Customers at La Perle in Guangzhou’s Yuexiu District have complained about the bathrooms in the upmarket department store being accessible only to VIP card-holders, Xinkuaibao reports. To get this VIP card, customers must have spent 250,000 RMB at the store or 50,000 RMB there in the past six months.

Ms Liao, the public relations manager of the department store which is located on Huanshi East Road, explained that La Perle was trying to give VIP card-holders a private space. But we all know what can happen when people can’t make it to a toilet.

Because customers had kicked up a stink about the lack of toilet access, a reporter from the paper went to find out for himself what was going on.

On the second floor, there is a ladies toilet for VIPs. There is a gents VIP toilet on the third floor. The other floors all had toilets that were accessible to everyone.

While some say this is fair, others have said that all customers should be treated equally.

Liao explained that the VIP restrooms were installed in April 2012 after being under construction for a year. The walls are made with the best Italian ceramics. Everything is automatic and ultra-modern and the bathroom itself has everything from a changing room to a nursery, according to Liao.

In response to the complaints, Liao said: “We never meant to offend customers who don’t have VIP cards. If a customer has, for example, a small child who desperately needs the toilet, then our staff will consider allowing them in. ”

As far as we know, this is the first department store in Guangzhou to have VIP toilets.