We have only stayed in hotels a few times. In all cases the actual booking was made by a local that we were traveling with, my wife pretended to be a local and I stayed out of sight at the time. The result was no hotel ever registered us but that wasn't the objective--rather, it's a matter of negotiating. She can never get as good a deal in tourist areas when people know she's not a local. (In all these cases we were properly registered at where we were staying in Shanghai, these were only short side trips.) The same thing with negotiating applies in the markets, I stay out of sight.

It *USED* to be official policy to charge the foreigner 2x the price. That's no longer the rule but the reality is that she fares better alone.

Unfortunately this means I can't answer your question.