Remember Those Awesome High-rise Hotels of Hong Kong? They're getting cheap again!

In many ways, the city hasn't changed at all. Its harbor is as dazzling as ever. The dynamism of its people as infectious as ever. The bargain shopping alone can help to offset the cost of the trip. And the food-from dim sum to roast goose - is to die for.

But when it comes to lodgings, Hong Kong is much-changed, and a big travel story of 1999. In a city of spectacular skyscrapers housing lavish hotels paved with marble, suddenly you can find clean, modern, well-appointed accommodations in the vicinity of $40-$50 per room per night, which last year sold for upwards of $200. (All prices quoted are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.) The business downturn in nearby Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, and Japan did it. Without all those business travelers and China-bound tourists from elsewhere in Asia, the tourist sector in Hong Kong has ...