Airbnb in China - Registering with PSB?
 

Hi, I am spending a few weeks in China this summer in various cities. Some of which I am staying in hotels, and in Shanghai and Beijing we were looking at Airbnbs. The host in Beijing let us know that she would be unable to register or help us register with the PSB.

The Beijing Airbnb would be a 5 day stay and the Shanghai Airbnb would be a 4 day stay. The Shanghai host has not responded about registration yet. How risky would it be for us to stay regardless of registration? What's the worst case scenario and the likeliness of that happening? The law and Airbnbs wording about this feels very unclear. I've seen a lot of varying opinions on whether or not this is important, but I surprisingly don't see much discussion of it here on FT. Thoughts?

I understand that hotels are competitively priced but for our dates, I couldn't find great options that had beds to fit 3 people without booking two rooms or sleeping on the floor. Is it not worth the risk and we should just pay extra to get in a hotel?

I've never registered, and I don't of any hosts that register their guests. In fact, many live in other cities/countries.

Technically, in accordance with Chinese regulation, if foreigner doesn't stay in a hotel (who will automatically register you with the police) they need to register their lodging with the police within 24 hours of arrival. I have never done so and have never had an issue though, and it is unlikely to be an issue unless you get arrested, however, in China you never know when they will arbitrarily decide to start enforcing things.

My guess is NEVER.