But if you look at it from another angle, the definition of "zero-covid" has changed. From truly zero, to dynamic zero to 社会性清零. The goalposts have shifted.

It seems to me that they're ok with say 100 cases in a city now, as long as all those people can be traced and confined, but probably not more than that. This is a really slow "flattening of the curve."

In this context, it makes sense to shorten quarantines for overseas arrivals, as long as they and their friends can be found and quarantined again if they do become positive.

I think they have realised that quarantine is by definition leaky and rather than applying maximum pressure to the Q process it's more sensible to deal with the inevitable leaks into the community.

Update from Hangzhou, for my final 7 days of Q. I was released from Q in Shanghai after 14 days on May 23. However, no hotel in Shanghai was accepting new guests. I even asked Marriott Ambassador Service to help but to no avail. I called 22 Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Shanghai and I could not find a single one to accept me. The list includes JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, W hotel etc.

The only option is to continue staying at Shanghai Q hotel which wasn't too appealing to me. Almost ALL cities in China require folks out of Shanghai to quarantine for minimum 14 days. Hangzhou only requires 7. So I decided to go to Hangzhou. Securing a train ticket was challenging since trains are very limited and there is almost zero flights out of Shanghai these days until the end of May. I am a veteran train traveler and skilled user of 12306 app (China railway) and got my ticket on May 24. So I stayed at Q hotel for an extra night. They were kind to let me stay. See pictures below. This is a very nice hotel.

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There was almost no public transportation, and I had 5 pieces of luggage. A friend with connection to the local government arranged a van with city permit (a pass necessary to go to various parts of the city and airports). We dropped 2 bags to my in-laws (lot of stuff brought from the US), and directly went to Hongqiao Railway station. 48 hour PCR test and 24 hour RAT were needed to board a train.

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It was very smooth ride to the train station. There was zero traffic.

The station was very crowded. Even business class lounge was packed full.

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Many people waited months to leave Shanghai.

This looks like Spring Festival traffic jam.

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Business class was super nice. I had a comfy ride. Most importantly, it took very little effort to store my 3 bags.

At Hangzhou East Railway station, a government employee was waiting for me at the platform. He led me going through all sorts of inspection stops. The train station exit was a zoo. The waiting lines for COVID test, Q registration, etc. were very long, probably stretched to a mile. Basically I bypassed all these lines and saved at least 1-2 hours. I took a quick RAT. Finally, I was on the bus to my Q hotel, alone. I saw these buses were fully packed with arriving pax to various Q hotels. Pax from the entire train are put on different buses depending on the districts of their home. Needless to say, I appreciated the VIP treatment. Otherwise it's going to be really a rough process for me carrying 3 bags.



https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...07361cbf05.jpg


My Q hotel is a modern, 5-star hotel. A lovely and spacious family suite was awaiting for me. I was stunned. This could be the best Q hotel room in CHINA. The food offering is better than Shanghai by a mile. I feel that I am on vacation. I prefer not to upload pictures of my nice, roomy, comfy suite because I don't want to upset those who have stayed at crappy, small, ugly and dirty Q hotel rooms.

I look forward to my release on May 31, and have many lavish dinner invitations in Hangzhou already. This is one of my favorite cities in China.

At this point, my China trip has been very smooth and pleasant. It will only get better!

Were you able to get out on May 31st and enjoy the lavish dinner in Hangzhou? I’m interested to hear how the trip is going and if you have plans to return to Shanghai now that it’s open.

I never imagined that I'd be saying this, but closed Shanghai was actually far more pleasant than half-open Shanghai from my standpoint (remember, I went outside exploring almost every day).

By the way, back on topic…. Are you allowed to choose your quarantine hotel in shanghai after landing at PVG?

I know previously this is not allowed but not sure if the situation has changed.

Perhaps kb1992 is the best person to answer this

No offense to kb1992, but kb1992 is probably the WORST person to answer this; what goes for kb1992 does not apply to us mere mortals!!!!
:D

I was released on May 31, and had no trouble to check in at Hangzhou Marriott. I asked, and was given an upgrade to a very nice river view family suite,

Dinners were a challenge because I had only stayed in Hangzhou for 7 days, and my 行程卡 still had Shanghai trace. Therefore I still have a Star sign showing I was in Shanghai within the past 14 days. This would deny my entry to any fancy restaurant. I need to be out of Shanghai for 14 days, e.g. after June 7 to eliminate Shanghai record.

I did use my 2nd phone which was only turned on after I arrived in Hangzhou, so this one has no Star sign. But my PCR test results are on the first phone, so that's tricky.

I will upload some pictures in Hangzhou. Beautiful city.

Of course you have no right to choose Q hotels, unless you have connections.

It's a bit embarrassment for me to admit that you know too much :-)

By the way, I have zero desire to return to Shanghai when all cities require Q for folks out of Shanghai.

I can't go to Shanghai because I'll get stuck there. Don't want another Q.

I'll wait when Shanghai no longer has Star sign.

For recent data points, I am only able to report what others have told me, and we're talking about a small sample size. Nevertheless, the following observations might be useful:
-it is possible to reserve specific hotels in advance (not upon arrival) if you have connections, and many people seem to be reasonably well connected, so why not ask your HR for starters?
-failing that, if you have a China address (personal, company, client), you should be able to get a hotel in the same district (pending availability); this can be of strategic relevance because some districts don't have awful Q hotels
-you might be offered several different price options at the airport and/or upon check-in at the hotel (e.g. my friend who flew to Xiamen was able to pay 700/night for a room that had a private garden)
-food (3 meals/day) seems to be included in most room rates; if you find you can do better by ordering 外卖 (depends on hotel policies and available options), you should be able to cancel some/all remaining meals, but maybe give yourself a day or two before pulling that trigger (my hotel only accepted deliveries before noon, so I had to work on logistics before I was comfortable making the switch)
-try to make a Costco (or at least grocery store) run before you come over here; you almost certainly won't pay less locally, and you'll have foods that you like to fall back upon

Thanks kb1992 and moondog for the replies.

What moondog said about choosing between price points makes a lot of sense, but from kb1992's response it doesn't seem to be an offering in Shanghai?

I remember seeing a while back a spreadsheet of quarantine hotels and specs (cost, deliveries allowed, etc.). Is there an up-to-date version still maintained?

He prebooked his hotel and presumably was given several options.

I was talking about people who show up at the airport and still don't have hotels or at the hotel and want a better room. I wasn't given a choice myself, either because choices weren't offered at the time or because they wanted all of us in the waiting area to go to the same hotel. I believe that you might be offered several options if you try it now, assuming there is enough demand to warrant such.

I was given no options, other than my connection promised a nice Q hotel. I didn't know until I arrived at my Q hotel.

It's a myth that you have any options before you flying to China. There is none.

The spread sheets of Q hotels in Shanghai are just compiled by people who reported their experiences.

In almost all cases, the people in the waiting area will be sent to the same Q hotel.

It's completely random.

The man who I met on the airplane was given a CHOICE (via his own HR) between Courtyard XJH and the Jianguo. He opted for the former, and that is where he stayed.

Throughout most of this thread, we have been using inductive reasoning (i.e. empirical evidence) because that's all that we have to work with. This approach has suited us reasonably well but doesn't shed much light on actual policies.

Done this three times in Shanghai and what you descirbed is what I experienced.
The three hotesl I experienced went from average > bad> terrible, and after the third experience, I puilled the plug and left China and parked in HK.
I must say the HK airport landing experience and the two quarantine (both 7-day) experiences were much better than my Shanghai quarantine experience. I have choice of hotels, and choice of menu for each meal.

Your chance of getting offered options at the airport are 2, slim and none. And none is leading the race by a mile.

Basically you get what you get and you don’t get upset. Nothing is pleasant or easy (or cheap) about flying to China these days.

Completely agree with both of you.

People have no options or choices about Q hotels whatsoever, save a very few who have strong connections in China.

I received a 5-star Q hotel in Shanghai specifically for diplomats, and another 5-star Q hotel in Hangzhou (a suite), but these are exceptions as I have connections to the officials who assign Q hotels in both cities.

It's totally expected that HK quarantine experience is far better than Shanghai.

There seems to be some conflating going on here leading to misleading conclusions.
There were (are?) SOME districts in Shanghai that allowed the choice of Quarantine hotel, providing one's final destination was in those districts.
This did not -and does not- apply to all non-participating districts or anyone with a final destination outside of Shanghai.

1. It is possible to book a specific hotel before you leave your home country, assuming you or your employer are well connected; MNCs like Apple and SOEs have an advantage in this area
2. Failing that, when you arrive in Shanghai, you have the opportunity to pick a district (but, almost certainly not a specific property) from the ~9 on offer. The people at individual district desks ask for an address, which you may or may not need to prove (e.g. lease, piece of mail, temp residence form, business card, invitation letter, etc)
3. If you're final destination is outside of Shanghai and you tell them this, you're probably stuck with luck of the draw, BUT if your company has an office in Shanghai, and you like the area (you can't leave your room so location doesn't matter too much, but maybe there are good food delivery options), it doesn't hurt to say that you'd prefer to stay nearby
4. It is okay (and common) to change your post-quarantine plan during those 2 weeks; you just need to advise the hotel on day 13 where you are going next

Update from Hangzhou
 

Update from Hangzhou.

After I left my suite of Q hotel, I checked in at Hangzhou Marriott and got another family suite, upgraded from regular room. The hotel staff are very nice to this Marriott Ambassador. They didn't even ask for health code etc.

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My room has magnificent views of Qiantangjiang 钱塘江 River.

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I had a funny story when I tried to visit a beauty salon at a large mall near Marriott. Guards at gate 1 refused to let me in because he saw my 14-day history with a star sign with Shanghai listed from my phone A. So I went to gate 2 and produced phone B which has no Shanghai trace. I only turned phone B on after I arrived in Hangzhou :-)

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Dinner at Marriott executive lounge. Nice view. Nice food.


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Touring West Lake, a favorite site in Hangzhou for me. I visit there every year. There are very few tourists. Nice.

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Finally, some delicious dishes in Hangzhou, treated by friends.


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My total cost of meals in Hangzhou: zero.

My next stop is Chengdu. Another favorite city in China for me.

Apologies; it wasn't 100% clear from your previous posts that lying & cheating was required to get a choice of hotel.
I understand now.

Added:
This is an open forum, followed by many, many people.
If someone asks a simple and general question: "Can you choose your quarantine hotel in Shanghai?",
the answer should reflect whether this is generally allowed and possible, and clearly spell out that if a 'loophole' exists that could be exploited, that this is done by bending the rules.

Here the answer is clearly:
----->
No, you can not choose your quarantine hotel in Shanghai, unless:
1) your final destination is in specific districts within Shanghai that allow choice of hotel (very, very few did, not sure if they still do), or
2) have significant connections, or
3) you lie and cheat about your final destination, in which case you can POTENTIALLY choose a specific district with better quarantine hotels

I mean, after the initial Quarantine, all bets are off; then it depends solely on geographical location, and what the flavor the current quarantine situation happens to be.
The following pics (also Marriott) are from late last year of the +7 'quarantine' hotel in Shanghai; but UA_Flyer's trip just a couple of months later already saw that option heavily restricted.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3bc43b8010.png

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...675d4b5646.png

Being locked in a Marriott ain’t that exciting to me either, suite or not.

The rest of the world is open, life is short.

I am guessing that many people who come to Shanghai have some sort of business in Shanghai, even if their final destination is somewhere else. It's possible to convey the message without lying.

Well, that's what I mean; it's a matter of timing: I had an awesome week in Shanghai for my +7, and could move around freely.
It was a great holiday!

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Completely disagree; I'd say most people who came/come to quarantine in Shanghai have absolutely no "business" in Shanghai.
Most seem to have been school teachers or returning Chinese citizens with final destinations all over China.

I said "many" not "most" because I don't pretend to know where everyone wants to end up. Perhaps my perspective is skewed because I am based in Shanghai and the majority of my friends in China are as well, but even when I lived in Beijing and later Shenzhen, I always had offices here. Furthermore, I'm guessing simply listing a friend's address (and maybe an invitation letter) would pass muster with the airport guys. In any event, I think you're blowing this out of proportion because the only downside to trying and failing is ending up inside a hotel room in a different part of the city.

So, most importantly, did you use the child tent and bath toys? :)

What a charming suite. Was the pink rocking horse fun? Did you sleep with the big stuffed animal on the sofa?

Didn't use bath toys... it's simply too small :D

I did have a nap with the stuffed animal on the sofa :p The pink rocking horse was fun. Just to stare at it in the morning.

Well, it was quarantine. Did you speak to the pink rocking horse? Did it speak back? :p

Sounds very I Am Legend to me

So Taiwan is allowing transits from JUN 15. Does this mean that you can fly into mainland China without needing a code?
https://www.cdc.gov.tw/En/Bulletin/D...oiw?typeid=158

I thought China was still banning incoming people from transiting in 3rd countries if direct flights existed?

China does not ban such passengers. However, Chinese embassies/consulates will refuse to issue health codes to transit passengers where direct flights exist. Obviously if health codes are not required then it's not an issue.
Having said that, prior to the current general transit ban coming into play in 2021, Taiwan had already banned transit passengers going to China. So it remains to be seen whether they will allow that along with other transits.

Reducing quarantine to 7+3
 

Seems like there might be a pinprick of light at the end of a very long tunnel to possible COVID normality at some point this decade...

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-06-2...rRC/index.html

Edit to add that this is post number 2000, but how many more will we need before the borders are open, flights are back to normal, no backlog of visas, etc.

very limited people still care

I follow it purely for an indicator of economic outlook and how badly China will implode and impact the global economy.

Any human being on earth who has the privilege of the option to NOT be in China should not even think about trying to enter [mod edit] the country regardless of what "improved" policies they try to sell you.

meh I’m _really_ bored

if it was 3+4 like Taiwan and tourist visa was easy I’d go

Well 7+3 isn't that far off from 3+4. Let's see if they'll further reduce it, and generally stop crazyness of lockdowns. After the autumn election, sounds quite realistic.

I mean, when I look at the rules of what want-to-be tourists have to follow when visiting Japan, that's equally a total turnoff imho. (This being about China, I won't elaborate further, everyone here should know how to use a search engine)

With flight costs skyhigh like at the moment, the current policy imho is only attractive for business travellers where the company will "eat up the time" and/or for urgent travel.

Once airfares are lower AND requirements further reduced, travel will pick up eventually.

policy can change on a dime and you could get stranded indefinitely