You must have a situation like this: you travel to a new Chinese city, scour the streets looking for a good, cheap place to sleep, and when you finally find one you’re told you can’t stay just because you’re a foreigner.
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Today we summarize some reasons why foreigners are still banned from many hotels in China. The reasons below may be why China restricts foreigners’ access to accommodation.
For public surveillance.
It’s far easier to keep track of foreigners if they are only permitted to stay at a few well known places in a city rather than in any small inn.
For face.
There is a MASSIVE divide between the image that China wants to promote to the outside world and the reality behind this front. China seems to view every foreigner as a potential ambassador, and likewise only wants them to see the modern, wealthy, powerful sides of the country.
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It seems that the government feels they could lose face by having foreigners reporting home about the grubby hotel room they stayed in for $3 — by having foreigners see and experience a side of the country they pretend doesn’t exist. Having foreigners getting robbed, cheated, in altercations, or getting too close to local people and events is also not good for the country’s face
For protection.
Foreigners in China are often treated as dumb children, as people who need to be watched over and taken care of.
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The Chinese seem to think that their language, writing system, and customs are too complicated for us to understand, and we may get ourselves in trouble or lost when traveling because of it.
For money.
There are literally seas of star-rated hotels all around China that are severely lacking guests. For one thing, they’re too expensive: most Chinese people are staying in the cheap joints.
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So to get some economic leverage foreigners are directed towards these places or international youth hostels. This is not as bad as it was twenty years ago, as there is now a good hosteling system and chains of mid-ranged hotels, but “government approved” accommodation generally cost more than the inns which catering to a local-only clientele.
Social organization & bureaucracy.
It is an understatement to say that China is a bureaucratic country. There are rules for everything, and overbearing organizational systems categorize and place everyone.
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Politically speaking, China is still a very Communist country. In this system it perhaps makes sense to have hotels for foreigners and others for locals. It’s just the way things are done here.
Many small hotels & inns simply don’t
bother getting the foreigner permit.
Many small hotels and inns simply don’t bother getting the foreigner permit. These places simply don’t cater to foreigners, so why should they go through the hassles and pay the expenses related to getting a permit to house them?
© Image | HACOS
Don’t know how difficult or expensive it is for a hotel to get these permits, but, as many branches of big and wealthy hotel chains in small cities often don’t have them.
Source:https://www.vagabondjourney.com/foreigners-are-still-banned-from-most-hotels-in-china/
HACOS,Business Services Solutions Master