Nanjing police recently closed down three hotels for illegally operating without business licences and the necessary firefighting equipment, according to report by www.longhoo.cn, a local news website.

The hotels, all located near a wholesale market, were actually apartments with an area of less than 80 square metres.

Each apartment was divided into eight rooms furnished with two beds.

Guests paid 250 yuan (US$31) per month for a bed; the hotel owners raked in about 1,000 yuan (US$123) for an 8-square-metre room every month.

Police said the hotels were popular among businesspeople from the wholesale market and overcrowding could be a fire hazard.

(China Daily April 14, 2006)