A hotel in Beijing apologized for misuse of its towels, Beijing News reported.

"We apologize to our dear customers and will rectify our management," said Zhou Jia, general manager of Beijing Mehood Hotel, located at East 3rd Ring Road, after maids at the hotel were found cleaning toilets and teacups with bath towels.

The practice was discovered by a journalist from Beijing News who worked at the hotel undercover since Aug 5. "The case is an individual behavior, and the maid has been suspended," said Guo Huizhen, chairman assistant at Mehood Hotel Group, based in Shaanxi, Northwest China.

The Beijing Health Inspection Institute has been investigating the case, and the hotel may be fined.

The group has eight branches across the country and is developing 16 more in East and West China.

Home Inns Group, which has more than 1,800 hotels in 250 cities across China, was also involved in similar scandals in 2012, when its Qingdao branch was reported using filthy cleaning tools and providing unsterilized cups.