The rule changed, but the practice hasn't entirely
In July 2024 eight ministries issued a directive that hotels must accept foreign guests and register them with the police within 24 hours. On paper the old "we can't take foreigners" refusal is no longer allowed.
In practice, refusals still happen. Registering a passport rather than a Chinese ID requires the property to be set up for it and the front desk to know how, and plenty of smaller hotels, guesthouses and apartment rentals are neither — so they turn you away, often after you have already paid.
This is not racism and it is rarely worth arguing at the counter. Plan around it instead.
How to avoid it
- Book through an international platform that filters for it. Trip.com in particular flags properties that accept foreign passports, because it has to.
- Message the property before paying. One sentence: "Can you register a foreign guest with a passport?" Our survival kit has it in Chinese.
- Be careful with private rentals. A private apartment usually cannot register you at all, which also leaves you responsible for registering yourself at the local police station within 24 hours of arrival.
- In small cities, go slightly upmarket. In Beijing and Shanghai almost everything takes foreigners. In a third-tier city, the business hotel chains — Hanting, Atour, Jinjiang, Home Inn at the better end — are the safe bet.
- Have a backup for the first night. If a long-haul arrival goes wrong, you do not want to be solving this at 1am.
The registration rule, if you stay private
If you are not in a hotel, you must register your address at the local police station, generally within 24 hours of arrival (longer in some rural areas). It is a short, free, bureaucratic errand. Skipping it is a fineable offence, and matters more under the exit-and-entry regulations in force since September 2026.