I am sure that it is not it. :) You have been an excellent ambassador and I cannot imagine where these threads would be without your participation.

On a separate note, I would suggest keeping the internet and SIM comments in their own dedicated thread(s). That way if someone actually does come looking for info it will be easier to find it. You would not normally think to look in a visa-free entry thread for tips on accessing the internet or payment systems.

A rubbish response considering that internet is likely needed to overcome said hurdles.

Oh, and another reason China still feels unwelcoming to foreigners? Hotels that aren't "registered" to accommodate us. At least trip.com (and maybe booking/agoda) sometimes mention this occurrence in a listing.

But to finally get back on topic, I'm curious about arrivals numbers for all of those countries that either temporarily have 15 days visa-free access, or those that have it anyway but lack historical Chinese ties (e.g. Serbia, Bahamas, Dominica, etc.).

I have wondered this a few times - as I understand hotels have to register everyone, Chinese or Foreigner. Is it just a choice/training issue that hotels opt not to handle foreigners as it's more complicated than a swipe of a national ID or type in their citizen ID number.

​​​​​​At the risk of beating a dead horse, you have only yourself to blame for your internet woes! If you actually care about clearing that (very low) hurdle, then get it done and stop whining.

It's more than just training. There are also some technology requirements (hardware and software) that they need to implement in order to properly link to PSB systems and transmit data. The implementation costs aren't especially onerous, but many properties don't see any value in playing ball.

I think there was more to it around 10 years ago. The foreigner registration system was actually different from taking a Chinese national's ID card. I remember waiting 45 minutes in a hotel in Kashgar for the front desk to get an OK message from the police registration system before they gave me the key. Chinese guests checking in had no wait. I used the Sheraton in Urumqi quite a bit, there was never any wait there. But most every other hotel out there it was check in, wait off to the side and hopefully it would not be too long.

Back around 2016-2018 there was also a crackdown on remote, non-standard accommodations (think yurts and stone huts) in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and they initially had to stop taking foreign guests. Then it was all guests. Hopefully by now they have all that worked out.

Funny that I get my response “rubbished” from someone who is either too lazy or inept to sort their internet which, as others have said, is really not that hard.

IME, hotels that "do not take" foreigners are seldom the ones that are sought out by foreigners anyway.

....and if they would be forced to take foreigners, it's exactly those foreigners who had complained about them not taking foreigners, who would now complain to-the-max that no one speaks English and the breakfast has no "Western" choices. :cool:

I think the issue is that some travelers prefer backpacking or staying in hostels / budget accommodations for “cultural immersion” and dislike running into the roadblock that can exist when places like that in China don’t want to take them.

True, although IME, once you go real, REAL cheap & rural, no passport is required: I showed my driver's license once in a cheap hotel in Inner Mongolia and that sufficed.

Sure, but some places/people don't want to be bothered with, or even actively dislike, foreigners. None of us have any inherent right to force our presence upon them. While I realize this might be difficult to accept, particularly for virtuous sorts, there are always other fish in the sea.

Not a word of English might be a problem but I’d get by with my poor attempt on learning Mandarin and in the worst case there’s always translation apps which work surprisingly well these days (and most Chinese are more than happy to pull up in situations like these, at least that’s what we’ve experienced).

And what the latter is concerned- maybe try a yummie beef noodle soup for breakfast. Hint: Tastes way better than some stale scrambled eggs! Travelling opens up the mind :cool:

On the flipside, a number of my hotel friends in Nanning (have an office there) are afraid to interact with "not a word of Chinese" guests.:D They tell me it's a combination of stage fright and fear of making mistakes.

Imagine my stage fright trying to get by in Mandarin :confused: Haha, my Mandarin teacher is the one always telling me not to fear making mistakes ;)

This true for a lot of countries, not just China.

People need to understand and respect the fact that other countries have different customs and languages, and that one is a guest when visiting as a tourist so it's necessary to find work-arounds and be accomodating as best as possible. I'm of chinese origins and can speak/understand spoken mandarin fluently, yet can barely read. I felt rather embarassed asking people to "tell/explain to me things" that were clearly written, and the locals were totally nice and understanding about it.

It's kind of like when I visit the US, which has a littany of unwritten rules, hidden fees, and rude people. I shrug and just accept that's just the way things are, that I'm visiting the country, and move on.

My partner (Aussie native so English spoken) just scrambled to communicate with elderly parents in German and was majorly embarrassed and taken by stage fright so I confirm this happens in pretty much any language. As someone who speaks/attempts to learn about 10 different languages, I actually think overcoming this fear to speak especially is one of the keys to properly learn a language. Immersing in the language’s culture is another one.

Learning Mandarin as a European is a particular challenge in my experience but even the more exciting. And a lot of locals in China were rather impressed that I at least try and very helpful and patient with me.