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Q: Is it true that foreigner are not allow to sleep in lower than 3 star hotels?
I used to be rejected from some small hotels.
9 years 45 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
Not sure about the 3 star part but there indeed are many hotels which are not allowed to accept foreigners. I was told it has everything to do with security and not the quality of the hotel
I dont think the star system has anything to do with it. That system is a joke anyways in China. Every hotel is a 5 star when its crap. I heard they can pay for the star rating.
When did it happen to you? In a larger city? And... around 2010 or so?
I dont know it if it was always the law or they just started enforcing it but you know that rule that says you must register with police within 24 hours? But you dont need to do it with hotels. Thats because hotels must do it for you. So hotels will scan your passport and it goes into the cop system.
If the hotel was too crap then they didnt have that system yet. Most do by now. So it shouldnt be a problem anymore. but you never know I guess.
But the 3 star rule is bunk. 7 days inn, or Hanting express, or those chains are no where near 3 stars. Some of them wouldnt classify as a 1 star. yet foreigners can stay in any of them.
ScotsAlan:
Yeah. I thought it was to do with them having the passport scanning machine.
Hum, it's not simple
* Stars rating in China does not mean much, you can pretty much buy your rating. So a five star hotel might not be worth 3 stars, or it might be worth its 5 stars. It depends.
* Yes, some hotels don't allow foreigners, especially the really cheap and crappy ones (crappy by Chinese standard). I've been accepted in really sorry looking hotels, stinking piss and cigarette, with broken furniture and barely functioning anything.
Rule of the law, China style.
expatlife26:
true and I've heard that since the govt started cracking down on extravagant meals, 5-star hotels became off limits.
hence now many 5 star hotels paid to get bumped down to 4 so they're still eligible for expensed dinners and stuff.
Officially, hotels have to be approved to accept foreigners. What is the approval procedure? This is China, no need to ask such a question but mike is wrong about the 7 days and Haunting Express chains. Some of them aren't able to accept foreigners. I've been to Hauntings in Nantong and Taizhou and a 7 days Inn in Shanghai that couldn't accept foreigners.
SwedKiwi1:
I have been to some 7 days Inn hotels that didn't accept foreigners either. But I also found a good way of getting around this rule. Seeing as how most Chinese don't care too much about correct registration, you could just get a Chinese friend to show their ID card to the hotel. Complete the registration with the ID card and you will have no hazzle 
mike695ca:
May I ask how recently you were turned down at those chain hotels???
But too be fair, i havent stayed in many. So its possible but i have never been turned down.
xinyuren:
Last time I tried staying in a budget hotel was when I first came to China. So it was at least 3 years ago when I was in Nantong.
Yes, but not every where in China.
Sanya does this. It a poly by the government to help keep top hotel's in business.
coineineagh:
Many of those top-rated hotels weren't even built for legitimate business. They're for gaining face to the owner, holding extravagant parties, and perhaps money laundering. I can imagine the rule might have been intended to fill rooms in those empty hotels by complaining owners, but there is no real market imbaloance that the law addresses, since all those hotels were not built to cater to a market need.
7 days inn is not allowed to accept foreigners. I almost got in trouble because they did not register me with the police.
No matter what they say they are not registered to accept foreigners. In my situation they were fined 500rmb but I would've paid a heavy fine. Elong.net will back them so beware
Hulk:
I've used 7 Days Inn like 400 times across so many provinces. They're my #1 go-to hotel.
However, those hotels are a little... interesting... wish I could post the story here.
Scandinavian:
I pretty much only stay in 7 Days Inn, but often the receptionist is in "no can do" mode, but as I'm with my wife, she will just book the room and then it always work. We have booked a room once where she'd misplaced her ID so we just used my passport.
Thumbs up for everyone since the downthumbfaery has come by.
I think it is about the possibility of registering you, like Mike says, and I heard that the cheaper places are not allowed to take in foreigners because the Chinese Government doesn't want foreigners to know these places exist. I have seen places I didn't want to know existed myself, all of them in China, so for once they make sense.
expatlife26:
Yeah i figure it's a combo of not wanting foreigners to see the crummier side of china, and just the feeling that they can pump a few more $ into the economy by forcing you to stay at a nicer hotel.
There might be some real security concerns though, at least in some places.
I thought small hotels didn't accept foreigners because they can't or won't register your stay with PSB. Besides do you think I want to kill cock roaches? Never seen any in China, but in Philippines they were about 4 inches. yikes
, where did I saw that ?coineineagh:
I've seen some cockroaches in China. Also a 4-incher. My FIL recently caught a big one by its leg (WTF?!) and released it back into the garden alive (WTF again - he skins fish alive with pleasure, but shows compassion to cockroaches of all things?)
I have stayed in some small villages where there were no real hotels. They never had a problem with me staying. But when I got to not-so-small cities, the cheap places would refuse me. However, a couple places knew the problem with registering and just went to the police station for me to register me themselves so I could stay.
One time, in so podunk city next to the DPRK, I ended up getting wasted with the police at lunch and they escorted me back to the small hotel to tell them that they better not try to cheat me or else... I just had to tell the frightened owners that everything was ok, and that they were just drunk.
True, small hotels don't have passport scanner. The owner definitely wants to get into trouble for not registering a foreigner to the police, especially when the expat might be a murderer or spy.
DrMonkey:
Well, I went in a guesthouse with my wife in Xining, Qinhai. The manager looked at me quite defiantly, like I was some kind of intruder. I gave her my passport for the registration, and she started to fill the form while chatting with my wife. The manager started to speak of spies, that it's "our national duty to be defiant", "they come here to spy", this kind of talk.
Apart from the paranoia... Talking loudly next to the Laowaistanese, that we should not reveal our national secrets. Yes, doing so is fine, we all know Laowaistanese don't speak Mandarin, it's not like a spy would be trained to speak Mandarin. Those people surely can not learn Mandarin. And they wil never ever think of sending Asian people to do the spying. Urrrrrr dhhhuuurrrrrrrr....
for big city,yes,small one or countryside,does not matter
If a hotel does not have a PSB internet connection, they are no allowed to accept foriegn guests.
