October 20, 2025 | 05:45 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Many foreign tourists in China claim that hotels have turned them away despite having confirmed bookings. The reason? They do not possess a permanent resident card. As a result, they end up scrambling for accommodation elsewhere.
One such tourist who faced rejection is Alice Jiao, a tourist from Australia. According to ABC News Australia, Alice had booked a hotel in Nanjing. Before her booking, she double-checked to ensure that the hotel would accept foreign guests. However, when she arrived last February, the staff informed her that they only accommodate foreign guests with a Chinese mainland resident card.
Tourists from Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, the UK, and the USA experienced similar incidents. They shared their experiences on platforms such as Reddit, Xiaohongshu, and Booking.com, mostly when rejected by budget hotels.
In January, Malaysian tourist Emily Qin stated that she was rejected at the Royal International Apartment in Guangzhou even though the booking platform did not indicate any restrictions.
On domestic apps like Meituan, Ctrip, and Qunar, hotel listings often explicitly state that only guests with mainland China identity cards will be accepted. However, this information is often unavailable on international platforms such as Booking.com and Expedia.com.
Complexity of Registering Foreign Guests
These rejections are linked to the Chinese Immigration Administration Law, which mandates hotels to register foreign guests and report their data to the local police, according to Global Times. Some hotels, especially in small cities, see this process as burdensome due to technological limitations and staff constraints.
China has been striving to revive inbound tourism in 2024 following the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, 131.9 million inbound visits were recorded, which was a 61 percent increase from the previous year.
Previously, Chinese law also required hotels to obtain a special license for foreign accommodation qualifications to cater to international tourists. However, these regulations have gradually been relaxed and officially scrapped in May 2024 as part of China's post-pandemic tourism reforms.
However, many independent budget hotels accustomed to serving domestic tourists struggle to accommodate foreign guests due to language barriers and outdated systems. Travel advisors like The China Guide suggest booking four-star or higher hotels, which usually have bilingual staff and smoother passport processes. Visitors are also advised to read reviews, carefully check property details, and call to confirm before booking.
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