Can Foreigners Use Airbnb in China?
Airbnb removed every mainland listing in 2022. What that leaves, why the registration rule makes private rentals harder than hotels, and when an apartment stay is still worth arranging.
No, and the reason is simpler than most people expect.
Airbnb removed all of its mainland China listings in July 2022 and withdrew from the domestic Chinese market. The company still operates in China as an outbound business — helping Chinese travellers book stays abroad — but there is no inventory to book inside the Mainland. Searching for a Beijing apartment on Airbnb returns nothing because there is nothing there.
That leaves two questions worth answering properly: what the alternatives actually are, and whether a private rental is a good idea for a foreign visitor to China at all.
What happened, briefly
Airbnb entered China properly around 2016 and never won. Two domestic platforms — Tujia and Xiaozhu — had deeper inventory, better local partnerships and interfaces built for how Chinese travellers actually book. Airbnb's mainland business remained a small share of a very large market.
The pandemic years removed the inbound foreign travellers who were a meaningful part of its Chinese demand, and in July 2022 the company removed all mainland listings and refocused on the outbound business — Chinese users booking stays in other countries, which remains active and substantial.
The practical point for a traveller is that this was a commercial withdrawal rather than a regulatory ban, and it has not reversed. Do not expect listings to reappear because a headline suggests China is courting tourism.
Airbnb still works in Hong Kong and Macau
Worth stating, because it causes confusion.
Hong Kong and Macau are separate jurisdictions and Airbnb's withdrawal applied to the Mainland. Listings exist in Hong Kong, though the territory has its own licensing rules for short-term letting and the legal picture there is its own subject.
If your trip crosses the boundary, expect the accommodation landscape to change along with everything else. See the Hong Kong and Macau guide.
The domestic alternatives, and why they are hard
Two Chinese platforms dominate short-term rentals in the Mainland.
Tujia (途家) and Xiaozhu (小猪) both operate at scale, with large inventories in every major city and in tourist areas where hotels are scarce. They are the reason Airbnb struggled domestically.
The problem for a foreign visitor is not that they will not take your money. It is three things stacked:
Language. Both platforms operate in Chinese. There is no meaningful English interface, listings are written in Chinese, and host communication is in Chinese. Machine translation gets you through browsing and not through negotiating a check-in time with a host who is not expecting a foreign guest.
Payment and verification. These platforms assume Chinese payment methods and, in places, Chinese identity verification. A foreign passport and a foreign card are not what the registration flow was designed for. Some travellers get through it; many do not.
Registration. This is the real obstacle, and it is the subject of the next section.
The registration rule is the actual issue
Every foreign visitor in China must be registered at the address where they are staying.
In a hotel, this happens automatically. You hand over your passport at check-in, the front desk scans it into the system, and the obligation is discharged before you reach your room. You do not have to think about it.
In a private home or apartment, the obligation is yours. Foreigners staying in domiciles other than hotels — or the people accommodating them — must complete registration with the public security organs in the place of residence within 24 hours of arrival.
That means, in the traditional process: you and your host go to the local police station, with your passport, your visa or entry stamp, and the host's identity and property documents, and file the registration in person. Within a day of arriving.
Since 20 March 2026 there has been an online alternative, piloted in seven provincial-level regions — Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing and Sichuan. Registration can be filed through the National Immigration Administration's official website, the NIA 12367 app or its WeChat mini programme, by either the foreign guest or the host, with the same legal validity as filing in person.
This is a genuine improvement and it is a pilot in seven regions. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shaanxi and everywhere else are not on that list at the time of writing. Check the current scope before assuming it covers where you are going.
The full detail is in the accommodation registration guide.
Why hosts decline foreign guests
Not xenophobia. Paperwork.
A host renting to a Chinese guest has a light-touch obligation. A host renting to a foreign guest has a 24-hour registration duty with real consequences for non-compliance — and, outside the online pilot regions, that means physically attending a police station with the guest.
Many hosts simply will not do it. Others do not know the rule exists, which is worse, because you arrive and discover on day one that nobody is registering you.
The practical upshot: a private rental in China requires a host who both knows the rule and is willing to comply with it. Those hosts exist. They are not the majority, and they are hard to identify through a platform you cannot read.
When a private rental does make sense
Long stays. A month in one city, where the registration is a one-time cost rather than a recurring hassle, and where the price difference against a hotel is substantial.
Groups and families. Where a two-bedroom apartment genuinely beats two hotel rooms, and where you have time to sort the paperwork.
Somewhere with no hotel supply. Certain village and rural destinations have guesthouses rather than hotels, and those guesthouses are often licensed and able to register foreign guests — which makes them functionally hotels for this purpose. See below.
When you have a Chinese-speaking contact. A colleague, a friend, a local fixer who can talk to the host, confirm they will register you, and go to the station with you if necessary.
Not for a three-night city stop. For a short stay, a hotel is cheaper in every currency that matters.
What to do instead
Hotels. The default, and the reason is registration rather than comfort. A hotel discharges the obligation for you. Chinese domestic hotel chains — Hanting, Atour, Jinjiang, Vienna and similar — are clean, cheap, everywhere, and increasingly used to foreign guests. See the booking platforms guide.
A note on the "hotels that accept foreigners" myth. You may read that foreign visitors can only stay in specially licensed hotels. A 2024 central-government circular said local authorities and booking platforms should not restrict accommodation operators from receiving foreign guests on that basis, and that operators should not advertise that they refuse foreign guests. Practice on the ground still varies, particularly in smaller cities, which is why booking through a platform that filters for foreign-passport acceptance is worth doing. The hotel booking guide covers this.
Serviced apartments and aparthotels. The best answer for anyone who wanted an apartment, and the section worth reading twice if that was your plan.
These are licensed accommodation businesses that happen to have kitchens, washing machines and separate living space. They handle registration exactly like a hotel, they are bookable on the international platforms, and they take foreign cards.
What to search for: "serviced apartment", "aparthotel", or the Chinese term 公寓式酒店 (gōngyù shì jiǔdiàn, apartment-style hotel). Searching "apartment" alone returns nothing useful.
Who operates them: international brands like Ascott, Somerset and Fraser Suites in the major cities; domestic operators including Citadines and various Jinjiang and Huazhu group properties; and a large number of independent aparthotels in every city, which are often excellent value.
What you get: a kitchenette or full kitchen, a washing machine — a genuine advantage on a three-week trip — more space than a hotel room, and usually weekly rates that undercut the nightly one substantially.
What you give up: daily housekeeping in some cases, and the front-desk service level of a hotel.
For a stay of a week or more in one city, this is almost always the right answer and it is the option most people looking for Airbnb never think to search for.
Licensed guesthouses. In Yangshuo, Lijiang, Dali, Pingyao, Zhangjiajie and similar destinations, the accommodation is guesthouses rather than hotels, and the licensed ones register foreign guests routinely. Confirm when booking that they can accept a foreign passport — this is a normal question and a good operator will answer it immediately.
Hostels. Cheap, sociable, and with more variability in foreign-guest handling than hotels. See the hostels guide.
If you do stay privately, do this
Confirm before you book that the host knows you are a foreign passport holder and will complete the registration. Get it in writing.
Ask whether the region is in the online pilot. If you are in Zhejiang, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Guangxi, Hebei or Liaoning, the online route may be available and the whole thing becomes much easier.
Register within 24 hours. Not on day three, not when you get round to it.
Bring what is needed: your passport, your visa or entry stamp, and — for the in-person route — the host's ID and property documents. Without the host's documents, the station cannot process it.
Keep the registration slip. You need it if you later apply to extend your stay, and you may be asked for it.
Know that non-compliance has consequences for both you and your host — fines, and a record that can affect future visa applications.
The short version
Airbnb does not operate in mainland China. Tujia and Xiaozhu do, in Chinese, with payment and verification flows not built for foreign visitors. And the registration obligation makes any private stay meaningfully more work than a hotel.
For a normal trip, book a hotel or a licensed guesthouse and spend the saved effort on the trip. For a long stay, use a serviced apartment. For a genuine private rental, you need a cooperative host and preferably a Chinese-speaking contact, and you should decide that before you land rather than after.
Official sources
- National Immigration Administration, online accommodation registration: https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147413/c196926/content.html
- NIA policy interpretation of the online registration pilot: https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c197328/content.html
- Beijing government, accommodation registration guidance: https://english.beijing.gov.cn/
Registration procedures, the scope of the online pilot and platform availability all change. Confirm current requirements for the specific place you are staying.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026.