The Road to Improvement for Chinese Hotels Hosting Expatriates

Earlier, in order to facilitate international friends to come to China, the Chinese government launched a series of innovative measures, including the trial unilateral visa-free access to six countries, including Germany and France, the official launch of the ‘Five-Star Card’, the upgrading of the mobile payment function of overseas bank cards, and the launch of the function of foreign passports to be verified online directly on the website of 12306, and so on.

This series of initiatives has made life in China easier for international friends.

But there is one more thing that has been troubling many foreign passport holders, and it's about to be solved once and for all. That is the ‘24-hour accommodation report’!

In the past, many Chinese expatriates or foreign family members returning to their home countries to visit relatives or travelling will encounter a headache, that is, they can not casually find a hotel to stay. Like many nationals can stay in the cost-effective hotels, usually ‘no foreign-related qualifications’ do not receive international friends to stay. Especially in some small cities.

So what exactly is the 

‘foreign-related qualification’?

In fact, the foreign-related qualification depends on the place, like Beijing, the capital, cancelled the restriction of foreign-related designated accommodation as early as in 2003. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as foreign-related qualification in other cities. Only some local cities will have their own ‘hotel industry security management rules’, so whether a hotel can receive foreign guests or depends on the local hotel industry management regulations.

So why do some hotels use this 

as a shield when there is 

no ‘foreign-related qualification’?

The reason is precisely because of the 24 hours temporary accommodation registration.

Under normal circumstances, when a foreign tourists stays in a hotel in China, the hotel authorities need to make a unified online report. In big cities with a lot of foreign tourists or in high-end hotels, hotels are willing to provide professional receptionists for this purpose. However, in smaller cities or more affordable hotels and inns, hotels may refuse to accept foreign guests because they do not know how to enter the information into the reporting system, and are even more reluctant to provide professional reception staff (note: accepting foreigners without reporting will result in fines and even closure of the business if the case is reported).

This causes inconvenience to many foreign tourists or Chinese expatriates returning to their home countries to visit their relatives, and they have to spend more time and cost to find hotels that can accommodate foreign guests.

This situation also led some international friends to leave comments on the Chinese government website. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security replied:

It is actively cooperating with the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other industry authorities to study measures to require the hotel industry not to refuse to receive foreign guests on the grounds that they do not have foreign-related qualifications, and to guide and supervise the hotel industry in further improving its foreign-related reception service capacity and upgrading the level of service provided by its employees.

In addition, the Ministry of Commerce will also promote lodging enterprises to improve their foreign-related service level, such as coordinating with network operation platforms to offer a series of courses on hotel English, providing free hotel English training for lodging operators stationed on the platforms for checking in and reserving guest rooms, and helping lodging industry practitioners to improve their foreign language proficiency, so as to provide more convenience for expatriates coming to China.

In other words, in the future, foreign guests can stay in any hotel or hostel in China. Hotels may not refuse to let foreign guests stay in their hotels on the grounds that they do not have foreign-related qualifications.

Some netizens have taken to social media to share how they reacted after being refused to check into a hotel with foreign tourists.

①If you have made a reservation, but the other party arrives at the shop said refused to stay, you can ask the other party in accordance with the contract to compensate you triple the price or ask him to call the manager, many hotels in order to avoid the trouble will allow you to check in smoothly.

② Call the immigration police for help.

In addition, China's Ministry of Public Security is optimising its accommodation registration management services for people from abroad. Instead of having to make a special trip to a nearby police station to make a 24-hour accommodation report, some cities can now apply directly online.