Trying to stay under the radar seems like it courts risk of deportation, as I've known _lots_ of folks who got a visit from police at their place of stay who were not aware of this. Virtually all of them settled things fine but it was more headache than had they just done what they're supposed to.
I believe in a hotel stay, your hotel registers you online so that you don't have to deal with this.
If a hotel can do it, surely there’s no reason why Airbnb can’t figure it out?
The downside was it was all incredibly insecure. They'd be snapping passport photos on their personal phone, and one apartment had a book in the living room with passport numbers and personal information of every previous guest.
So, technically it works now in different countries, but Airbnb really needs to assist these owners and get some proper procedures in place.
This was reckless and stupid of them and demonstrates what AirBnB often does -- that they put their business above the safety of their guests and hosts.
A good innovation for AirBnB would be to automatically notify the relevant tax authorities about their hosts income from illegal subletting, ahem, I mean "renting out a spare room"
Of course the wealthy here would never know, most places priced in the top 20% expensive accept foreigners. I was a poor student and also worked as a teacher($400/mo) looking for midrange accomodations, not to spend a month's pay on a weekend trip
Yep, one would think that for a government that cares so much about their image they would avoid visitors having to go through this nonsense.
For budget travellers to Beijing -- 如家 accepts foreigners last I checked. 7天 used to but they don't anymore as of a couple years ago.
Her uncle, my wife, and I went to four police stations. All refused to register my stay and told me to go the next place. The final one told me that they require to see our marriage certificate (which we didn't have as I never read once that it was needed), so we gave up.
I've been many times now, and I've never had a problem although it's a city that foreigners probably do not travel to as much as say Shanghai or Beijing.
It is interesting in the context of AirBnB - with the registration system they can't use the same "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" approach they used in US. I have seen very successful foreign run businesses, for example a friend who imported steel in China, do really well for many years because the government wasn't interested in their industry, and then all of sudden find himself against several competitors and be completely out of business in the space of 6-12 months. I'm bullish on AirBnB but depending on success in China is a risky strategy.
You also don’t need to be married to stay in a private home.
Fine up to 2,000 RMB, more info:
https://en.tripadvisor.com.hk/ShowTopic-g294211-i642-k123478...
