HONG KONG , China ( CNN ) -- In the world of business -- where book titles like `` Only the Paranoid Survive '' thrive -- successful executives hope for the best but plan for the worst . Quarantined guests at Hong Kong 's Metropark hotel wave to world press . But no amount of planning could have prevented the bad luck that befell the Metropark hotel group last week . The Metropark Hotel in Wanchai was shut down when a guest -- having recently arrived from his native Mexico -- fell ill with the city 's first reported case of H1N1 . City health officials , chastened by the experience of SARS , quickly quarantined the hotel and its nearly 300 guests and employees . The city is trying to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2003 , when a doctor from nearby Guangzhou came to the Hong Kong to attend a wedding . During his one-night stay the doctor , who had been treating patients with an unusual respiratory ailment , fell ill himself . He infected at least 10 other guests , according to Hong Kong University research . Those guests then spread SARS to the rest of world . That hotel ? The Metropark Hotel in Kowloon . Formerly known as the Metropole , that hotel was ground zero for the first reported case of SARS in Hong Kong . Both hotels are among four properties owned in the city by a subsidiary of China Travel International , which operates 50 hotels in China . With the world press corps parked outside taking photographs of bored , confined customers , the hotel chain is realistic about its potential impact on business . `` Revenue loss and image damage is a concern , '' said Benny Ng , an operations manager for the chain . `` When an incident like this happens , obviously , it will have a little impact on the business . `` With this and the incident in 2003 , ( the situation ) was not caused by the hotel , and has nothing to do with the hygiene or the facilities of the property , '' he said . `` What we can do is try our best to make our guests , and the staff , comfortable to help them to overcome the quarantine and difficult times in forthcoming days . '' The markets seem to have shrugged off the flu scare -- shares of Hong Kong-listed China Travel International rose by nearly 6 percent in trading Monday . Still , what are the odds of the city 's first reported outbreak of two separate new illnesses being found at the same small hotel chain ? To calculate that , you would need to consider a variety of factors akin to the computation of lightning striking the same place twice . `` It does seem like a bit of a freak occurrence , '' said Dr. Alan D Miller , an expert on economics and game theory at the University of Haifa . `` But freak occurrences do happen . ''
Metropark Wanchai guest Hong Kong 's first reported H1N1 case . First documented SARS case in 2003 was a guest at sister hotel in Kowloon . Title: Why do we have to wait for the sun to rise before it can be used as an indicator of time?