Should I stay outside Guangzhou?

Before you book the hotel, you need to decide if you prefer to stay in Guangzhou.
Even though the name of the fair is called Canton Fair which is located in Guangzhou, the main venue is in Pazhou which is very close to the highway. If you are staying in nearby cities such as Dongguan, Foshan, etc. it will only take you half an hour to one hour to get to Pazhou venue. 

Most hotels in Guangzhou are located in the city center, traffic congestion during peak hours could be a militating factor. Therefore, in most cases, it may take a shorter time to get to the complex even if you stay outside Guangzhou.

The advantage of staying outside Guangzhou is: low prices. 

While the room rate in Guangzhou would double or triple during Canton Fair, many hotels outside Guangzhou would only increase slightly, less than 50%, for some of them, they would even keep the normal prices.

Therefore, it is possible to find a 5 star hotel at US$100 during Canton Fair, that means you can save US$200 per night compared with staying in the same grade hotel in Guangzhou.

You may even find 2 to 3 star hotel outside Guangzhou below US$30. 

Despite all the advantages, the biggest weakness of course is the transport, especially if you are staying in low end hotel which do not offer free transport to Canton Fair directly.

If you are traveling with a big group, you can consider leasing a van, which may take 7-9 people, and should cost less than US$100 per day, which may justify the saving in room expense.

The other disadvantage of course is not being able to enjoy the night life in Guangzhou, which has many bars and night clubs, especially those tailored for foreign guest. Other than that, you can find all sorts of restaurants, bars and shops in the center of these cities such as Dongguan, Zengcheng, Shunde, Chancheng, Jiangmen etc, which maybe cheaper and less crowded than those in Guangzhou.

If you would like to meet client with office in Guangzhou, then this would be an obvious disadvantage.

If you need to visit the factories of your potential partner, then maybe it is even more convenient as most factories are located outside Guangzhou.

In summary, we believe if you are looking for value for money, we would highly recommend you to pay attention to hotels outside Guangzhou.