Sessional_Paper_1948 — Page 216

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10. We have considered hotels and boarding houses under the following headings:-

(a) Hong Kong Hotel.

Peninsula Hotel.

Repulse Bay Hotel.

Gloucester Hotel.

(b) Residential Hotels.

(c) Chinese operated foreign type hotels.

(d) Chinese Hotels and Boarding Houses.

Each group with the exception of (d) was further considered on the basis of:-

(i) Rates for Accommodation.

(ii) Rates for Food.

(iii) Services and Extra Charges.

11. THE HONG KONG HOTEL, PENINSULA HOTEL, REPULSE BAY HOTEL, GLOUCESTER HOTEL.

(i) Rates for Accommodation.

(a) The accounts of these hotels have been examined and our comments thereon together with separate documents are embodied in Appendix IA.

(b) Based on the facts and figures disclosed by these accounts and the Committee's knowledge of the operations of these hotels we recommend that the accommodation rates approved and which pre- vailed on 31st July, 1948, be maintained as follows:-

Hong Kong Hotel

Peninsula Hotel

Repulse Bay Hotel..

Gloucester Hotel

$16-$24

$16-$24

$18-$36

$16-$24

(c) These rates are on the general basis of two persons occupying a "single" room and three persons occupying a "double" room and will apply to resident guests. This does not preclude these hotels from charging $16 for a person who chooses exclusively to occupy a "single" room or $24 for two persons who choose exclusively to occupy a "double" room.

(d) We further recommend that 80% of the accommodation in the

Peninsula Hotel and

Repulse Bay Hotel

and 20% of the accommodation in the

Hong Kong Hotel and Gloucester Hotel

be set aside for the use of such "resident guests".

(e) These percentages have been arrived at from the Committee's knowledge that before the outbreak of hostilities in Hong Kong, the Peninsula and Repulse Bay Hotels were in the main more residential than were the Hong Kong and Gloucester Hotels.

(f) We appreciate that this recommendation is contrary to the practice followed in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world and that it interferes with the normal course of the hotel industry. We consider, however, that the present exceptional circumstances justify our recommendations.