STB Investigating IG Videos of People Allegedly Holding A Party At RWS Hotel

As my colleague said, there are those who appreciate the seriousness of the pandemic and resigned themselves to following the rules for the time being.

And then, there are others who simply threw said rules out of the window.

Previously, a group of ten people decided it’s time to party together in a single room at a hotel in Resort World Sentosa (RWS).

Now, if that was all they did, it would’ve still been okay.

But somehow, this particular group thought it would be a great idea to film themselves and uploaded it online.

Well, turns out they’re not the only ones to think doing that is a great idea because on 15 Nov 2020, another group did the exact same thing.

STB Investigating IG Videos of People Allegedly Holding A Party At RWS Hotel

According to TNP, a group of at least six women and one man allegedly held a party at an RWS hotel room to celebrate the 33rd week of pregnancy for one of the women.

They had a grand time and filmed themselves having play fights with pillows and clothes and these videos made its way onto Instagram.

One of the women had 57,000 followers on Instagram and at the time of writing, the posts have been removed from all of their Instagram accounts.

But, by then, it was too late as it was picked up by others, including the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

According to Mr Chew Tiong Heng, executive director of infrastructure planning and management, STB is aware of the alleged incident and are investigating it.

He added that they take a serious view of such breaches in safe management measures and emphasised that the hotels are the ones which are responsible for ensuring that “gatherings do not exceed five people if they’re not from the same household”.

RWS’s Response To The Incident

A spokesman for RWS said that mandatory safe management measures are emphasised and explained during check-in to all guests, who are required to register with the front desk.

Prominent signs at common areas are also displayed to remind guests of the rules.

In other words, if you break the rules, you’re doing so intentionally. 

“We would like to remind all guests to strictly observe and comply with all safe management measures for the health, safety and well-being of the Singapore community,” the spokesman said.

Not Good News For RWS

Last month, a similar incident happened at RWS where a group of 10 people gathered in a hotel room to party.

STB said that if such breaches occurred repeatedly at the same location, non-compliant hotels may be forced to close their doors.

But that’s not all.

Said businesses might find themselves unqualified for government grants, loans, tax rebates and more.

In other words, RWS isn’t in a good position right now.

Staycation Rules

In hotels, safe management measures like wearing masks and safe distancing must be enforced in common areas.

As for gatherings, the number of people must be limited to five people or fewer, no matter whether it’s in the same room or adjoining rooms (rooms that connect to each other).

Similar to eating out, the rule of five is waived if all of the participants live together in the same household.

TraceTogether is encouraged and Safe Entry is mandatory.

The hotel must also ensure that there are staggered timing for guests to be at the hotel lobby and facilities, as well as employees at the back-of-house work environment to prevent crowding.

As for when the rule of five might be changed, here are the three conditions that has to be fulfilled before we can move into Phase 3.

Featured Image: Instagram