Compare the room rate and surroundings of Peninsula Hotel in 1938 and 2020
Hong Kong’s Peninsula Hotel is an attraction because of its grand architecture, beautiful interior and long history.
Peninsula Hotel night view in 2016 Christmas
Frank the tour guide finds the interesting details of the hotel in an old Hong Kong guidebook (香港指南).
Hong Kong Guidebook was published in 1938.
In this blog post, Frank compares the Peninsula Hotel’s room rate and surroundings (view, transport and things-to-do) in 1938 and 2020.
Peninsula Hotel ground floor lobby cafe
Frank served a lot of guests of Peninsula Hotel before the pandemic.
Peninsula Hotel’s Christmas decoration in 2016
In 2020, all hotels in Hong Kong are struggling for survival under the pandemic.
Peninsula Hotel in 2020
Frank hopes vaccines can bring everything back to normal step by step in 2021.
Thus Frank can pick up the guests of Peninsula Hotel at its lobby again in 2021 at the beginning of his easy Hong Kong private tour service.
Peninsula Hotel’s room rate is always high because the surroundings are always good
The Hong Kong Guidebook showed that room rate of Peninsula Hotel in 1938 was 11 to 30 Hong Kong Dollars per night.
Peninsula Hotel in 1953 (Photo scanned from the Voice)
Its rate was the second highest and was just lower than the rate of Repulse Bay Hotel.
According to the hotel booking websites, the room rate of Peninsula in 2020 under the pandemic is still about 3000 to 4000 Hong Kong Dollars per night.
It is still a very high hotel room rate in Hong Kong.
The good surroundings can explain why the rate is so high.
In 1938, the grand Peninsula Hotel building was the tallest building in the Kowloon Peninsula.
From Peninsula Hotel harbor view room in 1960, guests saw Salisbury Road, Railway Terminus (Clock Tower), Star Ferry, Kowloon Wharf, Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island. (Photo scanned from the Voice)
Thus the hotel guests could enjoy the amazing view of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island from their harbor view rooms easily.
Old painting shows you Hong Kong’ Victoria Harbor view in the early 1950s. Guests saw the similar view from the harbor view rooms of Peninsula Hotel in the past.
In 2020, hotel guests can still enjoy the good harbor view, especially from the harbor view rooms in the new tower.
The buildings do not block the view of the rooms of Peninsula Hotel (building in between the UBS signboard and the blue logo) in 2020.
Good transport is another reason for the high room rate.
In 1938, Peninsula Hotel was very close to the Kowloon Wharf and Railway Terminus.
Ocean Liner berthed at Kowloon Wharf, which was closed to the Peninsula Hotel, in 1935. (Photo scanned from the Voice)
After disembarking the ocean liners at Kowloon Wharf, guests could take the rickshaws to go to Peninsula Hotel in 5-10 mins.
It was easy to take the rickshaw to go to Peninsula Hotel from the Kowloon Wharf. (Photo scanned from the Voice)
Guests could take the train on the opposite side of the hotel to go to Mainland China very easily.
Train left the railway terminus opposite to Peninsula Hotel. (Photo scanned from the Voice)
Actually it only took 18 days to go to Berlin by train from Hong Kong (Travelers needed to get through Wuhan, Beijing, Siberia, Moscow and Warsaw)!
Railway Terminus was redeveloped to be the Hong Kong Cultural Center. The Clock Tower of the terminus is kept as the heritage. You can see the tower of the Peninsula Hotel behind the curved rooftop of Cultural Center.
In 2020, it is even easier to go to Mainland China by the high speed train from the West Kowloon Station (about 10 mins taxi ride from Peninsula Hotel).
Chinese Railway Highspeed train takes only 8 hours to go to Beijing from Hong Kong.
Of course it can shorten your train journey to Europe or even to England a lot!
The Ocean Terminal, which has replaced the Kowloon Wharf, is still close to Peninsula Hotel.
Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 cruise will have a world cruise in 2022 (Please read the post for details). Photo shows its sister ship, Queen Elizabeth, berthing at Ocean Terminal.
The modern terminal offers good cruise experience and other things-to-do (shopping, dining etc.) to the hotel guests.
In 1938, apart from the hotel, guests could get shopping and dining on Nathan Road.
The guests could take the Star Ferry to go to Hong Kong Island for sightseeing.
Star Ferry leaves Tsim Sha Tsui Pier duirng sunset. Ocean Terminal on the right is empty.
In 2020, there are a lot more things-to-do near the Peninsula Hotel for the guests.
A lot of locations nearby have been revitalized for the hotel guests to TIY, tour it yourselves.
| In 1938 | In 2020 |
|---|---|
| Marine Police Headquarters | Heritage 1881 Mall |
| Whitfield Barracks | Kowloon Park |
| Railway Terminus | Old Clock Tower, Space Museum, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Hong Kong Art Museum |
1881 Heritage Mall in 2020 Christmas
Cultural Center and Clock Tower under the cloudless blue sky in the fall
Apart from the Harbor City Mall, guests can get good shopping and dining experience in the new malls, K11, K11 Musea, iSquare etc.
K11 is in the White Masterpiece Building. K11 Musea is in the tall and silver Victoria Dockside Building.
Frank the tour guide hopes he can pick up Peninsula Hotel guests at its lobby again 2021
Peninsula Hotel and other hotels in Hong Kong are now struggling for survival by doing staycation or quarantine business under the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chinese, Western and Russian vaccines are coming.
Frank hopes the world can get back to normal in 2021 gradually.
Thus Frank can pick up the guests at Peninsula Hotel lobby at the start of his Hong Kong private tour service.
See amazing view of Victoria Harbor at Victoria Peak during our half day private car tour.
Visit beautiful Nan Lian Garden during Hong Kong Kowloon full day private car tour.
Visit the World heritage building, St Paul’s Ruins, during our full day Macau private car tour.
For further questions, please contact Frank
