Tips on how to save money in visiting Canton Fair

I Hope that the following tips will do you a favour

Many people complain the hotel in Guangzhou would double or triple the room rates during Canton Fair. In fact, it is still possible to find hotels which do not increase the rate during Canton Fair, but the key is: you should know what your key buying criteria are.

How to save the hotel expense when visiting Canton Fair?

1. Do not limit your choice by staying in city center

2. Try to stay in hotel which is close to Canton Fair venue, Pazhou, which is at Guangzhou suburb

3. Try to stay in hotel which is not well connected by public transport, not close to metro station

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If you would like to find a bargain, first of all, figure out our key buying criteria.

Focus on your key requirement, decide the time you are willing to spend on the road, say 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, etc, and then find the hotel with commuting time between the hotel and the Canton Fair venue which fit in your requirement.

Tip 1: Analyze your key buying criteria

The key error in finding a hotel is: tend to look for a normal hotel, in good location, such as close to shopping center, central business district, or metro station, etc. 

Yet, the fact is: Canton Fair venue is located in Pazhou, which is in southeast part of Guangzhou, far from city center; while it’s adjacent to several highways, through which you can fast access to Guangzhou suburb, esp. Panyu (south next to Pazhou), or northern part of Guangzhou, as well as other cities in Pearl River Delta.
In fact, under most circumstances, the time you need to spend on traffic congestion by go back to city or go to hotel which is far from city center is the same, but the room rate would make a total difference.

So, ask yourself these questions:

Am I going to spend most of the time on Canton Fair venue?

Or I always spend the evening in city center and come back to the hotel in late hours?

If you would spend all the day time in Canton Fair, and in the evening just stay in hotel room, go through the catalog, use internet to check email and communicate with your business partner or family members, definitely, you should try to find a hotel with good facilities including internet access of course, and good environment; yet, not necessarily very close to Pazhou, no need to live next to metro station.

So far as you can hire a van or taxi, and get on highway to go back and forth between Pazhou and your hotel within 30-45 minutes, you can find a 3 star hotel with decent facilities, 30 minutes drive from Pazhou, at the rate below US$40 during Canton Fair period.

Thus, to find bargain for accommodation during Canton Fair, it’s better to examine what you are really looking for, in other words, to understand your tolerance level.

Your criteria would lie in:

1. Location of hotel, Transportation

It is possible for you to find hotel rooms not in very bad condition, within 30 minutes drive from Pazhou, at below US$20 per night during Canton Fair.

However, most likely these hotels are located in towns close to Pazhou, that means they are not located in Guangzhou city, so generally they are not well received by foreign buyers. Some of these hotels are located along metro lines, which are built after these towns along are set up. In order to avoid compensation for development and make sure the area on top of the metro station can be sold at a high price, usually, the metro stations are built far from the towns/villages along.

In this case, you should not be able to find any hotel on top of metro station, esp. on No. 4 metro line, the line south next to Pazhou. Therefore, you have to take bus or motorbike for 5 to 10 minutes to link up between metro station and the hotel, which is not very convenient.

The other areas where you can find bargains are those without metro nearby. Geographically, they are far from Canton Fair, yet, are conveniently link by highway, and the commuting time between Canton Fair venue and the hotel may be just within 15 to 30 minutes.  For instance, hotels shown on: http://cantonfairbudgethotel.com/hotel-listings/5195.html

So you should ask yourself: is it necessary to live next to the metro station? Just think carefully if it is a must for you, which would limit your choice for bargain.

Also, what kind of metro station are you talking about? Those in city center or the ones mentioned above in the suburban area?

In general, taxi fare is not that expensive in Guangzhou, seldom exceed US$10. And since the Guangzhou government would force taxi driver to go to Canton Fair to pick up client, it is very easy for you to find a taxi during Canton Fair. 

Also, many hotels would offer free shuttle bus linking Canton Fair and the hotel, so it would not be a big problem if you would go back to the hotel right after the fair is closed.  So, unless there is special reason, limit your choice by staying in hotel next to metro station would unnecessarily reduce your selection.

2. Is it really that critical for you to live in hotel with English speaking staff?

Of course, it is nice to have English speaking staff in the hotel, so you can communicate easily.

Yet, the fact is: usually, you can only find bargain in the hotels where they are not aware that they can capture the opportunity of Canton Fair, therefore, they do not increase the rate during Canton Fair. That means, they would not try to prepare for the arrival of foreign tourist.  They would not think from the foreign client point of view.  Naturally, very few foreign tourists would come to stay in these hotels and of course, that means they would not have English speaking staff.

Actually, it is not that critical for you to have English speaking staff. 

With regard to language problem, in fact, if you can ask the hotel staff to help you write down clear instruction on how to go to hotel, then it would not be a problem.

Or maybe most of the communication issue can be solved by having a bilingual conversation sheet. You can download the conversation sheet from: http://cantonfairbudgethotel.com/content/view/109

3. Internet access

Many people would emphasis, they have to find a hotel with internet access. Of course, this is nice to have. Yet, unfortunately, most of the hotel which you can find bargain do not have internet access. The key reason is: most likely the main clientele those hotels are local clients, and internet access is not that important for them.  And the hotels are so scary of increasing the investment, so usually, it is not easy to find internet access in cheap hotels.

Thus, it is important for you to find out if you are looking for a place to have internet access, so you can check email or surf some websites from time to time, or you have to communicate with your business partner or family member with time difference in real time, therefore, it is necessary for you to have internet access in your room, so you can communicate with them at midnight?

It is totally different, since internet bar/internet cafe is very common in China, which very likely that you can find an internet bar close to your hotel, no matter how remote is your hotel, which they would charge around US$0.5 per hour. 

So, if you are just looking for a place to check email or visit some website, it is not that important for you to find a hotel with internet access in room.

Besides, there are many non-official trade fair held at the same time, most of which would have free internet access and even free meals offered. So, you would have plenty of time to check email in such non official trade fair. (Details of non-official trade fair, visit http://cantonfairbudgethotel.com/content/view/110)

Tip 2: Making use of the ignorance of hotels

The thumb of rule in finding bargain is: usually, the more ignorant your business partner is, the easier for you to find a good deal.

In the case of finding bargain in hotel room, it is easier for you to find bargain in hotel which the hotel owner do not aware that it is convenient for the guest to go back and forth between Pazhou and their hotel. That is: they do not try to target overseas buyers who come for Canton Fair.  So, therefore, they do not raise the price of the hotel during Canton Fair, therefore, you can pay the normal rate i.e. within US$30-40 for a twin room during Canton Fair.

More info about these hotels visit http://cantonfairbudgethotel.com/content/view/107

Tip 3: No need to book in advance

Is it necessary to book in advance? It depends. If you are those people who feel very insecure if you cannot book the hotel in advance, of course you should do so.

But the rule is: it is easy for you to find bargain if you dare to book the hotel in last minute.

Especially when we are talking about the Autumn trade fair in 2008. Due to the worldwide economic downturn, nobody can estimate the number of foreign buyers coming to Canton Fair. But very likely, it would be significantly less than previous session of Canton Fair. 

Read more on http://cantonfairbudgethotel.com/content/view/106