China Hotel Check-In for Foreigners: Passport and Deposit

Can foreigners stay in any hotel in China?

In law, yes. In practice, it depends on the hotel. The reasons are in the rules, not in any ban on foreigners.

China’s hotel rules, Article 6, say a hotel must register every guest, check their identity document and enter the details as required. For guests from abroad, the hotel must also send the registration form to the local police within 24 hours. The Exit and Entry Administration Law repeats the duty in Article 39. A hotel that fails to report can be warned, and in serious cases fined ¥1,000 to ¥5,000 (Article 76). That is why a desk clerk who cannot log a foreign passport will often say no rather than risk it.

The problem was big enough to reach the central government. In May 2024 foreign web users from Nigeria, the UK and Pakistan wrote to the government portal that hotels refused them because they lacked a “foreign-related qualification” (涉外资质) or did not know how to enter their details. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Immigration Administration replied on May 24, 2024 that hotels may not refuse foreign guests for lacking that qualification. The reply also said the China Hotel Association had issued an initiative on serving foreign guests and that platforms were offering free hotel-English courses.

That reply says hotels may not refuse for that one reason. It does not mean every desk can now process a passport. A commenter on r/travelchina wrote on October 18, 2026 that not every hotel can put a foreign passport into its check-in system. Trip.com’s own guide, dated May 13, 2026, says smaller guesthouses and local hotels are the most likely to refuse, and rates international chains as “always” welcoming and modern Chinese chains as “generally” so.

What does the hotel need from you?

Have these ready at the desk:

1. Your original passport. Trip.com’s guide says the hotel scans it and reports the details to the police, and that a photocopy is not accepted.
2. Your booking confirmation, in the app or as a screenshot.
3. A valid visa or entry stamp. Trip.com’s guide says the hotel sees it when it scans the passport.
4. A payment method for the deposit and any extras (see below).

Check-in itself follows the law: staff check your ID and fill in the registration. The UK Foreign Office tells British travellers that if they are staying in a hotel, the hotel will register them when they check in, and that the 24-hour residence rule is enforced with spot-checks of foreign nationals’ documents. You do not need to visit a police station when you stay in a hotel.

What the hotel does not do is register you for a later stay somewhere else. Each new hotel registers you again. If you move to a friend’s flat or a rental, read the accommodation registration guide: since September 21, 2026 you or your host can register online as well as at a police station, according to NIA Announcement No. 7 of 2026.

How does the deposit work?

The deposit (押金, yājīn) is hotel practice, not a legal requirement, and we found no official figure. The guides below agree on the shape of it.

Both guides give the same warning about payment. Trip.com says international cards can be declined outside major cities, so carry yuan and link WeChat Pay or Alipay. Our Alipay and WeChat Pay guide covers the setup for visitors.

Useful phrases, from The Pure Language:

• 押金多少？ (Yājīn duōshao?) How much is the deposit?
• 可以刷卡吗？ (Kěyǐ shuākǎ ma?) Can I pay by card?
• 押金什么时候退？ (Yājīn shénme shíhou tuì?) When is the deposit returned?

What if the hotel says it cannot take foreigners?

The phrase to listen for is 我们不能接待外宾 (Wǒmen bù néng jiēdài wàibīn), “we cannot receive foreign guests”. The Pure Language reads it as the hotel not being set up to register foreigners. Trip.com’s FAQ advises: ask why, and if it is a licence issue, do not insist.

A sensible order, built from those guides and the 2024 reply:

1. Stay calm and show the original passport and the booking.
2. Ask the desk to call a manager. The desk may simply not know how to log a foreign passport.
3. Open the booking app and contact its support while you are still in the lobby. Keep screenshots of the booking and any message.
4. If the hotel still refuses, ask the platform to move you. Trip.com’s guide lists rebooking as one outcome; we found no official promise of a refund or penalty-free cancellation, so check the cancellation terms in your app before you pay.
5. Ask the desk, or the app, for a nearby hotel that takes foreign guests (附近有可以接待外宾的酒店吗？).

If you believe a hotel is breaking the 2024 rule, the NIA hotline 12367 handles immigration questions, and the UK Foreign Office names it for British travellers. We found no official channel for hotel complaints specifically.

How do I lower the risk before you book?

• Choose a hotel known to take foreigners. International chains and large Chinese chains are the safer pick, according to Trip.com’s guide. Read recent reviews for mentions of foreign guests.
• Read the policy section of the listing and message the hotel to ask whether it accepts foreign passports. Trip.com says search results only show hotels that welcome international travellers. That is the platform’s own claim and we could not check it, so treat a message to the hotel as the real test.
• Book where you can cancel until you have checked in.
• Bring a back-up. A screenshot of the address in Chinese helps you move to another hotel by taxi. For Guangzhou areas and prices, see where to stay in Guangzhou.
• Arriving by air late? Airport hotels and the airline’s free transit hotel work differently; read Guangzhou airport hotels for transit.

A commenter on r/travelchina wrote on October 15, 2026 that the hotel booking foreigners use inside Alipay is mostly Trip.com anyway. We could not confirm this from Alipay’s own pages, so check the listing’s policy before you rely on it.

What we could not confirm

We found no Guangzhou-specific rule or list of hotels that accept foreigners, no official deposit amount, and no rule on whether hotels may hold your passport. Hotel rules may have been revised since 2024. Check the sources linked above before you rely on any single figure.