{"id":323,"date":"2017-01-06T10:25:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T02:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/2017\/01\/06\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/"},"modified":"2024-06-12T12:49:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T04:49:55","slug":"how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Book A Hotel In China"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>The purpose of this guide is to show you how and where to book a hotel in China.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The purpose of this guide is to show you how and where to book a hotel in China.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FkCAMw_fe5pohtxGbhPnN54qjTkp?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"1.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333.3333333333333\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_73 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#Photo_Hostels247\" title=\"Photo:Hostels247\">Photo:Hostels247<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#Before_We_Start\" title=\"Before We Start\">Before We Start<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#What_online_portal_do_you_have_to_use_to_book_a_hotel_in_China\" title=\"What online portal do you have to use to book a hotel in China?\">What online portal do you have to use to book a hotel in China?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#Comparison_Between_The_Different_Platforms\" title=\"Comparison Between The Different Platforms\">Comparison Between The Different Platforms<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#What_Type_Of_Hotel_Should_I_Choose\" title=\"What Type Of Hotel Should I Choose?\">What Type Of Hotel Should I Choose?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#Internet_Connection\" title=\"Internet Connection\">Internet Connection<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#Where_To_Book_Your_Hotel\" title=\"Where To Book Your Hotel?\">Where To Book Your Hotel?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/how-to-book-a-hotel-in-china\/#Are_Chinese_Hotels_Safe\" title=\"Are Chinese Hotels Safe?\">Are Chinese Hotels Safe?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Photo_Hostels247\"><\/span>Photo:Hostels247<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Before_We_Start\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #e33737;\"><strong>Before We Start<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Before going on, you need to be aware of these <strong>two points<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Chinese hotels must register all of their customers with the police station. So, you will always have to show your passport when you arrive at the hotel.<\/li>\n<li>Not all hotels in China have a license to lodge foreigners. Because of this, I recommend that you make a reservation in advance and avoid having to try several hotels before you find one that you can stay at.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_online_portal_do_you_have_to_use_to_book_a_hotel_in_China\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">What online portal do you have to use to book a hotel in China?<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>There are a variety of online portals to book hotels, but in my opinion, for China, the three best are:Agoda, Booking and cTrip.<\/p>\n<p>Why shouldn\u2019t you use multiple-comparison websites?<\/p>\n<p>While Booking and Agoda are included by the majority of multiple-comparison websites, such as Trivago, both Booking and Agoda offer exclusive deals to users who book directly on their website.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FgdUrrknxInvzEApZRejtdfTA3jz?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"2.png\" width=\"350\" height=\"127.96875\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>Agoda <\/strong>is one of the best portals for Asia both for the number of hotels and their deals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pros: <\/strong>Agoda is normally the portal that offers the best deals on hotels in Asia. In addition, its network of hotels in China is much better than more widely-known international portals such as Booking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cons:\u00a0<\/strong>Agoda\u2019s coverage in some parts of China is still scarce.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/Fug7PURlCQDD-wfX5SUcwg8PIOUw?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"3.png\" width=\"350\" height=\"73.28125\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>Booking<\/strong> is one of the most widely-used platforms to book hotels in the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pros:<\/strong>It offers a good selection of hotels, it has good deals and is one of the most popular platforms in the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cons:<\/strong>\u00a0Its selection of hotels in China is much smaller than the other two.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FmgyZlOhtyIJhuGrqvtXbTUtudKc?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"4.png\" width=\"350\" height=\"130.66666666666666\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>cTrip<\/strong> is one of the main <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"inside_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/tag\/travel\/\" title=\"View all posts in travel\" >travel<\/a> agencies in China and one of the few Chinese travel agencies that has a good website in English (and other languages) that allows payment with non-Chinese banks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pros:<\/strong>It offers very good hotel coverage in the whole country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cons:\u00a0<\/strong>Many of the hotels displayed on it don\u2019t have the necessary permits to lodge foreigners and it is missing some of the international hostels.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Comparison_Between_The_Different_Platforms\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">Comparison Between The Different Platforms<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #418caf;\"><strong>Number of hotels:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If we consult the Agoda website, we see that in China, there are 16,537 possible hotels, onBooking 8,627 and finally cTrip 361,192 hotels.<\/p>\n<p>If we use Beijing as an example, Agoda offers 1,243 hotels, Booking 734 and cTrip 5,406.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, while Agoda and Booking offer a good selection of hotels in large cities, in second and third-tier cities without <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"inside_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/tag\/tourism\/\" title=\"View all posts in tourism\" >tourism<\/a>, cTrip is the only one that offers a decent selection. However, keep in mind that cTrip includes many hotels where foreigners can\u2019t stay, and it is because of this that there is such a large difference in numbers.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #418caf;\"><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #418caf;\"><b>Prices:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/Frh8shpvTRKP3482o1DqG-42Poo-?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"5.png\" width=\"400\" height=\"189.0214797136038\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>We are going to compare the prices in USD of my three favorite hotels in Beijing, one of them budget (Peking International Youth Hostel), one mid-range hotel (Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel) and one high-end (The Peninsula Beijing).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Peking International Youth Hostel<\/strong>:\u00a0The price for a double room costs 73.00 USD\/night on Ctrip,\u00a044 USD\/night on Booking and isnt\u2019 listed on agoda.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel<\/strong>:\u00a0The price for a double room is more or less the same on Agoda, and Booking (131 USD per night), but on cTrip 187 USD\/night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Peninsula Beijing<\/strong>:\u00a0The price for a double room is more or less the same on Agoda, and Booking (274 USD per night)and on cTrip 261 USD\/night.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Type_Of_Hotel_Should_I_Choose\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">What Type Of Hotel Should I Choose?<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If you don\u2019t speak Chinese, I suggest that you book a room in a hotel with at least three stars or an international hostel.<\/p>\n<p>At those places, you will normally find at least one person in the reception who speaks some English. The situation is different in cheap (and not so cheap) Chinese hotels, where often nobody speaks English.<\/p>\n<p>Another important thing to keep in mind is that if you don\u2019t speak Chinese, organizing an excursion on your own (for example, visiting The Great Wall if you are in Beijing or the Stone Forest if you are in Kunming) can be difficult. Hotels of a certain category will help you do everything you need to organize the excursion. On the other hand, international hostels normally offer cheap one-day excursions (or even larger trips) to all relevant tourists destinations.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Internet_Connection\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">Internet Connection<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>While four or more star hotels normally offer decent internet service, cheap hotels in general don\u2019t offer an internet connection (or a very bad one). While international hostels tend to offer internet, normally it is so slow that it is useless.<\/p>\n<p>Another problem is that many websites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked in China. The only way to access them is by using a paid VPN service.<\/p>\n<p>If the internet is important to you, I recommend that you read the reviews on Agoda,Booking or TripAdvisor before booking it to find out if the internet connection works well and if the hotel offers free access to a VPN (some international hostels do it to make Facebook addicts happy).<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Where_To_Book_Your_Hotel\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">Where To Book Your Hotel?<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Chinese cities can be enormous. I\u2019m not just talking about Beijing and Shanghai, but also include \u201csmall\u201d cities such as Hangzhou, Tianjin, Suzhou, Kunming, Chengdu and Guangzhou, which have between five and ten million people.<\/p>\n<p>While taxis are quite affordable in China, I suggest that you look for a hotel downtown or at least close to a subway station (almost all of the large cities in China have an efficient subway system).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Are_Chinese_Hotels_Safe\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">Are Chinese Hotels Safe?<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>China is by far the safest country that I have visited (and I have traveled a lot). So, I\u2019m not going to recommend any special precautions.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FlXXlKXBxtykYAuKbjvAxKMwIbVH?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"\u5fae\u4fe1\u56fe\u7247_20170512163221.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The purpose of this guide is to show you how and where to book a hotel in China. The purpose of this guide is to show you how and where &#8230;","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[60,306,27,215,214],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-tips","tag-china","tag-hiredchina","tag-news","tag-tourism","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10548,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions\/10548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}