What China hotel address details should travelers save before arrival?

Handing over your passport at the desk is the hotel discharging a legal duty

Article 6 requires a hotel to register every guest, to inspect the identity document when it does, and — for a guest from outside the mainland — to file the registration form with the local public security organ within 24 hours. So the passport request is not the front desk being cautious or singling you out: it is the one step the hotel is not allowed to skip, which is also why a property that cannot do it will turn you away rather than bend.

Where in the source: 第六条: “旅馆接待旅客住宿必须登记。登记时，应当查验旅客的身份证件……接待境外旅客住宿，还应当在24小时内向当地公安机关报送住宿登记表。”

Because the filing is on a clock, arriving without a bookable, registrable address is the real risk

The 24-hour filing duty runs from the stay, so the property has to be able to complete registration at the moment you arrive. That is the practical reason to land with a confirmed address that can register you rather than intending to find somewhere on the night — and the reason a written Chinese address matters more than a map pin.

Where in the source: 第六条: the registration form for a guest from outside the mainland is filed with local public security within 24 hours.

There is a place for your valuables, and it is a stated obligation

Article 7 requires hotels to provide guest property boxes, lockers, a storage room or a safe, to put a named person in charge, and to run registration, collection and handover procedures for deposited items. Worth knowing on a first night when you are carrying a passport, cards and cash you have not yet distributed.

Where in the source: 第七条: 旅馆应当设置旅客财物保管箱、柜或者保管室、保险柜，指定专人负责保管工作；对旅客寄存的财物，要建立登记、领取和交接制度.