Hong Kong Quarantine: Top 6 Tips and Nina Hotel Island South Review
A few months back, I wrote about my experience on what it was like to travel internationally for the first time (almost two years!) since COVID-19 happened. That trip entailed traveling from Hong Kong to France with a layover in Zurich on the way there and Frankfurt on the way back. Part II of that particular story is the mandatory hotel quarantine in which the Hong Kong Government has put in place upon our return. Boy! Was that an out of the world experience!
Luckily, my husband and I were able to catch the momentary relaxation of the travel restrictions and only had to do 7 days of mandatory hotel quarantine (all self-expensed), the regulation in place for fully vaccinated individuals, upon our return. Unfortunately, as of the date I am writing and publishing this, the mandatory hotel quarantine for returning from France has increased to 21 days.
My full review of Nina Hotel Island South for mandatory quarantine with room tour, meal previews, and tips on surviving quarantine!
Pre-Departure from Hong Kong
As it is required by the Hong Kong Government, we had to book our quarantine hotels prior to leaving for our trip. The government regularly publishes the list of hotels designated for quarantine purposes. Make sure you book from the list and book early! Hotels not on the government issued list are not recognized! So don’t think you can just book any random hotel in Hong Kong! Additionally, the booking must be confirmed prior to boarding the flight if you have a round-trip ticket since airlines are required to check for proper documentation or else they will prohibit you from even leaving!
Booking at Nina Hotel Island South
While various OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) such as Trip.com have quarantine packages that are slightly cheaper than booking directly with the hotel, I strongly suggest booking directly with the hotel from the Hong Kong SAR Government approved quarantine hotel list. Reasons being that due to the complex nature and constant changing COVID-19 regulations and travel restrictions not only in Hong Kong but wherever you are traveling from or having a layover at, your trip most likely will change. Changing your itinerary or getting your money refunded will be much simpler when going directly through Nina Hotel Island South than with a third-party site.
For instance, Nina Hotel Island South confirmed for me that our itinerary can be adjusted without a fee if it is a change due to Hong Kong SAR Government policy:
When I originally booked, I booked it for 14 days but a few days before our trip, we learned that we would be eligible for 7 days of quarantine if vaccinated and had an antibody test done prior to departure. Nina Hotel told us that we can just tell the front desk when we check in and they will adjust the booking accordingly without a fee. This was indeed the case!
Although this wasn’t a policy impact, our flight got 1 day delayed due to our airline changing our flight two days prior to our departure from France back to Hong Kong. As a result, we checked into Nina Hotel for quarantine one day later than originally booked. They did not charge us for the day we booked but missed and only charged us for the 7 nights that we stayed for mandatory quarantine.
Quarantine Experience
Overall
Honestly, for 7 days, it was not bad at all! The time seemed much shorter than 7 days and that was probably due to the fact that I slept through 60% of it. I was so jetlagged from the trip and definitely needed the extra sleep to catch up on rest!
Checking In
The check in process took much longer than usual because the staff are required to check a long list of paperwork prior to providing the keys to our rooms. We were one of the firsts in line and the entire check-in took at least 15 minutes to be completed. Upon completion, we were provided with a quarantine booklet, a list of rules for mandatory PCR-testing, an re-emphasizing statement on not violating the quarantine order since it would result in up to 6-months in prison and a 50,000 HKD in fine, as well as test kits for PCR-testing.
Mandatory PCR-tests
We got tested twice during our stay at Nina Hotel. And you are required to be tested every 3 days for a total of 21 days upon arrival to Hong Kong. Because of the remaining 14 days, we were no longer in mandatory hotel quarantine, so we had to go to the Community Testing Centers every 3 days to complete the PCR tests. The tests were free but nonetheless, it was such a hassle to go to the Community Center every 3 days for the rest of our “watch period…”
The first time was a rapid test self-kit that was given to us upon arrival as mentioned earlier. The staff called us for a reminder and came to pick them up at the designated time.
The second time we were tested was with official staff from the Health Department. We received a phone call a few hours as a reminder and 3 staff from the Health Department knocked on our door with their full gear of PPE, goggles, and masks came and did the nose and throat swab after we presented them with our HKID and appropriate paperwork. Super intense but quick nonetheless!
The Room
So glad we purposely looked through all the hotels and chose Nina for the bigger space! The standard rooms are 30 sqm, which gives us an ample amount of room to spread out. There was even a little nook which was large enough to place a yoga mat and do some simple exercises.
Luckily, the street next to the hotel is a very wide one, which allowed the view into Aberdeen to be very open. Our particular view looked upon a few skyscrapers across the street and a soccer field in the nearby park. It also provided a great amount of sunlight into the room throughout the day, which is a big plus!
The bathroom was also spacious enough and came with a bathtub. I usually don’t take baths in hotels for sanitary reasons but being stuck in one for 7 days and nothing else to do definitely enticed me to take one during my stay here!
Amenities & Snacks
Because there was no room service during our entire stay, the staff kindly provided us with an ample amount of alcohol wipes, lysol, a swifer, swifer pads, disposable gloves, disinfectant spray, and other cleaning materials. They also gave us clean sheets and pillow cases.
In addition to the goody bag of cleaning supplies and fresh sheets, the staff also gave us two big goody bags filled with snacks and drinks that included: Pringle Chips, cookies, pastries, Coca-Cola, Vitasoy soy milk, Perrier, and two huge multi liter jugs of water.
The Meals
Like all of the quarantine packages, the one at Nina Hotel comes with 3 meals a day. Overall, the food was much better than I anticipated. The menu is published on the website and there are 3 Choices for the weekly menu: Regular, Healthy, and Halal. We opted for the Regular Menu, which tries to switch it up between Western and Chinese food from meal to meal.
The food does appear to be prepared with higher quality ingredients and the taste was honestly not bad at all. In fact, there were a few meals that I actually thought were quite delicious! It’s always served with a side of grain or starch, meat, and vegetables. They do end up serving cabbage and carrots for its vegetable side quite often, which I got kind of tired of eating towards the end because it was so bland. Definitely prefer the Chinese greens like Bok Choy that they also serve from time to time! The portions are also generous and we oftentimes had a lot of food left over due to the amount given as well as the lack of appetite being stuck in a room for so long.
My only complaint about the food is that there is no fresh coffee served in the morning. We were given instant coffee packs everyday and that stuff was NOT GOOD! Definitely bring your own drip coffee if you are able to stuff it in your suitcase or drop off a goody bag prior to departure, which leads me to my next section!
My Top 6 Quarantine Tips
So with that being said and a quick overview of what the experience is like, here are my top 6 tips on how to make the best out of your time in mandatory hotel quarantine!
Tip 1. Drop off a Goody Bag Prior to Departure (if you already live in Hong Kong) or Pack Quarantine Items in Your Luggage. We packed extra luggage, mostly filled with snacks and condiments, but they were life saving and made our time during quarantine so much better! We brought some Kinder Chocolate, my favorite Japanese Calbee cereal, Oatly oat milk, chili oil, drip coffee, tea, etc. We also brought a monitor for work and a yoga mat for exercise!
Tip 2. Check Reviews of Hotels within Your Budget from the Designated Government List Because All Hotels are NOT EQUAL! The list of designated quarantine hotels regularly published by the Hong Kong SAR Government usually has groups of hotels in various price ranges. And not all hotels are worth the same value for the same price! In fact, some of the hotels offer less square footage, worse food, and poorer service for a higher price compared to some others so be sure to check the reviews out and book early! I highly recommend Nina Hotel Island South as they are one of the more affordable ones with the largest space, super clean, and decent meals!
Tip 3. Book Your Quarantine Hotel as Early as Possible! While finalizing your travel plans during COVID-19 times can be challenging, still try your best to book your quarantine hotel as early as possible! We booked our reservation at Nina Hotel in early May for our mid-August stay and while it was still available, a lot of the other hotels within the same price range and great reviews, like Jen Hotel or Ovolo Hotels were completely booked.
Tip 4. Book Directly with the Hotel. As I mentioned earlier in the post, it is usually much simpler to change your booking when you book directly through the hotel than through a third-party. Because there are often travel disruptions, flight cancellations, changes among other things when traveling under COVID-19 times, it’s best to book directly with the hotel!
Tip 5. Try to Get to the Beginning of the Check In Line when Arriving at the Hotel (Sit in the Front of the Quarantine Bus from the Airport). The entire check in process at the hotel can take up to 15-20 minutes since the staff are required to check a long list of documents and paperwork. Hence, if you are completely exhausted from your flight and travels and want to get to your room ASAP, then try to get in the front of the check-in line! If there are a lot of guests waiting to check in then the entire wait can take up to more than an hour.
Tip 6. Make Sure You Have Good Access to Wifi and Data Prior to Going to Your Quarantine Room. This is related to tip #2 to make sure you read the reviews to see if there’s good wifi connection at your hotel! If not, try to buy a hotspot device or get access to a data network or else you will be bored out of your mind during quarantine!
That is all my beautifuls!
Hope it’s helpful and best of luck with your travels and quarantine planning. Hopefully, travel restrictions will be lifted soon so there won’t be any quarantine needed when traveling from and to Hong Kong!
