Can hotels in China reject foreigner accommodation?- 大数跨境

Can hotels in China reject foreigner accommodation?

索尔古德曼SAUL

2024-08-17

导读：Can hotels in China reject foreigner accommodation?

Conclusion: hotels shouldn't reject foreigners, but it takes time to make a change.

Recently, I have some foreign friends complained about they were being rejected by some hotels because of their foreign identity. Even when they showed the notice issued by the Ministry of Public Security of China in May 2024 and called the police, it still didn't work. In the end, they could only stay in those hotels "designated" to receive foreigners, which often meant staying away from their destination and paying more money. Some even raised the issue to the level of racial discrimination, which i think is really unnecessary.

On the other hand, I can fully get their feelings. As a lawyer, I looked up laws and policies on hotel reception and check-in, trying to find out why some hotels do not accept foreign customers.

1.China's regulations on the registration and check-in of foreigners in hotels

There is no regulation on "foreigner check-in hotel qualifications" in China. However, when hotels receive foreigners for accommodation, they are required to fulfill relevant registration and reporting obligations, otherwise they will face fines and other penalties.

A.Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 39 If a foreigner stays in a hotel in China, the hotel shall register the foreigner's accommodation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the hotel industry public security management, and submit the foreigner's accommodation registration information to the local public security.

Article 76 If a hotel fails to register the foreigner's accommodation in accordance with the regulations, it shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China"; if it fails to submit the foreigner's accommodation registration information to the public security in accordance with the regulations, it shall be given a warning; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 1,000 yuan but not more than 5,000 yuan shall be imposed.

B.Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 56 If the staff of the hotel fails to register the name, type and number of the identity document of the guest staying in accordance with the regulations, or knowingly fails to stop the guest who brings dangerous substances into the hotel, a fine of not less than 200 yuan but not more than 500 yuan shall be imposed.

C.Hotel Industry Public Security Management Measures

Article 6 Hotels must register the accommodation of guests. When registering, the identity document of the guest shall be checked and the registration shall be truthfully registered according to the prescribed items. When receiving foreign guests for accommodation, the hotel shall also submit the accommodation registration form to the local public security within 24 hours.

2.New policy?

Response from the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Commerce and National Immigration Administration on May 24, 2024

In response to the inconvenience of accommodation for foreigners reported by netizens, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Immigration Administration find it very important and are actively coordinating with the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other industry authorities to study work measures, requiring the hotel industry not to refuse to receive foreigners on the grounds of lack of foreign-related qualifications, guiding and supervising the hotel industry to further improve its foreign-related reception service capabilities and improve the service level of practitioners. At present, the Ministry of Commerce has guided the China Hotel Association to issue the "Proposal on Facilitating Accommodation Services for Foreigners Coming to China", and carried out publicity and guidance from the aspects of strengthening the study of laws and regulations, improving reception capabilities, and strengthening talent training, so as to promote accommodation enterprises to improve their foreign-related service levels and provide more convenience for foreigners coming to China. Coordinate the network operation platform to offer a series of courses such as hotel English, and provide free hotel English training such as registration and booking for accommodation operators on the platform, so as to help accommodation industry practitioners improve their foreign language level and better provide services for foreigners. The Ministry of Public Security is deploying public security organs across the country to further optimize the registration and management services for foreigners in the hotel industry, facilitate the registration of foreigners, and create a first-class business environment.

The official statement is undoubtedly a big progress, which shows the official welcome attitude towards foreign visitors. But if you pay attention to the wording "actively studying work measures", "guiding and improving foreign-related reception service capabilities", "improving the service level of practitioners", and "deploying further optimization of foreigners' accommodation registration management services", you shall realize that it will take some time for these improvements to truly give foreign guests a good experience, including the amendment of laws, training of law enforcement personnel, upgrading of hotel software and hardware, and training of hotel service personnel.

3.Facts

1. A large number of cases of being punished for not submitting foreigners' check-in information in time, no cases of being punished for denying foreigners' check-in

July 5, 2024, the Tourism Ecological Police Center of Wulingyuan Branch of Zhangjiajie Public Security Bureau, Hunan Province, found in routine inspections that an inn in Wulingyuan District falsely registered multiple mandatory items when registering the accommodation information of three foreign guests staying in the hotel on June 16. The police immediately notified the inn manager of the problem, and conducted on-site training on how to register the accommodation information of foreigners at the hotel, distributed learning materials for them. According to relevant regulations, officers imposed a public security penalty of warning on the inn in accordance with the law.

January 18, 2024, police officers of the Exit and Entry Administration Brigade of Liulin County, Lvliang City, Shanxi Province noticed that a Burmese lived in a bath center. Upon investigation, the front desk staff of the bath center did not register the accommodation information of the foreigner as required, nor did they submit the accommodation information of the foreigner to the public security. Officers imposed a fine of 500 yuan on the bath center accordingly.

2. Setting of hotel screening conditions by Ctrip, Meituan

Popular hotel booking platforms "Ctrip" and "Meituan", have special screening conditions for "applicable groups": "applicable to foreign guests", "applicable to Hong Kong guests", "applicable to Taiwan guests" and "applicable to Macau guests". When these screening conditions are selected, the optional hotels are different, which shows that hotels still have different policies for foreign guests.

China is becoming more open and connected to the world. In the past one or two years, more and more convenient visa and payment policies for foreigners to come to China. As for hotel reception, it’s also becoming better but not perfect yet. But who knows, good things take time. And i wish all a good journey in China.

Annotation: 1. The Ministry of Public Security and other departments responded to the message that "it is inconvenient for foreign tourists to stay in hotels": https://www.gov.cn/hudong/202405/content_6952770.htm

If you have any business and law issues related to China, you are welcome to contact me.

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