Hotel 'employs' plastic security guard

A dummy wearing a security uniform positioned in a sentry booth.

(ECNS) -- As companies in Guangzhou suffer from a labor shortage, a hotel in the city has chosen to "employ" a plastic model as its security guard, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Friday.

Located in Tianhe district, the "IT World Hotel" has had a dummy wearing a security uniform positioned in a sentry booth for months.

A resident surnamed Ge said it was last November that he first noticed the plastic security guard.

"I thought it was strange that the hotel's security guard had been staring at the parking lot in front of him day and night for so long," said Ge, who works at a company near the hotel.

A woman named Sun said she noticed the plastic guard last year when she tried to seek help from it after losing her cell phone.

An operator on duty at the hotel told the reporter on Thursday that the model and the sentry booth had already been removed after the hotel received complaints from residents.

Security around the hotel has also been tightened, the operator said.