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Foreigners at hotels in Shanghai


Tomsima

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8 hours ago, imron said:

the hotel just doesn't want to be bothered doing the paperwork for the police registration.

Previously I read an article (fairly sure it was this one) from a now closed blog demonstrating just that. The guy was first denied stay on his foreigner status, then claimed his Chinese hotelier friend had told him otherwise, and he was then let behind the counter to look at the registration system/be shown incorrect, and low and behold the supposedly nationwide registration software did have a section for foreigners, but it took his insisting to get that 'we don't accept foreigners' changed into 'that'll be 69 yuan'.

 

That said, I know that foreign spies will only come to steal Chinese intellectual property when they can stay in cheap hotels. Expensive hotels make it not worth their while and they just go spy on other countries instead. /s

 

related article

 

 

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7 hours ago, 歐博思 said:

The guy was first denied stay on his foreigner status, then claimed his Chinese hotelier friend had told him otherwise, and he was then let behind the counter to look at the registration system/be shown incorrect, and lo and behold the supposedly nationwide registration software did have a section for foreigners, but it took his insisting to get that 'we don't accept foreigners' changed into 'that'll be 69 yuan'.

Yeah, I read similar advice from a blog (5~10 years ago). The blogger/traveller often ran into the problem that he was refused just because the hotel staff didn't know how to handle it, and explains in his post how to talk your way behind the counter and how to then register yourself on the system/show the staff what to do.

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1 hour ago, Lu said:

Yeah, I read similar advice from a blog (5~10 years ago). The blogger/traveller often ran into the problem that he was refused just because the hotel staff didn't know how to handle it, and explains in his post how to talk your way behind the counter and how to then register yourself on the system/show the staff what to do.

this is brilliant, perhaps there is a gap in the market for a new instruction book here

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Thanks a lot Lu!

 

Honestly, reading that blog I sometimes wonder if the bureaucracy in China was designed in a Pynchon-esque nightmare. It’s just so badly designed it’s honestly beyond belief. Obviously this is a special example but I wonder how much better China’s economy could be if they removed these ridiculous inefficencies. 

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Just to be clear -- for the benefit of those who've somehow managed never to hear 对不起我们不能接待外宾 (and it's such a common phrase that simply typing dbqwmbnjdwb is enough to bring it up on my input editor) -- no does not always mean no: put on your best hangdog look and maybe, but only maybe, they'll call the boss and get an OK for you to pollute the premises with your foreignness.
 

Usually you can sense upfront whether it's a firm no-way no or not. Myself, I don't waste much energy dealing with a NO! Better to just move out and try someplace else. I certainly wouldn't go to the sort of lengths outlined in that blog post. Talk about overdoing it.

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2 hours ago, 889 said:

Not to mention, this is the third hotel in a row to turn you away.

 

See the problem?

Add having lost your passport and it being Christmas Eve and your embassy being shut until January 2nd into the mix, and things become even more of a problem. Believe me, I should know.

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8 hours ago, 889 said:

It's 10:30 at night, dark and raining. You're carrying 15lbs in a rucksack. And you're beat after a four-hour bus ride.

 

Not to mention, this is the third hotel in a row to turn you away.

 

See the problem?

 

 

No, because I book ahead :mrgreen:

 

Come to 2018 889 :lol:

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I mean that when you book on these apps like ctrip qunar, you get a booking reference number and the next day or two the actual confirmation comes through when they have checked with the hotel that they reservation is actually confirmed. You have to enter you details (passport number, visa number etc) Every time my partner books it's pretty much straight away but with me its the next day or day. Did the OP actually get this or perhaps his wife book just under her name only?

 

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6 hours ago, zander1 said:

The blogger seems to still be encountering the same problems (and responding with the same iron will!) based on this post: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/vietnam2018/d49-wangsong-town-to-anpu-town/

 

 

Look what he writes

However, once they become a confrontation, I love the drama of it and they (with "they" being some combination of the hotel staff and the local police) hate it.

.....

Found a place that was much too staidly old and nice looking for my usual tastes (it had a parking lot and an attached in-house spa that is probably a brothel) but which would do. Only CNY 98 for a single as well.

 

 

As in $15 USD?? And they expect everything to go smoothly and the staff to be co-operative. then he acts like an arrogant foreigner telling the staff he knows more about their procedures than they do and just barges off to the room. What does he expect? If I was chinese I'd kick him out on the street too. Its lucky he didn't get a beating at the same time.  I had the similar horror stories in India, Africa etc where I paid too cheap.   Its not the bureaucracy its people not willing to pay for what you get. How many foreigners does that author think they get in these small places and especially in these ultra low budget hotels? its might have been the first time ever a foreigner tried to stay there. 

 

I have stayed in a fair few redneck places and never once had an issue, however one needs to pay 300 minimum for anything now for a 3 star (as in a proper star rating)

 

To be honest that person sounds like a total idiot and brings it upon himself


 

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5 hours ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

No, because I book ahead 

 

Doesn't always work, though. I've been turned away on arrival even with confirmed bookings from ctrip, or more frequently, a phone-call from ctrip a few days after the reservation was confirmed to tell me that the hotel does not accept foreigners. Not a big problem if there is still enough time to book an alternative, but it is a big problem if it's 10:30 at night, dark, raining, you're carrying 15 kg in a rucksack, you're farked after a four-hour bus ride, and this is the third hotel in a row to turn you away.

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30 minutes ago, anonymoose said:

 

Doesn't always work, though. I've been turned away on arrival even with confirmed bookings from ctrip, or more frequently, a phone-call from ctrip a few days after the reservation was confirmed to tell me that the hotel does not accept foreigners. Not a big problem if there is still enough time to book an alternative, but it is a big problem if it's 10:30 at night, dark, raining, you're carrying 15 kg in a rucksack, you're farked after a four-hour bus ride, and this is the third hotel in a row to turn you away.

 

That's pretty bad service from ctrip actually. Understand your frustration. Looks like I've just been lucky until now

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1 hour ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

As in $15 USD?? And they expect everything to go smoothly and the staff to be co-operative. then he acts like an arrogant foreigner telling the staff he knows more about their procedures than they do and just barges off to the room. What does he expect? If I was chinese I'd kick him out on the street too. Its lucky he didn't get a beating at the same time.  I had the similar horror stories in India, Africa etc where I paid too cheap.   Its not the bureaucracy its people not willing to pay for what you get. How many foreigners does that author think they get in these small places and especially in these ultra low budget hotels? its might have been the first time ever a foreigner tried to stay there. 

I’m a bit perplexed by the insinuation that the low cost should mean foreigners should expect to go along with what can be described as anywhere from professional incompetence to open xenophobia.

 

If you operate a hotel, shouldn’t you be able to provide the services of a hotel? I don’t see the logic here. If the author, who went through the trouble of learning how to complete the task, is showing operators how to do it, in effect the author is performing free training on top of paying for room and board.

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