State liquor stores and beer distributors are open, of course, as they are “life-sustaining”. :rolleyes:

https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvan...avirus-spread/

Actually, they're foolishly closing those: https://www.abc27.com/community/all-...-indefinitely/

People aren't going to go without, so they're going to drive long distances, across state borders to get booze.

Mandatory quarantine for everyone arriving in Hong Kong (Marriott edition)
 

So I arrived in Hong Kong on Friday afternoon on CX from SIN after staying overnight Thursday/Friday airside in transit from a connecting BA flight from London. I was through the airport in no time with only minor delays. By the time I got to the Visitor immigration desks there was nobody ahead of me in the queue and I got my checked bag and headed to the taxis. Clearly almost everyone arriving at HK at the moment is a resident. Everyone gets a wristband with a barcode and you supply them with your mobile number (I have a HK mobile number but I guess any will do) and your nominated quarantine address in Hong Kong so you need to have sorted this out before you complete the formalities. Later you receive an SMS with a code that you enter into an app on your phone that reports your location with a variety of environmental settings (GPS, wifi, bluetooth) for two weeks and ensures you don't leave. There's no option to give your final destination as Shenzhen any more even though you could in theory go straight to Shenzhen Bay checkpoint and cross over. You'd be in contravention of the quarantine law you just signed if you did so and I wouldn't fancy your chances of getting into HK on your passport again in the future if you did break the law like this.

I had already contacted two Marriott hotels (Courtyard Sha Tin and Ovolo Southside) and both had processes to accommodate quarantine guests for ~HK$800 a night. In the same price range were the two Mira hotels, Le Meridien and Marriott Ocean Park. The Courtyard wanted me to sign a long-stay contract agreeing that I'd get no housekeeping (fair enough) or Platinum benefits (upgrade, free breakfast, lounge/happy hour benefit) and, strangely, could not have food delivered from outside instead offering a HK$400 a day upsell option for thee meal boxes a day. Ovolo also emphasised that I could have no contact with the outside world but included its regular guest benefits of breakfast and a happy hour amenity to be left outside my door. I know people at Ovolo and even though the room is smaller than the Courtyard I really value being at a hotel that makes me feel welcomed under the circumstances. I've stayed here 5-6 times as have my sisters, parents, nephews, and aunt on my recommendation. They put a new yoga mat in the room so I can exercise when I requested it (they have these complementary branded yoga mats in some of the larger rooms anyway). Both hotels are clearly following government guidelines for accommodating quarantine guests and I had my temperature taken at check in and completed another health declaration.

So that's it. I'm in solitary confinement in a 260 sq. ft. Deluxe Queen room for the next 14, no, make that 13 days with the countdown showing on the quarantine app. I have a view of the sports ground where I can watch youths running around and - cruelly - the hotel's 4th floor outdoor patio area where free people go to enjoy their happy hour drinks in the evening. And most importantly, this 14-night stay will accrue points and qualifying nights and serve as my qualifying first stay for the current Elevated Earning promo. Not that it's likely I'll be able to stay anywhere else during its validity period.

So we know that Marriott is offering free cancelation/changes per their COVID statement on the website. I see advance purchase rates that state non refundable if canceled less than 1 day before arrival so thats fine... but I've still seen some that say non refundable if not canceled within 1 day of booking. Seems they missed a few of those rates?

Fascinating. Thank you for sharing. Going to be a long 14 days! There's not even much to read on FT anymore. :(

Stay well.

That's interesting that hotels are accepting quarantine pax. I didn't think they would.
[MENTION=752658]ftrichard[/MENTION] - good luck to you! Stay safe over there.

Welcome to HK! A lot of people live in under 260sq feet here but at least we can leave our apartments and go for harbour walks! I’m glad the process has been smooth for you. How did you get from the airport to the hotel?

Taxi. Once the wristband was on (the only additional step at Immigration) the rest of it was quite normal and quick (except the Visitor e-channel is closed at the moment). No guidelines on transport. As I'm sure you know, HKers are well behaved by international standards when it comes to social distancing and preventative measures. The only health check was the temperature check. The app does have a button on it to call for help though.

The quarantine thing is a bit silly if there isn’t designated transport. I heard of some people taking 2 or 3 crowded trains to get home from the airport for their home quarantine. At least you took a taxi. We’ve been wearing masks when going out for at least 7 - 8 weeks now. I’ve been catching up on Netflix series so maybe you should do the same. Or it could be a good time to plan your travel for later in the year / search for BRGs as you have a lot of time on your hands!

Will you then have to quarantine when you're back in Shenzhen? You might especially as you came back from UK in 14/15 days... Even if govt doesn't force you, there is a good chance your housing compound will since you were in HK.

This is a good question and one for which there is no clear answer and - frankly - if you have any experience of being a foreigner in China then you'll appreciate that getting a clear answer is never going to happen and it will very much depend on random, local conditions when you get on and do it.

In my favour, there's the latest Shenzhen guidelines that do not impose quarantine on foreigners entering from HK if you've not come from another country in the last 14 days which I won't have done (and I've kept every scrap of documentation to prove so - I'm not an amateur at this). Second, I work for a Chinese company with a massive amount of clout in Shenzhen and its own quarantine hotel, clinic, and medical staff who can do whatever is needed to look after the returning employees so my return will not be typical. They will also deal with my housing management in Futian and - as I say - we have a lot of clout so nonsense should be minimised.

More to the point, I'll have 29 qualifying nights after this quarantine so need to find 21 nights for the rest of the year which would be easy in normal times (I want to ensure I get the qualifying year) but in these end of days if I'm limited at best to domestic travel I suspect the W Guangzhou and Le Meridien Xiaojing Bay will be my friends throughout the rest of the year. There's also the St. Regis Zhuhai that I wouldn't mind trying and I'd go back to Le Meridien Xiamen.

Over the border they put you in designated transport driven by guys in hazmat suits behind sealed plastic barriers. But that may be overkill. I didn't know what to expect when I arrived and I was happy surprised that it was straightforward and the assumption was that I would be a responsible citizen. As everyone arriving at HKG is going into quarantine either at home or a hotel now, I imagine they take the view that there's little risk to the taxi driver as you're both wearing masks and you don't have symptoms at that point. Up to the taxi driver anyway if they want to do airport runs at this time.

Marriott rates still seem expensive during this pandemic.

In my small sample size, I compared pricing of various Marriott hotels vs. Hilton hotels in the Washington D.C. area and it seems that Hilton hotels are significantly less. For example, Marriott pricing still exceeds their own Jan/Feb low season pricing.

I suspect that the price war will kick in once US Europe and most of Asia has declared that the virus infections are slowing and no more bottle necks in the healthcare system, when hotels open up again (minus the ones that went belly up) there will be a huge supply increase in the market but I suspect demand will still be far from what it was before cov19