jpdx

I’m a visitor, but spending about 100 nights a year in Hong Kong in 2019. This includes some time during the initial protests in June, some time in July, and all of August until now. I think there’s a big misconception about how much this affects daily life. To be honest, apart from having a hotel shuttle bus that was stuck in traffic in mid June, I didn’t really experience any negative impacts of the protests. I walk around 10 miles a day, and it is very rare to see any protesters. One of my friends lives two blocks from the Chinese liaison office, and he’s had tear gassing on three days since mid June. I walked through a couple of riot police staging areas, but they’re very friendly and left me alone. I also saw some graffiti. But in day-to-day life, the impact of the protests is zero.

In fact, visiting Hong Kong is much more enjoyable than usual, because there are virtually no mainland tourists. You can visit TST Promenade, which normally has dozens of buses spewing out thousands of visitors, and right now, you’re practically the only person there. Equally important, hotels have crazy prices around 30 to 50% off the usual low season pricing. HK$1100 for Hyatt TST or HK$750 for the new Marriott Ocean Park. Insane deals!

Now, of course, if you for some reason get impacted by any airport closure and you have to be at an important event, that truly sucks. So perhaps don’t fly through Hong Kong if you’re on the way to interview for an amazing job offer. But for tourists, it’s an ideal time to visit.

As far as safety is concerned, if you’re from the US or Europe, unless you live in the most sheltered and safest environments, Hong Kong -even with the protests- will be much better than what you’re used to.

Davvidd

How are the hotel rates doing now? Is it low compared to normal times?

jerry a. laska

Davvidd

Thank you very much Jerry.

TA

I just made the decision to return to visit and see what's going on (and do usual tourist things) because fares have fallen to $500 rt, and I booked Hilton Garden Inn Mongkok at $60/night. ($480 HKD)

nacho

That's dirt cheap.

allset2travel

A friend told me when she booked her RT SFO-HKG-SFO on CX (from an Oakland TA), her fare was north of $300. For $500+ (total combo), they throw in 3 night of hotel (not sure which hotel).

lifeseeker

The hotel rate dropped sharply. As what I heard from the hotels, the employees was forced to take unpaid vacation this month and next.

SQTraveller

Is there a website or resource that I can use that has a history hotel rates in HK? I'd be interested to see how prices have been affected over the last few months compared with the same periods in the last few years.

CanadianMoocow

Trivago Hotel Price Index got a year's worth of data. Doesn't seem to be a huge change.

https://businessblog.trivago.com/tri...l-price-index/

SQTraveller

Thanks for sharing!!

christep

My perception is that the published prices haven't changed a lot, but that if you call and haggle you can get a deal. I know of someone who negotiated HK$1100/night at the Island Shangri-La last week. That's a price last seen in about 1990!

SQTraveller

That still seems pricey to me but given it's almost half price to what is currently being quoted that's a pretty great price

number_6

I was in Hyatt Regency TST and price was about 50% of the usual rate, club floor looked to be 20% occupancy (rest of hotel maybe 50% so not busy but not empty like during SARS). I chose it because of location; could get bigger discount at some hotels esp. 5-star on Island but some risk such as Pacitic Place being targeted or shut down.
Flew out just before the airport transport shutdown, so I was not affected and Hong Kong is still a charming city well worth visiting either as a tourist or for business. The disruptions are very localized and easily avoided for the most part, though lately the police have taken to having the MRT shut down, seemingly hours before demonstrations. Taxis also seemed scarcer than usual.

SQTraveller

Thanks for giving this extra information. I think Pacific Place will be a problematic location by the general sounds of things. I wonder if the St Regis would be cheaper.

I appreciate your additional colour.