Where Can Foreigners Stay in China? Hotels, Registration and Check-In

Published 2026-10-17 · 71Asia Tours

I once stood at a reception desk in a small town in Shaanxi while the receptionist looked at my passport, then her screen, then me. "Sorry," she said. "We cannot take foreign guests." It was 2014 and I spent the next hour in a taxi looking for somewhere else. That sentence is much rarer now, but it has not disappeared, and knowing why it happens will save you a bad first night.

What is left of the old licensing rule

Chinese hotels used to need a separate licence to host foreigners. Most of that has been folded into ordinary registration, and the big domestic chains (Hanting, Home Inn, Atour, Jinjiang) generally take foreign passports without drama at their city-centre branches. What survives is uneven. Family-run guesthouses, cheap chains in smaller towns, and properties whose front desk has never entered a passport number into the police system will still say no. It is rarely personal. It is about whether the person on shift knows how to do the paperwork.

How to book so this does not happen to you

Book through Trip.com or Agoda and use the foreign-guest filter where it exists. Both show a "not available to foreign guests" flag on the listings that carry it.
Ctrip has better prices and more small hotels, but much of the site assumes a Chinese ID card, and some listings refuse a passport at the payment step.
Message the property before you pay. Even a machine-translated line helps: 请问贵酒店可以接待外宾吗？ (Can your hotel accept foreign guests?) A vague answer is a no.
For the first night in a new city I book an international brand, or somewhere with recent English reviews that mention an easy check-in.

Check-in, step by step

You hand over your passport, sometimes the page with your entry stamp. Reception fills in a form and enters your details into the police system, usually within 24 hours of arrival, which is why check-in takes longer here than in Europe. Expect a deposit of 100 to 300 yuan, refunded at checkout, payable by Alipay, WeChat Pay or cash. Budget places often cannot pre-authorise a foreign card, so have a phone payment ready. Checkout is usually noon.

If you are not staying in a hotel

Staying with a friend, in a rented flat, or in a monastery guesthouse means you have to register yourself at the local police station within 24 hours of arrival. In rural areas the window stretches to 48. Bring your passport, your visa or entry stamp, and your host's ID and lease or property deed. This is not a formality anyone enjoys, but skipping it can mean a fine of up to 500 yuan. Hotels handle registration automatically. Private hosts often do not, and some will tell you it is unnecessary. It is not.

What the room will actually be like

Smaller than the photographs, almost always. The mattress will be firm, sometimes genuinely hard, and the pillow may be a buckwheat brick. You will get slippers, a kettle, and two bottles of water. You will not get a toothbrush, a comb or a razor, because hotels have been barred from handing out disposable toiletries since 2020, so bring your own. Smoking floors still exist and are not always labelled. Older budget rooms may have a squat toilet.

Floor numbering takes a week to get used to. What the lift calls the first floor is usually the ground floor of the street, and in Chongqing the lobby of your hotel may sit on the twenty-second floor of a tower whose street entrance is a lift shaft and a noodle shop.

Breakfast, deposits and other small print

Chinese hotel breakfast is a buffet of congee, steamed buns, pickles, eggs and soy milk, and it is usually better value than the Western corner with cold toast. Rates often include it for two; adding it at the desk costs more. If you need a fapiao, the official tax invoice, ask at checkout and give the name of your company.

City notes that change the answer

Beijing and Shanghai

Courtyard hotels in the Beijing hutongs are lovely and thin-walled, and many have shared bathrooms. In Shanghai, rooms at the same price are noticeably smaller than in the rest of the country, and the cheapest places near the Bund are often in converted office floors with no lift.

Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing

This is where your money goes furthest. A four-star room in Chengdu costs what a hostel bed costs in Amsterdam. In Chongqing, ask whether the hotel entrance is at street level before you book.

Zhangjiajie and Tibet

In Zhangjiajie, choose between Wulingyuan at the park gate and the city, cheaper but forty minutes away. For Tibet, the answer is narrower: foreign travellers must travel with an organised tour and a guide, and the permit lists the hotels you are allowed to use. Not every Lhasa hotel can register a foreign passport, so let the operator book it.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taipei

Different systems entirely. There is no police registration in any of the three, and a passport copy at check-in is the norm. In Hong Kong, most short-term flat rentals under 28 days are technically unlicensed, and hosts do cancel when the building management complains. Macao's hotel stock is small and prices spike at weekends. Taipei has the best mid-range value of the three.

A short booking checklist

Confirm in writing that the property accepts foreign passports.
Save the Chinese address and phone number to show a taxi driver.
Carry a phone payment method; do not rely on a physical foreign card.
If you are not in a hotel, put the police station visit in your calendar for day one.

My habit is boring: book the first night properly, somewhere with recent reviews from people who do not speak Chinese, and sort the rest once you have slept. The romantic version of arriving with no plan works in a lot of Asia. In China it works much better on night two.

Written by the team at 71Asia Tours, a China-based tour operator with licensed Spanish- and English-speaking guides. Browse all tours · About us · Our guides · Reviews · FAQ