Are more hotels unable to accept foreigners now? (Rujia)

[libertango]

I haven't lived in China since 2008.  When travelling, I used to always use Rujia hotels... (如家), without any problem.  They were western style and usually about 300 RMB per night.  

 

I'm planning a business trip to Shanghai, and I tried to book a room at Rujia hotel online.  I got a message back saying that the hotel wasn't certified to accept foreigners.

 

I'm a little surprised by this, because my recollection from years ago was that it was only the really cheap, dormitory style hotels that weren't certified to accept foreigners.  Have the hotels that accept foreigners become less common, by any chance?

 

 

[anonymoose]

I think so, yes, and often it is the budget hotels, such as 如家 that don't accept foreigners.

[studychinese]

Use ctrip to book the hotels. They will tell you before you book of the hotel can accept foreigners or not.

[Saxondale]

I've stayed in a few rujia's and never had a problem, but i haven't stayed in one since January 2014.

[Angelina]

Maybe they don't want to (or can't) deal with tourist visas. If you are booking from outside of China, that's why they are telling you they don't accept foreigners.

[Demonic_Duck]

I've stayed at a 如家 as recently as October last year, without any problems.

[roddy]

I'll wager it's decided locally for any particular hotel. What area is it in, is it cheap or expensive for the city, does the deputy mayor own the competition.

[zhouhaochen]

I have stayed at Rujia (including in Shanghai) numerous times and it has never been an issue. Especially in Shanghai this should not be a problem. In less visited cities however it is (in Chengde for example only two hotels accept foreigners). Just try another Rujia or go for any of the other budget hostels, there are several other chains just like Rujia

[889]

Yes, the situation has worsened in recent years, perhaps in part due to the computerized registration system which won't accept passport numbers, only Chinese IDs, if a hotel cannot accept foreigners. You'll certainly find large, acceptable in every way hotels today that will not accept foreigners.

As to chain hotels, there's no blanket rule. The websites of the chains often indicate somewhere which particular hotels are OK for foreigners. Further, with growing domestic travel, there's not much incentive for hotels to go through the hassle of applying for 涉外 status anymore. Most places don't need foreign guests.

The English websites of Ctrip and Elong generally list only hotels which accept foreigners, but the system is not perfect. You may well book on the English sites and still be told on arrival 对不起，我们不接待外国人。

All in, it`s a miserable mess of a situation.

[stapler]

I thought it mainly depended on whether or not they have a machine to scan your passport.

 

Depending on how hard an area is being policed, you can also just get a Chinese person to book something for you then just go in as "a guest". Or at least that has worked for me.

[889]

To repeat, you need to check the websites for Rujia and the other chains closely if you don't want trouble checking in.

For example, as to the 如家上海徐家汇中山西路店, the Homeinns website clearly says:

酒店特别提示：

提示1

不接待外宾及港澳台同胞

You often have to search a bit for this information; it may be hidden behind a tab or indicated with an obscure symbol like a barbarian smiley. And some sites indicate places that won't accept foreigners, while others highlight places that do.

[vellocet]

This is a common misconception.  There is no law against foreigners staying at hotels.  There are restricted military areas but that's it.  Once upon a time there was indeed a law but it was repealed over a decade ago. 

 

Individual hotels might decide not to accept foreigners, but this is flat-out racism and is illegal under Chinese law.  There's no "license to accept foreigners".  I know nobody believes me, so here's a simple test.  Next time you check in to a hotel, ask to see their license to accept foreigners.  Take a photo and post it here.  You won't be able to do it because the hotel doesn't have one. 

 

Usually if the hotel doesn't accept foreigners, it means (a) the owners are racist, (b) some foreigner was there not too long ago, completely enjoyed being a total jackass and pissed off the hotel management, or © the check-in staff are ignorant and can't be bothered to learn how to operate the registration software.  You know how Chinese love to make up ridiculous reasons to get out of doing work that they don't want to do or don't know how to do.

 

https://www.lostlaowai.com/blog/china-stuff/china-travel/foreigners-allowed-hotel-registration-tutorial/

[uni419]

Honestly, I usually just end up using Hostelworld for bigger cities.

[trevelyan]

It depends on the city. I've only run into this problem in Tangshan and Shanghai -- seems to be a local racket where they push foreign guests into more expensive hotels.

[Demonic_Duck]

When I stayed in Tangshan I forgot my passport and they still let me stay there (mid-range hotel), guess they just let it slide and booked the room in someone else's name. I was with Chinese friends, though.