I've twice been told I have to leave late at night after booking in, because the police say I can't stay, one booked on booking.com. Both times I stayed the rest of the night and moved the next day. On the southern silk road I had some difficulty finding a hotel that would accept me. Each one that did charged me somewhat more than the hotel warranted. Friends arrived at their booking.com booked hotel in Zhangye during Golden week to be told they couldn't stay because they were foreigners. In Xinjiang once I had trouble finding a foreigner hotel so asked some riot squad police (i found many were from out of town, spoke some English and had nothing much to do) and they were very helpful. Twice hotels I booked on ctrip emailed me the day before to cancel the booking when they realised I was a foreigner. Someone told me that applying to be a foreigner hotel was time- consuming and expensive so it wasn't worth doing unless you were sure of customers.
Someone told me that applying to be a foreigner hotel was time- consuming and expensive so it wasn't worth doing unless you were sure of customers.
I've been told that, too. And I might have been able to accept that explanation had it not been for the fact that some branches of Chain Hotels, Like 7 Days Inn/Home Inn/Motel 168/Hanting Express/etc, have no problem at all in accepting foreigners; others can't. Sometimes even in the same city (There are 6 branches of the 7 Day Inn in Yinchuan, for instance. Only one of them is able to accept foreigners). Also; when they can't accommodate you, hotels will often apologise and tell you that they are prevented from having foreign guest by local bylaws (I've encountered this in both Handan, Hebei and Anshan, Liaoning).
I can accept that cost might be a factor for small, independent hotels but not conglomerates. And I've stayed in many small hotels that wouldn't get a lot of foreign custom that DO have a license.
It is definitely still an issue for budget places. Hanting Express for example does not allow foreigners, at least not the one I tried in Shanghai.
Some of the booking websites do have notes about 'Chinese only'. Check it beforehand.
I had no trouble whatsoever getting a room in either In Yinchuan or Guyuan.
In both I walked into the first cheapie I randomly came across (definitely not ones in LP or intended for foreigners) and got a room immediately.
Maybe NOT speaking much Chinese helps? ;-)
Strangely, relatively touristy Kaili in Guizou was one place where I had a number of budget hotels refusing me. But I still ended up staying at two "unapproved" hotels there - and got a free visa extension at the local PSB while doing so.
You must have been the only person all year to turn up in Guyuan without speaking Chinese! Did you visit Tongxin as well?
My day in Guyuan was amongst the worst I've ever had in China - I got in a physical confrontation with a guy on the bus there and then discovered that the bus station had moved miles out of town. I bought my ticket out of town for the next day, and went into the city center to look for a hotel. The city center was a polluted construction zone, with none of the buildings looking older than 5 years (or looking like they'd survive another 5 years). I spent 3, maybe 4 hours, wandering around looking for a hotel. Every single hotel was either dubiously "full" or flat out told me that they didn't accept foreigners. I even went into a few hotels which would have been above my budget anyway, and they refused to accept me as well. In between visiting a dozen hotels, I managed to go to the town's museum as well, which was seriously dilapidated.
In the end, I was worried local buses to the bus station were going to end soon. So I decided to hop on one, and found a cheap (but still overpriced) place to stay in the bus station. It was a noisy dump. Thankfully, I headed to the far more pleasant Tianshui the next day.
I don't remember Tongxin.
Guyuan was certainty a dump, and the "hotel" I stayed at was some dark, windowless basement thing in what looked like a disused parking lot or storage area.
The room was OK though, and cheap - my definition of that being ¥50 or less for a room. Even the nearby Budfhist caves that were the whole reason to stop by were underwhelming - I found the dusty chipmunk spotted on the hills more interesting than the caves.
The onward journey southwards to Gansu was certainly scenic though, and the Maijishan caves more than made up for the ones at Guyuan.
You don't get much for 50 Yuan these days!
Tongxin is a small town north of Guyuan. It's noteworthy for having a Ming-era mosque, the only mosque in all of Ningxia which wasn't destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
The scenery between Guyuan and Gansu is certainly lovely! One of the corners of China I'd like to get back to and explore more.
Incidentally, I found Yinchuan one of the most likeable provincial capitals in China.
Though I imagine in winter it must be far less pleasant.
So far I have pretty much always found a place within that budget in China.
Typically a hostel dorm in big ciities, but a private room elsewhere.
And there are plenty of areas I'd still love to explore in China, including some I've already been to in the past.
Yes, Yinchuan's surprisingly pleasant. Probably because there's a lot of space, and not so many people. The city is very spread out, and not very congested. I enjoyed the old tombs and pagodas sitting around town, but it was the brand new Renmin Guangchang with a flock of resident peacocks that I really liked! There's an interesting museum there as well.
50 Yuan isn't a suitable nightly budget in China anymore. In the bigger cities, hostels charge more than that for a dorm bed, and only the most basic of lodgings will give you a private room for that amount. You can probably get by on 50 Yuan a night in the cheapest parts of China, but only just.
I will be back to explore a few places in China, old and new, in a few weeks time.
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