Maldives resort cuts hot water supplies for Chinese guests

A luxury resort in Maldives discriminated against Chinese tourists by not providing them with electric kettles, purposefully preventing them from eating instant noodles in their rooms, claimed a former Chinese employee of the resort, adding that his employer spied on him and confiscated his cell phone, reported the South China Morning Post.

Hot water kettles were removed from the rooms of Chinese guests, but not from rooms occupied by Europeans, because the resort's manager believed the Chinese were skipping meals in the restaurant, said Zhao Jianke, a former guest service manager at the Beach House Iruveli (TBHI), a five-star resort in northern Maldives.

Zhao's posting on Sina Weibo was reposted nearly 100,000 times.

Zhao and several other Chinese employees quit their jobs in February after security personnel "launched 24-hour surveillance of the Chinese employees, confiscated their phones, blocked their Internet and controlled their external communications," wrote Zhao.

The resort said in a statement that some kettles were damaged by guests cooking food, according to the South China Morning Post.

"The Chinese market is very important for us and they are always warmly welcome at the Beach House Iruveli. As a result of the defamatory accusations against the Beach House Iruveli our legal representatives have been engaged," the statement reads.

The Web post has triggered heated discussion on the Internet, with Web users who travelled to Maldives saying instant noodles were necessary as they were not accustomed to local dishes and they preferred instant cup of noodles. Many Web users said they had marked Iruveli as a place they won't visit.

The Maldives received 230,000 Chinese tourists in 2012, more than any other nationality, the Xinhua News Agency reported.