Destinations known | Think a Hong Kong hotel quarantine sounds like a comfortable confinement? Think again

Hospitality groups and properties across Asia are offering 14-day ‘quarantine packages’ for arrivals who need to self-isolate

But life in a 250 sq ft, climate-controlled room leaves plenty to be desired, namely, fresh air

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The lights are on in a single hotel room, in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, in February. Photo: SCMP / Martin Chan

Mercedes Hutton

Published: 8:30am, 1 Apr 2020Updated: 2:50pm, 20 Jul 2020

Tourism across Asia has come to an economy-crippling halt. In Hong Kong, already suffering from a lack of mainland Chinese visitors in the latter part of last year because of the wide-scale protests, the coronavirus outbreak – with its travel restrictions and border-crossing closures – has dealt a death blow to many in the industry.

Hong Kong Tourism Board data for January, which includes the usually busy Lunar New Year period, shows that the city saw almost 53 per cent fewer visitors compared with the same period last year, and that’s before things really ramped up here. A month later, the South China Morning Post reported that arrival numbers had gone into “free fall”, dropping to a daily average of 3,000 from about 100,000 in January, after Hong Kong closed most of its land borders with the mainland in early February. On March 29, just 354 non-residents arrived, according to the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

With many hotels reporting single-digit occupancy rates, operators have been forced to become creative, with some offering 14-day “quarantine packages”, hoping to cash in on the arrivals and returnees who have come into Hong Kong since March 19, when a mandatory two-week isolation period was imposed.

Dorsett Hospitality’s nine Hong Kong hotels were quick off the mark, launching a 14-day package from as little as HK$3,920 (US$506). The Park Lane Hong Kong, in Causeway Bay, is offering long-stay deals of 14 days from HK$12,600. The Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong, in Hung Hom, and Hotel Jen and The Best Western Plus Hotel Hong Kong, both in Sai Ying Pun, are all advertising 14-day deals, although not specifically for quarantine purposes.

And surely there are worse places in which to spend 14 days self-isolating than a hotel? Well, yes, of course – but nevertheless, two weeks in one of Hong Kong’s cramped hotel rooms does not a comfortable confinement make.

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Destinations known | Think a Hong Kong hotel quarantine sounds like a comfortable confinement? Think again

Destinations known | Think a Hong Kong hotel quarantine sounds like a comfortable confinement? Think again