Who files your accommodation registration
Article 39 draws one decisive line: hotel lodging versus every other place you sleep. In a hotel, the hotel does the filing, and the hotel — not you — carries the penalty if it does not. Find your row before arrival; the filer, deadline and available channel change across that line.
| Where you sleep | Who files | Deadline | How | Possible consequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A stay the operator confirms it handles as hotel lodging under Article 39 | The property | At check-in | The property registers you and submits the information to the local public security organ. | If it fails to submit: a warning; in serious cases a fine of RMB 1,000–5,000. |
| Non-hotel lodging anywhere in mainland China | You or your host | Within 24 hours of arrival | Online through the NIA government-service website, Immigration 12367 app, or official WeChat/Alipay mini-program. The NIA guidance says the first registration at that address needs host assistance. You may also file at the responsible local police station. | A warning and possibly a fine of up to RMB 2,000 for failing to register. |
Beijing and Shanghai: separate local online channels
Beijing private stay: open the official WeChat account 北京公安出入境, then 资讯指南 → 网上住宿登记办理. Follow its instructions for the address. If you cannot complete it, use the local police station and ask 010-12367 for guidance before the 24-hour deadline. Beijing official registration instructions ↗
Shanghai residential-community stay: you or the host can open the Shanghai Public Security Bureau FAQ and scan its registration QR code to use 境外人员住宿登记自助申报系统. The local police window, overseas-personnel service station or immigration integration service station is the offline fallback. Check the submission result; the FAQ explains how to download an approved record from History. Hotels still register their own guests. Shanghai official registration FAQ and QR code ↗
The nationwide NIA route coexists with these published local channels. Use an official service that accepts the actual address; online difficulty does not pause the 24-hour duty. No registration has been submitted or live form completion tested for this guide.
On the NIA national platform, the first registration at an address must be completed with the host's assistance. You may file alone only after a previous registration at that same address through the platform, or when staying in a home you own.
The card to show at the front desk
If staff say foreign guests cannot stay, show both blocks below. The first is article 1 of the seven-department notice 商服贸函〔2024〕324号. The second is Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law.
一、依法合规经营《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》第三十九条
地方相关部门、网络运营平台不应以资质要求等为门槛限制住宿业经营者接待境外人员住宿，网络运营平台、住宿业经营者不应违规对外发布不接待境外人员住宿的有关信息。省级网信、公安、商务、文旅等相关部门要结合自身职责，联合加强市场整治，排查本地住宿业经营者和网络运营平台违规限制境外人员住宿问题，并及时督促整改。
外国人在中国境内旅馆住宿的，旅馆应当按照旅馆业治安管理的有关规定为其办理住宿登记，并向所在地公安机关报送外国人住宿登记信息。
The notice tells departments, platforms and lodging businesses not to use qualification thresholds to restrict overseas guests. It does not create a right of admission you can enforce, and it sets no penalty for refusal itself. The notice does not decide ordinary booking disputes such as no rooms, an unpaid booking or failure to present the valid original passport; those questions still depend on the booking terms and applicable law.
Settle four things before the cancellation deadline
Ask the property directly
Send the Chinese message through platform chat or to the property's phone. A listing badge is not a written commitment.
Get the answer in writing and keep it offline.
Save the reply with the property's Chinese name, address and phone number before the free-cancellation deadline closes.
Ask who files
For a licensed hotel, the answer should be that the property handles registration at check-in. If it says otherwise, ask the manager and platform before arrival.
Hold one nearby alternative
Identify a larger business hotel or international chain within one short taxi ride and note whether same-night booking is possible.
您好，我是外国人，持外国护照。请问贵店可以接待境外人员入住吗？入住时是否由贵店办理境外人员住宿登记并报送公安机关？谢谢。
Hello, I am a foreign national travelling on a foreign passport. Can your property accept overseas guests? At check-in, will your property complete the accommodation registration and submit it to the public security organ?Domestic app versus international app: availability on the domestic app does not prove the desk will take your passport. Treat a domestic-app booking as unconfirmed until the property itself answers the message above. We found no official explanation of why the two apps differ, so this page does not invent one.
Four worked cases
Apply these conditions to the actual hotel and local registration channel. If a desk or police station gives a different instruction, use the recovery path below.
Case 1 — DEFAULT — international chain hotel, Shanghai
- Conditions
- German passport · four nights · international-app booking · 19:00 arrival
- Result
- Present the original passport. The hotel registers you and submits the information; you file nothing. Shanghai's local non-hotel online system is irrelevant because this is hotel lodging.
- Boundary
- The result follows the stated rule; the actual desk needs the traveller’s passport, booking and property address.
Case 2 — FAILURE — small property in Danxiashan turns you away at 22:00
- Conditions
- Small prepaid property · Shaoguan, Guangdong · no English at reception
- Result
- You cannot compel check-in. Show the official card, ask for the manager, call the booking platform while still at the desk, then move to the alternative you identified before travelling.
- Boundary
- The 2024 notice supports a complaint and correction route; it does not attach a penalty to refusal or create an enforceable right of admission.
Case 3 — EDGE — sleeping at a temple on Mount Emei
- Conditions
- Temple guesthouse · Sichuan · first registration at this address
- Result
- Ask the operator first whether it handles this stay as hotel lodging under Article 39. If yes, the operator registers you. If it confirms this is non-hotel lodging, you or the host files within 24 hours. The NIA online route now covers Sichuan and the rest of mainland China; its first registration at the address needs the host's assistance. If that fails, file in person.
- Boundary
- The words temple or guesthouse do not decide the branch. Do not reclassify the stay from its listing label or assume a visitor can complete a first online registration alone.
Case 4 — REVERSAL — a friend's spare room in Beijing
- Conditions
- Australian passport · three nights · traveller chooses an online route in Beijing
- Result
- The NIA online route now covers Beijing. Beijing also publishes its own 北京公安出入境 WeChat route: 资讯指南 → 网上住宿登记办理. Use an official route that accepts the actual address. You or the host must register within 24 hours; use the responsible local police station if online filing cannot be completed.
- Boundary
- Nationwide availability does not prove that a particular online submission succeeds. Follow the official channel for the actual address; this page has not submitted a registration or verified every live form field.
Failure recovery
R1 — The desk says it cannot accept foreign guests.
- Trigger
- You are at the property and staff refuse the foreign passport.
- First action
- Show the front-desk card and ask the person on shift to check with a manager.
- Alternative
- Call the booking platform's support line while you are still at the desk so the refusal and refund request are documented, then move to your held alternative.
- Escalation
- Use 12367 for immigration-policy consultation and complaint routing, and the local 12345 government service line. Neither line guarantees check-in.
R2 — The desk checks you in but says you must register yourself.
- Trigger
- The property checks you in but says accommodation registration is your job.
- First action
- Ask whether the hotel will submit the registration required of hotel lodging and request a manager.
- Alternative
- Keep the booking and desk response, contact platform support and seek current instructions from the local public security organ. Do not reclassify the stay yourself.
- Escalation
- Call 12367 or the local public security organ while the facts are current; move to the held alternative if the issue cannot be resolved.
R3 — You are staying outside a hotel and the 24-hour clock has started.
- Trigger
- You are staying with a friend, or the operator has confirmed that it does not handle the stay as hotel lodging under Article 39.
- First action
- Use the nationwide NIA online route or an official local public-security system that accepts the actual address. Ask the host to help; NIA guidance requires host assistance for a first registration at that address.
- Alternative
- Go with the host to the local police station or exit-entry service window for the address.
- Escalation
- Call 12367 for process guidance before the 24 hours expire, or ask staff at the local window to complete the filing in person.
R4 — The stay ends and no registration was ever filed.
- Trigger
- You discover that no filing was made for earlier non-hotel nights.
- First action
- Contact the local public security organ or 12367 and provide the actual dates privately through that official channel; this website does not collect them. Ask what corrective step is required.
- Alternative
- A later hotel's registration covers the current stay only; do not assume it fixes earlier nights.
- Escalation
- Follow the local authority's instructions. The sources support the possible Article 76 consequence, but do not state a universal late-filing procedure or bar on departure.
What can change this answer
- The NIA changes the nationwide online-registration procedure or its effective scope.
- A new notice replaces 商服贸函〔2024〕324号.
- Articles 39 or 76 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law change.
- A local public-security channel changes its procedure. Beijing and Shanghai publish separate systems; follow current instructions for the actual address.
Not established: no national source reviewed here says the foreign-related qualification system has been abolished, and no official source explains the inventory difference between Ctrip and Trip.com.
Send one message before you pay
Open the smallest, cheapest or most rural booking on your itinerary and send the Chinese message above today. Keep the answer offline. If any night is outside a hotel, ask the host at the same time whether you will file online together or go in person.
Sources and review boundary
Official sources establish the responsibility split, penalties, nationwide non-hotel online scope from 21 September 2026, local channels and hotel policy notice. The cases and recovery actions are editorial applications. For an actual stay, send the written passport question to the property and keep its reply; for non-hotel lodging, confirm the local police registration channel for the address.
NIA Announcement No. 7 of 2026 — nationwide non-hotel online registration from 21 SeptemberNational Immigration Administration ↗Beijing local online accommodation registration — official WeChat route and police-station fallbackBeijing Municipal Public Security Bureau / Beijing 12345 ↗Shanghai residential-community registration — online QR route and local service windowsShanghai Public Security Bureau ↗Exit and Entry Administration Law — Articles 39 and 76National Immigration Administration ↗Policy interpretation — host assistance and filing channelsNational Immigration Administration ↗Seven-department accommodation measures — 商服贸函〔2024〕324号Ministry of Commerce and six central departments ↗Review history: original critical claims rechecked 28 August 2026; nationwide online scope source rechecked 27 September 2026. Sources checked 29 August 2026. The older full claim ledger remains dated 18 August 2026.