What mainland APP for booking hotel

[DavyJonesLocker]

My friend is coming to Beijing and I was trying to book a hotel for him today on several chinese APPs (携程旅行, alipay internal programs such as 飞猪酒店 etc) but it's the same problem, they all want a 身份证号码 I rang 2 hotels and the both said just enter any chinese citizens ID number and when you arrive at the hotel you can show you passport and visa. Ctrip help line also said the same thing

 

I would rather not put a friend on the spot and ask them if I can use their ID card. Going to the hotel is not a option as some nights are in Tianjin

 

What do you all do?

 

EDIT: just an update: ok it appears with some hotels that the field requiring the 身份证  is not present and can be directly booked. This seem to correspond to the more expensive ones naturally.  The problem is there seems to be no way on the APPS that I am using to select hotels that can be directly booked without having to go through each and every one. Perhaps check western apps and see what can be booked directly and then check the price on the chinese APP

 

 

[Flickserve]

Booking.com?

[DavyJonesLocker]

 

13 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

Booking.com?

 

 

thanks flickserve  yeah loads of western sites (booking, ebookers, expedia, etc) can do it and western apps and many hotels have instant confirmation, but 
 

(1) choice is far fewer and mostly around the center

(2) price is higher ( a lot in many cases)

 

Ctrip seems the best of all of them 

 

[889]

Don't use the Chinese version of ctrip or elong to book sites for non-Chinese. Use the English versions, which list far fewer hotels because they sort out the ones which don't accept foreigners. The sorting out is maybe only 80 percent reliable, though. Ctrip is better than elong in this regard, and Agoda is probably safest.

 

If you book on the Chinese sites of the major domestic chains, they usually show somehow which properties can take foreigners, though you may have to search around a bit.

 

EDIT: You mention you're using apps. Often they provide less functionality than websites. For example, that information about which hotels accept foreigners may show only on a hotel chain's website, not its app.

 

[vellocet]

NO do not use Ctrip.  They have screwed me more times than I care to admit.  

 

I use Qunar and it works just fine with foreign passports.

[anonymoose]

I don't understand the problem. I have always used ctrip, and have had no problem booking hotels using my passport number.

 

The only issue is that many hotels do not accept foreigners and you cannot make a reservation at these hotels without a Chinese ID. But then, you don't really want to be booking a hotel for your friend with the high likelihood that he will be turned away as a foreigner when he gets there.

 

Probably the better option is to use the English version of ctrip which is trip.com. This only lists hotels at which foreigners can stay (so obviously the choice will be much fewer), but prices seem to be in line with those on ctrip and only a passport number is required for the booking.

[mungouk]

I booked several hotels on the mainland using agoda.com last year without any problems. 

 

 

[ChTTay]

I second using trip.com and also avoiding using Chinese sites just so you don’t get turned away.

 

Happened to me in Xiamen where I turned away from two hotels we’d booked. 

[fabiothebest]

Yeah, it happened to me too once and it isn't a nice experience. It's always better to check if hotels accept foreigners..and if you are wondering, it's not a matter of racism, it's just they don't have a license and the device for scanning passports and they are required to register your personal info when you stay there and submit it to the local police.

[vellocet]

Oh, come on, that's a canard.  Once upon a time, there was a "license to permit foreigners" but that was done away with long ago.  

 

If anyone would like to prove me wrong, that would be as easy as pie.  Next time you successfully check into a hotel, ask to see their "license to permit foreigners".  They won't be able to show you one because they don't exist.  

 

On my most recent usage of Ctrip, which I used again knowing that they did things wrong and/or screwed me over in the past, I booked an all-inclusive resort in Bali.  I got there, and I only had a room and not the all-inclusive rate.  Ctrip did nothing.  Oh, they offered to reimburse me for the taxi ride to the hotel.  Whoopty-doo.  There were two rates, one all-inclusive and one only the room, and Ctrip screwed it up. I paid extra and got nothing. This was with their Trip.com English app, too.  

[grawrt]

trip.com is the best. 

 

Their customer service is really good. I remember when I booked a hotel and was rejected because of the foreigner thing and they were really quick with a refund and stuff. And it happened twice because some hotels listed on their website weren't listed to host foreigners. 

 

When I went traveling in Myanmar I was even able to pay with wechat for most hotels and flights.

 

Agoda is also another good website that I used  a lot when I first came to china in 2014. 

[anonymoose]

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 3:24 PM, vellocet said:

Oh, come on, that's a canard.  Once upon a time, there was a "license to permit foreigners" but that was done away with long ago.  

 

I think it's more down to the fact that foreigners have to be registered with the local police, and the hotels don't have the know how, or don't want the hassle of dealing with this.

 

Last time I went to China, I booked a hotel on ctrip or trip.com (can't remember which), and subsequently received a phonecall saying that the hotel would accept me, but that I would have to go down to the police station in person to register. As I only had a few hours in the city, I didn't want to waste my time and cancelled my booking.

[Bibu]

Booking is the old habit from euro or the western world. walk in is much better , for the flexible and price sake. sometime you get a better price, at  least as ctrip and elong, qunar, which is the most pop one now.

 

My way is click on the spots on Baidu map a little before or after landing, and click the nearby hotel, then the hotels shows up and the booking buttons as well. The booking button is marked as ctrp, elong, qunar etc, so you know which agency you are dealing with and the price range, then i  click the hotel preferred and make a call....

 

BTW, have a check on baidu map just now, it does not need ID number, just input name and phone number would be ok, that is the same with my few occasions using it before.

 

tips: my approach is not good for hot season and hot spots, LOL.