The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels HSH is primarily an owner-operator of upmarket hotels. These hotels are so upmarket, guests at its flagship property, The Peninsula in Hong Kong, are driven around in a fleet of 14 Rolls-Royce limousines - at least the ones who don't mind paying HK$800 $103 an hour are.
Then again, HSH is not in the backpacker market, especially in Hong Kong where it refuses to compete on price with the Special Administrative Region's other five-star hotels. In 1999, The Peninsula achieved an average room rate of HK$2,834, against which the Hong Kong five-star sector achieved HK$1,590. That the hotel was typically half-empty was by-the-by.
ôWhen...