With a daily budget of just several hundred yuan, tourists in Shanghai have about a 10 percent chance of staying in a hotel room with subpar hygiene.

Fifty-four budget hotels in Shanghai out of 500 inspected have been penalized for poor hygiene, the city's Health Supervision Department said.

The department recently released the results of inspections of more than 500 economy hotels in the first quarter. among them were branches of many well-known chains, such as Hanting Inns and Hotels, 7 Days Inn, Home Inn and GreenTree Inns.

The inspections checked health permits, hygiene management, facilities, work records, sterilization certificates and staff management.

Most of the 54 hotels failed to provide heath certificates for their staff. Many of them failed to clean and sterilize the daily necessaries, such as sheets, towels and cups according to hotel rules.

Four were penalized for operating businesses without a health permit.

They are branches of the country's well-known hotels GreenTree Inns and 7 Days Inn.

"So far, these 54 hotels have been asked to rectify the concerns within a certain timeframe. And details of the penalties will be released to the public later," said Hu Xuewei, a spokeswoman for the health supervision department.

Regarding the accusation that one employee did not have a health and training certificate to directly serve a guest, a staff member at 7 Days Inn's Siping Road branch in Hongkou district told China Daily that those caught in the spot check are not their "regular employees".