Some hotels still chinese only?

[onebir]

I recall reading that the regulations only allowing certain hotels to admit foreigners were discarded in 2003 - at least for Beijing. But when I asked in one place a few weeks back, I was told foreigners weren't allowed to stay there.

Was my recollection wrong? Or were the hotel staff simply behind the times? Is there a report in chinese of the change that I could show hotel staff when this situation arises? (Worth trying at least... :s)

[smalldog]

From what I remember from the reports that announced that foreigners would be allowed to stay anywhere", a condition was that hotels be part of an online system for registering foreigners' residence. So all that happened was that the regulation changed from "foreigners can only stay in approved places" to "foreigners can stay anywhere (as long as they are approved)".

[roddy]

Never heard of the online thing before, but makes sense. Another possibility is that if a hotel generally has entirely Chinese customers and is doing good business, they may just decide that taking in the odd foreigner here and there isn't worth any extra perceived hassle.

[889]

From the May, 29, 2003 Beijing Ribao, which seems to have disappeared off the Net:

北京城八区昨起取消涉外定点住宿的限制

　中新网5月29日电 28日北京市公安局发布消息，从5月28日起,在北京城八区试行取消涉外定点住宿的限制，今年10月1日全市范围内将全面取消这项限制。据悉，取消了限制后，凡是取得旅店业经营资格的企事业单位均可接待依法办理了临时住宿手续的境外人员留宿。

　据京华时报报道，北京警方已经颁布了《关于在全市范围内取消涉外定点住宿限制加强境外人员临时住宿管理工作的实施意见》和《旅馆业治安管理工作规范》。取消限制后，境外临时来京人员将可以宽松地选择居住地，从而吸引更多的境外人员来京投资经商、旅游观光、访问学习。

　据了解，此前中国对可接待境外人员的饭店一直实施星级、规模、设施的定点限制，并需经过涉外留宿单位审批。这种模式曾对确保境外人员安全、维护社会稳定发挥了重要作用。然而这种模式目前已经相对滞后，所以予以取消。(记者卢国强)

Technically, the hotel should have you fill out one of those Foreigner Registration Cards and run it over to the local paichusuo; no doubt some don't want to be bothered.

But there's no question whatsoever that it's become far easier in the past few years for foreigners to find reasonably-priced rooms, and not just in Beijing.

(The phrase is 境外人员 jingwai renyuan in order to include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents, as well as foreigners.)

[yonitabonita]

I'm not sure about Beijing so can't comment there.

Though, in Litang, Sichuan, a hotel I stayed at was fined a thousand kuai for taking me in without a permit to do so. I had paid three nights upfront, but they gave me a refund for the other two night's after the PSB dropped in to rain on their parade. If there has been any change to the regulations relating to the intake of foreigners, the PSB in this area are certainly behind the times. This happened just two months ago over Summer.

In Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Guizhou, my husband and I encountered a few difficulties getting accommodation. The reason given was consistently that they were not registered to take foreigners and that they'd be fined if they did. This was particularly the case in Lanzhou where we we had to approach about 7 different places before we could find one that would take us in.

Y

[owen]

I've had standoffs with people on this forum who state categorically that a foreigner can stay any place they choose in china. No matter what anecdotal evidence i give them they remained convinced that i misunderstood and/or hallucinated when i was being refused hotel access based on me being a foreigner. It happened to me in Guangzhou, yunana, beijing, shanghai, hangzhou, chengdu, xiamen, and various smaller cities....

I think it is either a conspiracy with bigger more expensive hotels involved or its just chinese style ignorance a la 'yikes! foreigners. i think thos barbarians are well known for sacrificing goats and babies and such to their numerous bloodthirsty gods. We better play it safe and not let them in'.

[mr.stinky]

never had any problems in yunnan or guangxi, in fact most hotels don't even request

my passport or copy thereof.

while we're on the hotel topic, has anyone ever paid the posted rates? all the places i've

been have a signboard behind the registration desk with various room rates, but when i

ask how much, they always quote me at least 1/3 off, more often 1/2 the posted rate.

[onebir]

So it sounds like in beijing (at least) the regulations did change, but at the cheaper hotels it's a complete lottery. Ah well, that's china...