Hotel turned into security office

Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay has closed "for renovations" - reportedly for revamping into a temporary office for Beijing's national security agency in Hong Kong, with room bookings suspended indefinitely.

The agency has picked the four-star hotel on Tung Lo Wan Road as its temporary base to "quickly" begin operations, Eastweek magazine reported yesterday.

"The entire hotel tower will turn into the office for safeguarding national security. Lots of officers will work at that address, several will stay there," Eastweek said.

When asked, a hotel hotline staff member said room reservations have been suspended.

"No rooms are currently available due to renovations I don't know when our hotel service will resume," hotel staff told The Standard.

Its website was also down, with a notice saying "it is under system maintenance" and that online services are temporarily unavailable.

All street side parking spots have also been temporarily suspended for three days - from 8pm yesterday as "authorized by police commissioner," according to a notice .

The entrance and windows on the ground floor were all boarded or taped up and the hotel's signage is gone.

Metropark is a 33-story hotel tower with 266 hotel rooms near Tin Hau MTR station.

Opened in 2002, it was developed by China Travel Service (Holdings) Hong Kong and is managed by HK CTS Hotels, a unit of China National Travel Service (HK) Group Corporation, which is under direct management by Beijing.

The Standard received no reply to requests for comments from HK CTS Hotels at press time.

The Hong Kong government has not commented on the report.

Zheng Yanxiong, who was appointed head of the office on Friday, has started working in the hotel.

He rose to prominence during a 2011 crackdown on protesters in the village of Wukan when he was party chief of the Guangdong city of Shanwei.