NextGen Day

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has suspended a Makati hotel’s accreditation and revoked its multiple-use hotel license for failing to prevent a guest from violating quarantine laws.

The DOT also fined Berjaya Makati Hotel twice the rack rate of its most expensive room, according to a news release issued on Wednesday.

The fines requested by the DOT – National Capital Region were approved by the Department of Transportation’s Tourism Regulation, Coordination, and Resource Generation.

The issue arose from the conduct of returning Filipino Gwyneth Chua, dubbed “Poblacion Girl” on social media when she was sighted in Poblacion, Makati City when she was meant to be in the quarantine hotel.

Berjaya acknowledged in a January 1 response that CCTV evidence showed Chua leaving the hotel at 11:45 p.m., or 15 minutes after checking in on December 22.

Even after she returned three days later, neither hotel security nor the front lobby attracted her attention, nor was there any attempt to report the occurrence to the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ).

She was later photographed in a pub in Poblacion, as seen on social media.

Chua, who was scheduled to stay at the hotel for a mandatory five-day quarantine until December 27, returned on the night of December 25. On December 26, she had a swab test. The next day, her test result was positive.

Berjaya Hotel received a copy of the verdict and has 15 working days to challenge it.

The Department of Health (DOH), BOQ, Department of Transportation – Office of Transportation Security (DOTr- OTS), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Makati local government unit have all received the department’s decision (LGU).

Berjaya even stated in their letter dated December 28 that quarantined guests “follow stringent guidelines.”

Berjaya later apologized for failing to disclose the “quarantine skipping incident” to the BOQ in press reports and on social media.

The hotel management’s explanations and public apology were “an admission of not only the facts of the occurrence but also their breaches in their duties as an accredited institution of the Department of Tourism,” according to the ruling.

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