Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s 21-day quarantine bombshell triggers hotel scramble with availability all but wiped out until mid-September
- Travellers needing 21 days of quarantine face major headaches in booking designated rooms in coming weeks following rule changes
- Only two of Hong Kong’s 36 quarantine hotels have space – one package costs HK$57,300
Travellers needing to book three weeks of hotel quarantine in Hong Kong will probably have to wait until mid-September for availability, according to a Post analysis, after the sudden imposition of stricter rules triggered a scramble for rooms at designated facilities.
But high demand has prompted the government to request that the existing hotel network make hundreds more rooms available to the travelling public, providing a glimmer of hope to those overseas and struggling to enter the city.
The only availability for three-week bookings in August was at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers, which charged a total of HK$57,300, or HK$2,728 a night, for its mainhouse executive suite, and the Best Western Hotel Causeway Bay, costing HK$8,907. The other hotels can start accepting such bookings again between late September and November.
Guests only looking for two-week quarantine stays have more options. At least five hotels – the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers, Best Western Plus Hotel Hong Kong, Best Western Hotel Causeway Bay, Nina Hotel Island South and Four Points by Sheraton Hong Kong, Tung Chung – had availability for check-in between Friday and Sunday.
Causeway Bay’s Best Western was the most affordable of the five, with its HK$5,848 quarantine package. The remaining hotels only have two-week availability from between September and November.
The Food and Health Bureau reported that the average booking rate for the 36 hotels in September was at about 83 per cent on Thursday, a jump of 13 per cent from the corresponding figure the Post obtained on Tuesday.
