Tourism Board website hosting HK$10 million hotel discount giveaway in Hong Kong crashes under intense demand
- The board is offering the discounts on rooms at 140 hotels across the city, although to be eligible, residents must spend HK$800 at certain venues
- The webpage only gave information on the availability of the 20,000 slots on offer but was never meant to be a booking site
The website hosting the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s giveaway of HK$10 million (US$1.28 million) worth of hotel discounts crashed on Friday under intense demand from the public.
The website “Staycation Delights – Holiday At Home” which is offering discounts worth HK$500 (US$64) for 20,000 hotel bookings, was offline for half the day as eager users tried to access the page at 10am on Friday. More than half of the hotels participating were booked out by the evening.
Under the promotion, people who spend at least HK$800 between March 26 and May 31 at designated physical retail or dining outlets can get a HK$500 discount for a hotel staycation package at the participating hotels.
Some 20,000 bookings were up for grabs covering 140 local hotels, including leading brands such as The Peninsula in Kowloon and The Ritz-Carlton in West Kowloon. They were among the first to run out of discounts. Based on an online price tracker, The Peninsula charges an average of HK$2,888 for a single room for one night, while The Ritz-Carlton charges HK$2,679.
The tourism board said it was investigating why the website was inaccessible, but that the was restored around 3pm. A spokeswoman clarified the webpage was never meant to be a booking site, and residents should redeem the discounts directly with the hotels. The webpage only provided information on which hotels still had slots available under the promotion.
As of 7pm, rooms at 80 out of the 140 participating hotels, or about 57 per cent, were booked under the promotion.
Rooms for the Cordis Hotel in Mong Kok were also sold out on the first day of the promotion.
Shane Pateman, the five-star hotel’s managing director, said the reservation team handled the booking inquiries by phone and email throughout the day after the crash.
“We have received inquiries in excess of the number of rooms allocated and we will get back to the clients to confirm the booking. We expect it to be resolved within 24 hours,” Pateman said. “It shows the enthusiasm that is there in the local community to spend locally and enjoy staycations.”
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The mid-ranged iClub by Regal Hotels is also offering staycation packages priced between HK$500 and HK$977 per room for one night. The hotel chain created an in-house site specifically for the tourism board’s offer and a dedicated hotline so customers can redeem the discount.
Tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the board should upgrade its technology to keep up with the trend of online promotions.
“As the Hong Kong Tourism Board is a well known brand and promoter of the city, they should learn from this experience to improve their systems so that local consumers can benefit from the scheme, and also to make their platforms well-designed for overseas users once travel resumes after we ride out the coronavirus pandemic,” Yiu said.
This was not the first time the board’s online campaigns have run into technical difficulty. In 2019, the board held a raffle draw to welcome the new year but the webpage hosting the online event crashed as soon as it opened, leaving many people disappointed they would not have a chance at vacation prizes totalling HK$4 million.
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For 2020, hotel occupancy fell to 46 per cent compared to 79 per cent the previous year, while the rate was 91 per cent in 2018, according to data from the board. Hong Kong welcomed only 3.57 million arrivals in 2020, down nearly 94 per cent year on year.
“The promotion campaign will only give a temporary boost to the hotel sector as long as travel restrictions are in place, but the scheme is still a valuable way for the tourism board and hotels to work together during tough times,” Yiu added.
