Within 30 minutes of Hong Kong reversing its seven-day quarantine policy, Ovolo Hotels¡¯ switchboard was swamped with calls.

The operator of two facilities in the city¡¯s mandatory quarantine program also received more than 850 emails, as frantic travelers sought to adjust their bookings.

Hong Kong¡¯s about-face ¡ª coming less than two months after it eased one of the world¡¯s toughest COVID-19 border regimes ¡ª is upending travel plans and causing chaos for hotels just weeks before the start of the school year and the end of the summer vacation period.