A customer started screaming in the lobby bar of the luxury PuLi Hotel and Spa in Shanghai when a rat leaped up onto a table plate during a coffee break, a netizen reported.

The rodent had previously run out of the nearby dining area three times, the netizen said.

No staff apologized for the incident but simply asked the customer to switch seats and then rushed to resolve the situation.

"Is this the kind of attitude a five-star hotel should have in handling the incident during the worrying hygiene conditions of COVID-19?" the netizen asked. "I'm afraid that a negative comment has been given lightly."

A screenshot of PuLi Hotel's official website.

The hotel responded by saying that, following the incident, it conducted an internal investigation and contacted a pest control company. It also said it would retrain staff in responding to such emergencies.

It added it would apologize to the guest and investigate the cause of the problem.

The PuLi Hotel, located at 1 Changde Road in Jing'an District, is a five-star luxury hotel positioned as a "Metropolitan Xanadu."

It is managed by Hong Kong-based company Urban Resort Concepts (URC), and is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), a group based in the United States.