within the inner ring road will be required to be open to the public, according to the Shanghai City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation Administration Regulation.The regulation will be further promoted around the city next year, the Jiefang Daily reported. The regulation aims to solve the problem of a toilet shortage in the downtown area, especially during holidays when most people are travelling. Statistics show that public toilets in the 10 major commercial streets and scenic spots can meet the demand on usual days. But during holidays, these toilets only meet one third of the demand. With all the toilets in businesses and service establishments open to the public, the number of toilets available will be increased by 10 times. But the implementation of the regulation has appeared unsatisfactory during the first several days. From 11:00am to 12:30pm on July 2, three restaurants on Fuzhou Lu, Sichuan Zhonglu and Nanjing Donglu would not allow reporters to use the toilet. A waiter in Hongchao Seafood Restaurant said the toilet belongs to the boss, and would not be opened to the public. He said if people insist, he would ask the security guard to deal with the problem. An official with Nanhe Hotel on Nanjing Donglu said the hotel only served people who paid for the apartment and they had no responsibility to increase the cleaning cost for pedestrians. Another 25 stores on Nanjing Lu all allowed people to use toilets according to the regulations. "People always think the business owner has the right to decide if the toilet should be open to the public," said Hu Shoujun, a professor at the sociology department of Fudan University. "But since it is a public place, its toilet should be opened to anyone. It is natural for people to pay nothing for it." According to the local regulation, the places mentioned below are on the list of establishments required to open their toilets to the public: large-scale department stores, restaurants, cinemas and theatres, stadiums, scenic spots, airports, stations, docks, hospitals and hotels. If you are not allowed to use the toilets in places mentioned above, then dial the following number to complain 5290-1111.
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