Luring guests to new hotel shouldn't be a hard cell

The 110-year-old Tai O Police Station is back in business - this time as an upmarket hotel.

Daryl Ng Win-kong, director of the Heritage Conservation Foundation, said accommodation at the boutique hotel would be comparable to a four-star hotel. 'This is a non-profit-making project,' said Ng, also an executive director of Sino Land. 'Any surplus will be ploughed back into the upkeep of the historic building and the promotion of the fishing village culture of Tai O.'

The station was put up for a revitalisation scheme in 2008, under which the government provides funds to renovate historic sites and leases them to social enterprises.

Ng said at yesterday's launch there would be an open house from Thursday to March 20 and the hotel would receive its first guests on March 21.

There will be guided tours of the nine-room hotel five times a day.

The reception, showing the history of Tai O and the police station, and a restaurant, will be open to the public. Managers said it would be very affordable, charging HK$30 for a drink and HK$70 for a main dish.

A lift follows the gradient of the slope on which the hotel stands, instead of moving up vertically. Project architect Philip Liao said the design ensured the project fitted into the landscape.

Ng expects the nine rooms, charging from HK$1,380 to HK$2,300 a night, to be in high demand. The hotel is hoping it will attract conferences and staff gatherings on weekdays and wedding parties.

Meanwhile, the Civil Engineering and Development Department has completed improvement works in other areas of Tai O, including installing telescopes at two dolphin-watching pavilions and beautifying fences near a mangrove area.

It will build a river wall at Yat Chung, carry out drainage works and upgrade a garden in front of Kwan Tei Temple in the village centre.

But it did not mention a previous plan to revitalise disused salt pans for salt manufacturing. It said only that Tai O revitalisation was on ongoing process and it would consider further proposals.