I know that weekends and holiday times are the most expensive time to travel and to stay in hotels, and I wonder why this is. Is it because they have to pay staff extra? If it is I can understand this, but why is it so much more expensive?

Recently I went to Hong Kong when it was the national holiday in China. The plane tickets usually costs around 1,600 rmb to fly directly to Hong Kong. This time however it was 2,400rmb and that was just to fly to Shenzhen, so I also had to add the long distance coach fare both ways. If that wasn't bad enough hotel prices were also sky high. I usually stay in a three star hotel which normally costs between 350 and 450HKD per night. This time they were asking almost 700HKD. That particular hotel just wasn't worth it, but all the other hotels had dramatically increased their prices too.

This led me to have an interesting experience. My friend found a very cheap hotel for me which, I recognised that by its name was part of a famous American chain of hotels, so I thought it would be fine. Its name was **** Hotel. When I got to Hong Kong I had difficulty finding it and I was besieged on all sides by people asking me if I wanted to buy "Rolex" watches or have clothes made. Then suddenly a man asked me where I was looking for and I told him the name of the hotel. He said "Follow me", which I did as it was broad daylight, but he led me into a warren of a building, where there were lots of vendors all jumping out at me. The corridors twisted and turned and I was starting to get worried. Finally we reach a set of elevators and he told me to go up to the 10th floor. I noticed on the sign my hotel actually said **** Hostel, not Hotel. There is a big difference between a hostel and a hotel. I realised I had let myself be blinded by the cheapness of the place.

At reception they were pleasant enough and asked for a 20 HKD deposit. That also should have alerted me to what kind of place it was. After all if it was only possible to do 20 dollars' worth of damage, what on earth would I find in the room? He gave me a tiny key, like a locker key. When I opened the door to my room, I realised that actually the key was suitable as the room was indeed a locker! It was so small that I could lie on the bed and touch the opposite walls without even stretching my arms out. I asked where the air conditioning was and I was shown an electric fan. I also had to ask to rent a towel as there were none in the room, but they provided one free. I was really shocked by the size and decided to ask at another "hotel" in the same building with the promising sounding name of "Royal ***** Hotel". It was even worse than the one I was staying in. I was totally depressed and went for a walk. Suddenly I spotted a decent hotel and decided to go in and check their room rates. For a normal room on that Saturday night it was 2,600 HKD. After the receptionist told me the price, I tried not to let him see me gulp, gathered up my dignity and walked out. He probably knew I was not the kind of person to have enough funds so as to be a guest at that hotel on that particular night, although normally this hotel would not be out of my price range. I sensed a certain pride in his voice as he quoted the price to me, as if to tell me that they were a high class establishment (at least for one day) hence the high price.

Back at my "hotel" the Manager told me I was lucky that I had pre-booked as their prices had gone up this weekend too. When I asked why, he told me it was because it was National Holiday in Mainland China, but was it a holiday in Hong Kong too, or were they just cashing in?

From my "cell", I mean room, I Skyped my friend and told her that the hotel she had helped me book was a nightmare. I was typing such things like "I am afraid someone will murder me so I have wedged my suitcase up against the door". She thought that she might never see me again. I did however survive the night and when I went to check out the Manager asked me how everything was. I told him it was a little noisy, backpackers had arrived at all hours of the night and seemed to be congregating outside my door, or, actually it is more accurate to say they had not particularly chosen my door as a meeting place just to disturb me, rather, as the place was so small, they had no choice. The Manager told me many people booked rooms at his hotel but left immediately after seeing how small they were.

I found myself defending the hotel. "What do they expect for that price? If they want a five star hotel, they will have to pay five star prices. The main thing is this hotel is very clean!" The Manager gratefully thanked me and I realised that actually it wasn't that bad. Upon reflecting I now think that it was a very interesting experience and one I wouldn't mind repeating. When I got back to Tianjin my friends started to sympathise with me, but I told them that we should all book rooms there. "But you said it was terrible, why would you want to go back?" they asked me. Apart from the fact that I was worried about being murdered, and that the room was tiny, and the corridor noisy etc. it really wasn't bad, particularly because of the low price (usually 160HKD), where can you find that kind of price in Hong Kong? I think I will go back just to prove it wasn't a dream. I am fascinated by the fact that they can turn such a small space into a room. My Japanese friend did not think it was strange, after all Tokyo has had capsule hotels for a long time so they are used to small rooms.

After this I stopped over in Shenzhen as I had an early flight from the airport there and the hotel was just five minutes away. I had booked a deluxe single room for 228rmb but when I got there I saw there also had king size rooms. After the Hong Kong experience I wanted a larger space so for just an extra 50rmb, I upgraded and they gave me a huge room that was more like a suite with a huge bathroom and a desk with a computer. Sometimes budget travel is exactly that, no frills and just the basics, but sometimes you do get frills, and good service is priceless.