My family just returned from three days in HK. We arrived there Monday (day after the HK election) and returned yesterday (US Thanksgiving day). We stayed at Hyatt Regency TST. I've probably been to HK 10 times now. In general, things were pretty normal. I felt like there were fewer tourists and fewer crowds. Some subway station entrances are still closed (i.e. Tsim Sha Tsui). One business owner complained about business being very slow. We avoided HK island and did stuff in Kowloon the whole time. Partly because we were lazy and partly out of caution.
The day we arrived there was a protest in Central and a disturbance in TST. We would never have known if I hadn't read about it online.
I was also there by myself for three days last month. I had a similar experience that time as well. If I hadn't read about it in the news, I really wouldn't have known anything was happening. During that visit, I spent time in Central, Sheung Wan, and Mid Levels. I did see a protest on Nathan Road one night, but quickly walked away from it. I did not witness any conflict of any kind.