Do hotels in China have to accept foreigners?
Official policy says they should. A July 2024 circular tells local authorities and online platforms not to use qualification requirements as a barrier to hotels receiving foreigners, and tells platforms and hotels not to illegally post notices saying they do not receive them. China Daily also reports that authorities said in May 2024 that hotels must not refuse foreign nationals on the ground that they lack foreign-related qualifications.
Here is what the official pages leave open. The circular is an instruction to authorities and platforms, not a rule written for travellers. It states no penalty for a hotel that turns you away. Neither the circular nor the hotel regulation lists hotels that accept foreigners, and none of these pages says that every hotel will accept you or gives a figure for how often foreigners are refused.
What the July 2024 circular on hotels and foreigners says
The document is the "Notice on Several Measures to Serve High-Level Opening-Up and Facilitate Accommodation for Foreign (Overseas) Persons" (商务部等7部门关于服务高水平对外开放便利境外人员住宿若干措施的通知), a translation of the Chinese title. Its number is 商服贸函〔2024〕324号. Seven bodies issued it together: the Ministry of Commerce, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the People's Bank of China, the National Immigration Administration and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The text on gov.cn shows a written date of 1 July 2024. The Beijing foreign affairs office page is dated 2024-07-26 and the Wuhan commerce bureau page 2024-07-29; both report on the circular.
It is addressed to provincial commerce, cyberspace, public security (including exit-entry) and culture and tourism authorities, plus People's Bank of China and foreign-exchange branches. That is why the wording is about what they should do.
The part closest to your worry is section 1, "operating in accordance with the law" (依法合规经营):
- Local authorities and online platforms should not use qualification requirements and the like as a threshold to restrict hotels from receiving foreigners.
- Online platforms and hotels should not illegally publish information saying they do not receive foreigners.
- Provincial cyberspace, public security, commerce and culture-and-tourism authorities are to step up market clean-up together, check local hotels and platforms for illegal limits on foreigners' accommodation, and urge correction promptly.
The Chinese text says 不应, "should not". The Beijing foreign affairs office's English report words the second point as "prohibited". This page follows the Chinese text.
"Foreign-related qualifications": the May 2024 complaints and reply
The circular did not come from nowhere. According to the China Daily report of 29 May 2024, a post on the central government website on 24 May said people from Nigeria, the UK, Pakistan and other countries reported being turned away from hotels. The hotels said they lacked "foreign-related qualifications" or "did not know how to enter information into the system". The post said this was particularly prevalent in small cities and budget hotels. Those are reported complaints, not statistics.
The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Immigration Administration replied. China Daily quotes the authorities as saying that those in the hospitality industry must not refuse foreign nationals by claiming they lack foreign-related qualifications. That "must not" is China Daily's report of the reply; the circular itself says "should not".
Which hotels in China accept foreigners? Is there an official list?
The circular gives no list, and it points the other way: a foreign-related qualification should not be a gate. The articles of the hotel regulation that cover who must register guests (Articles 2 and 6) do not mention a separate foreign-related qualification either. Article 2 covers hotels, guesthouses, inns and similar lodging, whether state-run, collective, partnership, individual or foreign-invested, specialised or a side business, year-round or seasonal.
Nothing in the official text says which cities or hotel tiers are safer. China Daily mentions that Beijing cancelled limits on foreign travellers staying only in designated or licensed hotels in 2003, and that homestays in Shanghai's Chongming district can apply to the local police station to receive international travellers. Those are background notes, not rankings. If you are choosing where to stay, see our guides to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Chengdu. Our company books hotels, but we cannot promise that a given hotel will accept you.
What the circular encourages
These are encouraged or supported steps, not guarantees you will find at every hotel:
- Pre-job training for front-desk staff, and hotels upgrading with travel, transport and shopping information, international calls, bilingual signs, and front-desk staff with some foreign-language ability or AI translation devices (section 2).
- Platforms improving foreign-language app versions for download, sign-up and booking, and offering hotel foreign-language and reception etiquette courses, including check-in and booking language (section 4).
- Simpler registration information items and more ways to submit registration, with "education and management first, tolerant and prudent enforcement" for operators (section 5).
- Better acceptance of foreign bank cards and foreign e-wallets where conditions allow, hotels publicly committing to accept cash and keep change ready, and currency exchange facilities at hotels with many foreign guests (section 7). For payment in practice, see is cash accepted in China.
Hotel check-in for foreigners: who registers you and what ID to show
The hotel does the registration. You do not file anything yourself. Article 39, paragraph 1 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, in the National Immigration Administration's English text, reads: "Where foreigners stay in hotels in China, the hotels shall register their accommodation in accordance with the regulations on the public security administration of the hotel industry, and submit foreigners' accommodation registration information to the public security organs in the places where the hotels are located."
The hotel regulation, the Regulations on the Public Security Administration of the Hotel Industry (旅馆业治安管理办法, third revision 29 March 2022), says in Article 6 that lodging must be registered. At registration the hotel checks the guest's identity document and registers the prescribed items truthfully. For foreign guests, it must also submit the accommodation registration form to the local public security organ within 24 hours.
The regulation says only "identity document" (身份证件) and does not name a type. A separate rule, Article 38 of the Law, says foreigners aged 16 or over who stay or reside in China must carry their passports or other international travel documents, or stay or residence permits, and accept inspection by public security organs. That is a general duty to carry papers. It is not a check-in rule, and the two articles are not one combined list of what hotels require.
Under Article 76 of the Law, a hotel that fails to submit foreigners' registration information gets a warning, and a fine of RMB 1,000 to 5,000 if the circumstances are serious; this is about registration, not a penalty for refusing a guest.
In practice: registration is the hotel's job, so a hotel that says it cannot enter a foreigner's information is citing the very problem the May 2024 reply and the circular addressed.
A hotel refused me because I am a foreigner. What can I do?
The circular does not set out a complaint procedure, but it does name a channel. Section 6 says to make full use of the 12367 immigration administration government service platform and speed up its connection with the 12345 hotline. The aim is policy answers, information inquiries, complaint and reporting channels, and handling of comments and suggestions, around the clock in Chinese and English. Section 8 tells authorities to take consultations, appeals and complaints seriously.
What this does and does not mean
The circular describes 12367 and 12345 as something to "give full play" and "accelerate", so do not assume the two lines are fully connected yet. It does not say that calling 12367 makes a hotel accept you, and it gives no response times or outcomes. It also says nothing about refunds or compensation for a booking a hotel declines.
Booking platforms are in scope too. The circular says platforms should not illegally publish "no foreigners" information and should vet what hotels post. If you book through a platform, a listing that says it does not take foreign guests is the kind of notice section 1 covers.
Homestay, short-term rental or a friend's home: do the same rules apply?
Not exactly. For a stay outside a hotel, Article 39, paragraph 2 says you or the person who accommodates you must register with the local public security organ within 24 hours after arrival. Online registration for these stays started as a pilot on 20 March 2026, according to the National Immigration Administration's interpretation; our page on online accommodation registration for foreigners covers where it works now and how to use it. Neither the hotel regulation nor that interpretation says whether a particular homestay counts as a hotel, so ask the host before you book.
Has the rule for hotels and foreigners changed between 2024 and 2026?
- May 2024: the complaints and the reply reported by China Daily.
- 1 July 2024: the written date of the seven-body circular, reported on 2024-07-26 and 2024-07-29 by the two city pages above.
- 20 March 2026: online registration for non-hotel stays begins as a pilot in seven provincial-level regions.
The 2026 change is about stays outside hotels; it does not add a new rule on hotels refusing foreigners. For who can enter without a visa, see 30-day visa-free countries and 240-hour transit areas; for the form you fill in on arrival, see the China arrival card page.
