Does anyone have any advice regarding using this method in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong in August? I will be arriving into Beijing by plane and into Shanghai and Hong Kong by train without any reservations except for the first night as emergency backup. I'm staying 6 nights in Beijing and Shanghai, and 5 nights in Hong Kong. Do hotels represent themselves at the airport and train stations, either directly or through a centralized service? Worst case, I taxi into town, walk up to the front desk, and ask how much. Will the benefits by worth the extra labor involved?

There is a China Travel Service (CTS) office at the Hung Hom train station in Hong Kong. That's the main train station where you'll get off a "direct" train from Shanghai or from Guangzhou. They can book local HK hotels for you there.

Walking up to a hotel in Hong Kong will likely be a bad idea, as they probably will charge you rack rate.

You can expect to be quoted the rack rate if you are a walkup at a hotel. You can ask for a better rate but don't expect to get one. The hotel has an advantage in that situation because they know that you have been traveling and really don't want to be shopping around for a room, hauling your luggage around. They don't need to offer a better rate to get you to their hotel because you are already there.

The environment at the CTS (or any travel agency/ booking office) is more of a competitive market. If you were able to get a better rate as a walkup vs using CTS the difference would not be worth the extra labor, imo.

If you can make a reservation at the CTS without paying there, then when you get to the hotel don't mention the reservation at first. Ask for a rate quote, then for a discount. If they offer a rate better than the one in your reservation then take it and cancel the reservation, but it probably won't be better.

This is just a general approach that I would take and is not really specific to Hong Kong.

Thanks rkkwan and mrwunfi. Do you think the rates that will be quoted on the day of arrival at the Hung Hom station will be lower than an advance reservation rate quoted a week earlier?

The same question applies to Shanghai train station for overnight express trains arriving from Beijing, and Beijing airport (PEK).

Thanks.

Hotel rates in Hong Kong is highly dynamic. It's very hard to predict the rate you'll get at any particular time. But if you're not too picky, I'm sure CTS (or other agents) can find you something reasonable when you get there.

You ought to search this forum for "Peter N-H". In one of his threads he discussed hotels and hotel rates in China. He did have specific advice that would answer your question(s). It has been a while since his post so I don't recall the specifics. His posts were very informative so you will learn something during your search.