A Johor Bahru homestay operator has praised a group of Singaporean tourists after finding their rented property surprisingly tidy following their stay.
In an Instagram video posted on Aug. 31, a homestay operator known as Xiaoge gave viewers a tour of one of his guesthouses after a group from Singapore had checked out. He jokingly introduced the video by asking viewers to see how “messy” the guests had left the property.
But the tour quickly produced the opposite result.
At the front porch, Xiaoge said the area looked almost exactly as it had before the guests arrived. Inside the living room, the furniture and recreational facilities, including the coffee, mahjong and pool tables, appeared largely untouched.
He even struggled to find evidence that anyone had stayed there, eventually pointing out a few strands of hair on the floor as proof.
The kitchen was similarly tidy, with the crockery left clean. The karaoke room also appeared to have been used very little, prompting Xiaoge to joke that it looked as though nobody had stayed at the property.
The first clear signs of the guests came upstairs, where he found a bed with untidy sheets. Three used towels were also left around a bathroom area.
Xiaoge then praised the guests, saying their behaviour reflected the quality of Singaporeans and suggesting that tourists from other places could learn from them.
The video attracted attention online, with some Singaporean commenters joking that being orderly and considerate was part of their upbringing. Others, however, pointed out that not every Singaporean traveller behaves the same way and that the particular group may simply have been especially considerate.
The story took another turn in a second video posted on Sept. 17.
After another group of Singaporean tourists checked out, Xiaoge found a less pristine property. He showed petrol reportedly spilled on the front porch, beer cans and glass bottles left around the house, and opened bags of snacks on tables.
Even then, he appeared to treat the mess lightly, joking about the unopened drinks and snacks left behind. He also showed a S$1 coin and RM7, which he jokingly described as “tips”.
The contrasting experiences highlight how much guest behaviour can vary even among travellers from the same country. For Xiaoge, however, the first group clearly left a memorable impression — not because they made a mess, but because there was so little for his cleaning staff to deal with after they left.
AsiaOne reported that it had reached out to Xiaoge for further information about the homestay and the guests.
