There was a new paramyxovirus of horses in Australia in 1994 that incidentally killed a few humans.
That a novel paramyxovirus would evolve in Southern China is not at all surprising (what took so long?). Other paramyxoviruses are quite contagious, as this one also appears to be. I wonder about the air-handling in the hotel.
My index of suspicion for BT is very, very low.