First-night obligation
In short
A hotel registers you at the front desk. Anywhere else — a rented flat, a homestay, a friend's spare room — you or your host must register the stay with the local public security organ within 24 hours of arrival. Since 21 September 2026 that filing can be done online anywhere in China, and the police-station counter is still open. Missing it draws a warning and a fine of up to RMB 2,000.
Check entry rules by passportApplies to
Visitors whose first night in China is an apartment rental, a homestay, a friend's or relative's home, or a residence they own, in any city.
Check before you rely on it
The notice that took online filing nationwide states the scope as the whole country and publishes no city list, no fee, no processing time and no list of documents to bring, so this page publishes none of those. Check the filing channel on the immigration administration platform before you rely on doing it from your phone.
Information checked:
Booking an apartment instead of a hotel moves a legal step from the front desk onto you. It is a short errand, and the clock starts when you walk in the door.
Who files
Four kinds of first night, four different answers. Only the first one is handled without you.
| Where you are staying | Who files | Deadline | How it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel that takes your passport at the desk | The hotel | Handled at check-in | The hotel registers the stay and sends the information to the local public security organ. You do nothing. National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25 |
| Rented apartment, homestay or short-let flat | You or the person putting you up | Within 24 hours of arriving | Register with the public security organ for the place you are staying — online, or in person at the counter. Both routes have the same legal effect. National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25 |
| A friend's or a relative's home | You or your host | Within 24 hours of arriving | Same duty as a rented flat. The host should file the first one, because the address details have to be exact. National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25 |
| A home you own in China | You, on your own | Within 24 hours of arriving | You can file without a host when the residence is your own, or when you are re-registering at an address already filed through the platform. National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25 |
| Returning to your own home in China after a trip | Nobody | No new filing | Coming back to your own residence does not need a fresh registration. Nor does a residence-permit or permanent-residence holder returning to their usual home while the same permit is valid. National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25 |
The published facts
Each line links the official source and the day we read it. Sources read 2026-07-25.
Hotels register a foreign guest's accommodation and pass the information to the local public security organ. That is why a hotel stay needs nothing from you beyond the passport at the desk.
Article 39, first paragraph · Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25)
For a stay anywhere other than a hotel, the foreigner or the person accommodating them must complete registration with the public security organ within 24 hours of the foreigner's arrival.
Article 39, second paragraph · Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25)
Failing to register under the second paragraph of Article 39 draws a warning, and a fine of not more than RMB 2,000 may also be imposed. The duty and the penalty reach the host as well as the traveller.
Article 76 · Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (National Immigration Administration, read 2026-07-25)
An online accommodation registration service now covers non-hotel stays, and the immigration administration states that filing online has the same legal effect as registering on site.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
The service started on 20 March 2026 as a pilot in seven provincial-level regions: Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing and Sichuan. This interpretation page still reads that way and still puts nationwide rollout in the future tense, which is where most of the English-language internet gets its seven-province answer. The rollout itself was announced separately on 21 September 2026, in the notice quoted clause by clause further down this page.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
The immigration administration's government service platform website, the NIA 12367 app, the NIA 12367 WeChat mini program and the Alipay mini program. Register an account and pass identity verification, then open Accommodation Registration under Foreigner Service.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
Either party may file, but the first registration should be completed with the host's help because hosts hold accurate residence details. The host can be a Chinese citizen or a foreigner.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
You can file without a host when you are re-registering at an address already registered through the platform, or when you live in a residence you own.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
A Registration Record Inquiry function on the platform returns the completed registration record. Save it the way you save a boarding pass.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
The platform publishes its own guide to online accommodation registration, the NIA 12367 hotline takes questions, and exit-entry service windows or local police stations handle it in person.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2026-03-20, read 2026-07-25)
Dial +86-12367. Choosing English gives a direct voice response, staff support runs around the clock, and the same service sits inside the NIA 12367 app and its WeChat and Alipay mini programs.
China Immigration Service Hotline 12367 Now Supports French (National Immigration Administration, page dated 2025-12-11, read 2026-07-25)
UK government advice tells travellers to carry the passport at all times. Police run random checks, printed copies are not accepted, and failing to produce identification can bring a fine or detention.
Foreign travel advice: China — Safety and security (UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, read 2026-07-25)
Clause by clause · read September 23, 2026
Everything above is read off English summaries. These are the Chinese texts those summaries come from: the law, the immigration administration's 21 September 2026 notice taking online filing nationwide, that administration's earlier interpretation of the pilot, the State Council regulation, and the hotel-industry measures. Each row prints the clause as published, so you can check it on the same page we did.
| What it means on your first night | The clause as published | Instrument and article |
|---|---|---|
| In a hotel the 24 hours is the hotel's deadline, not yours The hotel must register every guest, must check identity documents, and for a guest from outside the mainland must additionally submit the accommodation registration form (住宿登记表) to the local public security organ within 24 hours. This is the rule the Exit and Entry Administration Law defers to by name, and it is why a hotel stay asks nothing of you beyond handing over the passport at the desk. The same 24 hours exists in both worlds — in a hotel it belongs to someone else. | 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，按规定的项目如实登记。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。 | 第六条 (Article 6) 《旅馆业治安管理办法》 Measures for the Security Administration of the Hotel Industry Full text, read 2026-08-22 |
| The law hands the hotel case to the hotel-industry rules Staying in a hotel, the hotel handles the registration under the hotel-industry security rules and reports the information to the local public security organ. The law itself points at the measures quoted in the row above rather than restating them, which is the pairing that decides whether tonight is your errand or nobody's. | 外国人在中国境内旅馆住宿的，旅馆应当按照旅馆业治安管理的有关规定为其办理住宿登记，并向所在地公安机关报送外国人住宿登记信息。 | 第三十九条 第一款 (Article 39, first paragraph) 《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》 Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| Anywhere else: 24 hours from moving in, filed by you or by your host The clock in the Chinese text starts at 入住 — moving in at that address — not at landing in China, and not at clearing immigration. The clause names two filers on an equal footing: 本人 (the foreign national in person) or 留宿人 (the person providing the accommodation). It does not say the host must attend with you; it says either of you may do it. The filing goes to the public security organ for the place you are staying. | 外国人在旅馆以外的其他住所居住或者住宿的，应当在入住后二十四小时内由本人或者留宿人，向居住地的公安机关办理登记。 | 第三十九条 第二款 (Article 39, second paragraph) 《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》 Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| The first online filing at an address is done with the host's help Either party may file, but the regulator states that the first registration at an address is completed with the host's assistance, because the host holds the exact property details. You may file it alone in exactly two named cases: you have already registered at that same address through the immigration administration platform, or you are staying in a home you own. First night in an apartment rental or a friend's flat, that means the person who let you in has to be part of it — plan for it before you arrive rather than at 11pm. | 办理住宿登记的人员可以是住宿人，也可以是留宿人。考虑到留宿人对住所信息更加熟悉，为确保登记信息准确，首次由留宿人协助办理住宿登记。符合以下情形的，住宿人可以自行办理：一是曾通过国家移民管理局政务服务平台办理过住宿登记，需在同一住所再次办理住宿登记的；二是住在自有住所的。 | 政策解读 · 谁来办理 (interpretation, who files) 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 Policy interpretation of online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| Only two cases skip re-registering after a trip — neither is a visitor's Coming back from a trip inside or outside China, a fresh registration is waived if you are returning to a home you own in China, or if you hold a residence permit or permanent residence permit and are returning to your habitual residence within the validity of that same permit. A visitor on a visa or on visa-free entry, returning to a rented flat after a few days in another city, is in neither case. For our readers the answer is: register again. | 符合以下情形的，无需再次登记：一是在中国境内自有住所居住，境内外旅行后返回该自有住所的；二是持居留证件、永久居留证件在中国境内经常住所居住，在同一证件有效期内，境内外旅行后返回该经常住所的。 | 政策解读 · 何时无需再次登记 (interpretation, when no new filing is needed) 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 Policy interpretation of online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| Filing online has the same legal effect as going to the counter The regulator states that an online registration and a counter registration have equal legal effect, and that no trip to the public security organ is needed on top of the online filing. That sentence is what makes the phone route safe to rely on — and it is the regulator saying it, not a platform. Read it as a permission not to go rather than as the counter being closed: the 21 September 2026 notice settles that question the other way, in the rows below. | 外国人在旅馆以外的其他住所居住或者住宿的，可以在网上办理住宿登记，无需再前往公安机关现场办理住宿登记。网上办理与现场办理的住宿登记具有同等效力。 | 政策解读 · 网上办理的效力 (interpretation, legal effect) 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 Policy interpretation of online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| Nationwide from 21 September 2026 — Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong included The immigration administration's own notice decides it in one sentence: from 21 September 2026 online filing for non-hotel accommodation registration is extended to the whole country (全国推广). Before that date it ran as a pilot in seven provincial-level regions — Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing and Sichuan — from 20 March 2026, which is why so many guides, and this page until 5 October 2026, still say a first night in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangdong has to be filed at a counter. The notice itself calls the pilot its precursor (结合前期试点情况): this is a rollout, not a repeal. It states the scope as 全国 and publishes no province or city list, so nationwide is the whole of the fact — there is no finer list to look yourself up in. | 为进一步提升外国人在华生活便利度，方便在旅馆以外住宿的外国人办理住宿登记，结合前期试点情况，国家移民管理局决定自2026年9月21日起，在全国推广网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记。 | 公告 第一段 (notice, first paragraph) 《国家移民管理局关于全国推广网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记的公告》 Notice of the National Immigration Administration on extending online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels to the whole country Full text, read 2026-10-05 |
| Four channels, the police-station route kept open, and equal legal effect The same notice names the four surfaces you can file from, and names both permitted filers — the foreign national in person or the host. Then it says the thing a rollout announcement usually leaves out: the offline channel at the public security organ for where you are staying is expressly retained (线下渠道继续保留). So the counter has not been withdrawn, and a reader who cannot get through a Chinese-language mini programme has not lost their route. The closing sentence restates equal legal effect between an online filing and a counter filing — the second, newer instrument to say so after the 2026-03-20 interpretation. | 外国人本人或者留宿人可以通过国家移民管理局政务服务网站、“移民局12367”应用程序、“移民局12367”微信小程序或者支付宝小程序网上办理住宿登记。外国人前往居住地公安机关办理住宿登记的线下渠道继续保留。网上办理与到公安机关现场办理的住宿登记具有同等效力。 | 公告 第二段 (notice, second paragraph) 《国家移民管理局关于全国推广网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记的公告》 Notice of the National Immigration Administration on extending online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels to the whole country Full text, read 2026-10-05 |
| The seven-region pilot, and why the regulator's own page still reads that way Kept for one reason: this is the paragraph the stale version of this page came from, and as of 5 October 2026 the regulator has not amended it. Its scope section still names the seven pilot regions and still puts nationwide rollout in the future tense (下步，将逐步在全国推广). It is superseded on scope by the 21 September 2026 notice above and must not be read as the current region list — but it is the only official text that gives the seven names and the 20 March 2026 start date, both of which the notice omits. If you read elsewhere this week that online filing is a seven-province pilot, this unamended page is almost certainly where that came from. | 自2026年3月20日起，国家移民管理局在河北、辽宁、浙江、湖北、广西、重庆、四川等7省（区、市）试点推行外国人在旅馆以外住宿登记网上办理服务。下步，将逐步在全国推广此项服务…… | 政策解读 · 五、实施范围 (interpretation, section 5, scope — superseded on scope) 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 Policy interpretation of online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| One platform, four surfaces — and the finished record is retrievable The named channels are the immigration administration's government-services website, the 移民局12367 app, and the 移民局12367 mini programs inside WeChat and Alipay. Registration sits under 外国人服务 › 住宿登记 and runs step by step after account registration and identity verification. Afterwards, 登记记录查询 (Registration Record Inquiry) returns the completed record — that retrievable record is the thing to save, and it is the only artefact either national source describes. | 留宿人、住宿人可通过国家移民管理局政务服务平台（国家移民管理局政务服务网站、“移民局12367”应用程序、“移民局12367”微信小程序或者支付宝小程序），在“外国人服务”住宿登记模块，经注册认证后，按照提示分步骤办理。办理完成后，可点击“登记记录查询”查看住宿登记记录。 | 政策解读 · 渠道 (interpretation, channels) 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 Policy interpretation of online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| When the online route fails: the hotline, the service window, or the local police station The regulator names three fallbacks in one sentence — follow the platform's own guide to online registration, call the 12367 service hotline, or go in person to the exit-entry administration service window at the public security organ for where you are staying, or to the local 派出所 (neighbourhood police station), where staff will help complete it on the spot. Since the nationwide rollout these are fallbacks everywhere rather than the main route — but they are fallbacks the regulator still names, and the 21 September 2026 notice separately keeps the counter open as a channel in its own right, so using one of them is not an improvisation. | ……《网上办理住宿登记指南》，按照指南提示操作，或者直接拨打国家移民管理局12367服务热线进行咨询。也可以前往居住地公安机关出入境管理机构对外服务窗口或者属地公安派出所，寻求工作人员协助现场办理。 | 政策解读 · 遇到困难的途径 (interpretation, if you get stuck) 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 Policy interpretation of online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| Missing it: a warning, and a fine of up to 2,000 yuan that may also be imposed The Chinese wording is 给予警告，可以并处二千元以下罚款 — the warning is given, and a fine of not more than 2,000 yuan may additionally be imposed. 可以并处 is discretionary: the fine is a ceiling on top of a warning, not an automatic charge. Item (六) of the article is the one that points back at Article 39's second paragraph. The regulator's interpretation states the same exposure as falling on 外国人或者留宿人 — the foreign national or the host — so a host who never files is exposed too. | 有下列情形之一的，给予警告，可以并处二千元以下罚款：……（六）未按照本法第三十九条第二款规定办理登记的。 | 第七十六条 引言 + 第（六）项 (Article 76, opening and item 6) 《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》 Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
| The widely repeated “72 hours in rural areas” has no live clause behind it Every competing answer carries a 72-hour rural variant. State Council Order No. 637, the regulation that implements the entry-exit law, runs to 39 articles in five chapters and the string 住宿 does not occur in it once — it carries no accommodation-registration clause at all, so the variant is not there. Its final article repeals the 1986 implementing rules, as revised in 1994 and 2010, with effect from 1 September 2013 — that repealed instrument is where the 72-hour figure is popularly traced. The live law states one deadline, twenty-four hours, with no rural variant. Plan on 24 hours wherever you are. | 本条例自2013年9月1日起施行。1986年12月3日国务院批准，1986年12月27日公安部、外交部公布，1994年7月13日、2010年4月24日国务院修订的《中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理法实施细则》同时废止。 | 第三十九条 (Article 39, the repeal clause) 《中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理条例》（国务院令第637号） Regulations on the Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners, State Council Order No. 637 Full text, read 2026-09-23 |
These rows are read off the full Chinese texts of five instruments — the Exit and Entry Administration Law, the immigration administration's 21 September 2026 notice extending online filing to the whole country, the same administration's earlier policy interpretation of online filing, State Council Order No. 637, and the hotel-industry security measures — and each clause number points at the line it came from. They say who must register, by when, who may file it, through which channels, that the online and counter routes have equal legal effect and that the counter route is retained, what the completed record is, and what missing it can cost. On scope they say exactly one thing: nationwide from 21 September 2026. The notice publishes no province or city list, so this page does not print one, and nothing here promises how any particular city's platform behaves on the night. They also do not say what documents a counter asks a host or a guest to bring, whether the filing carries a fee, or how long it takes: none of the national sources state any of the three — two passes of reading have now failed to stand them up — so this page leaves those open rather than copying the figures other guides print. They do not describe how the penalty is applied in practice, do not promise how any individual police station handles a late filing, and do not state a differentiated rural deadline — no live instrument read carries one.
Instruments read in full and quoted above: 《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》 — National Immigration Administration (国家移民管理局, www.nia.gov.cn) — the administering authority, publishing the full text of the law, passed and promulgated 30 June 2012 (主席令第五十七号), in force from 1 July 2013, read 2026-09-23; 《关于推行网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记政策解读》 — National Immigration Administration (国家移民管理局) — the authority that runs the service it is interpreting, the pilot is dated 自2026年3月20日起 in the body text; page stamped 2026-03-20, read 2026-09-23; 《国家移民管理局关于全国推广网上办理外国人旅馆以外住宿登记的公告》 — National Immigration Administration (国家移民管理局政务服务平台, s.nia.gov.cn) — the announcing authority's own service platform, 资讯公告 channel, not a reprint, page stamped 2026-09-21, and the notice's own operative date is 自2026年9月21日起 (the 20261010 segment in the URL is the CMS document id, not a date), read 2026-10-05; 《中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理条例》（国务院令第637号） — 中国政府网 www.gov.cn (来源：国务院办公厅) — the State Council's own publication, published on www.gov.cn 22 July 2013, in force from 1 September 2013, read 2026-09-23; 《旅馆业治安管理办法》 — 中国政府网 国务院公报 (www.gov.cn) — the State Council gazette text, State Council gazette text, read 2026-08-22.
Clause texts read .
Do it now
From 21 September 2026 the immigration administration takes this filing online across the whole country, and an online filing has the same legal effect as going in person. These are the four channels it names.
The same notice keeps the offline channel open: a counter visit to the public security organ for where you are staying, the local police station or an exit-entry service window is still a valid way to file. The notice names no city list, so there is no region to look yourself up in — before 21 September 2026 there was, and the pilot that ran from 2026-03-20 covered only Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan.
National Immigration Administration notice on nationwide online filing, read 2026-10-05National Immigration Administration policy interpretation, read 2026-07-25Filing sequence
In short
Short answers for the hotel case, the friend's-flat case, the phone case and the day-three case, then the three the 21 September 2026 notice settles — whether it works in Beijing or Shanghai, whether the police station is still an option, and what to do with the seven-province answer you have read elsewhere — and last the three the law itself settles: who may file, whether the deadline is ever 72 hours, and who carries the fine.
No. The hotel registers your stay and reports it to the local public security organ. The 24-hour duty applies to stays in places other than hotels.
Yes. A stay in a home rather than a hotel triggers registration with the public security organ within 24 hours of arrival, however short the stay. Your host can file it.
Yes, anywhere in China. The immigration administration extended online filing for non-hotel stays to the whole country from 21 September 2026, after a pilot that had run in seven provincial-level regions since 20 March 2026. File through the immigration administration's service platform website, the NIA 12367 app, or the NIA 12367 WeChat or Alipay mini programs, and an online filing has the same legal effect as going to the counter.
Yes. Those three were outside the pilot, which is why so many guides still send a first-night visitor to a police station there, but the 21 September 2026 notice extends the online route nationwide and publishes no list of included or excluded places. Nationwide is the whole of what the notice says, so there is no city list to look yourself up in — and if the platform will not complete your filing, the counter is still a valid route rather than a sign you have the rule wrong.
Yes. The same notice that took the online route nationwide states in as many words that the offline channel at the public security organ for where you are staying is retained. Nothing obliges you to register through a Chinese-language mini program. The immigration administration also names the 12367 hotline, the exit-entry administration service window and the local 派出所 as places staff will help you complete the filing in person.
Both, at different times. The pilot in Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing and Sichuan started on 20 March 2026 and was the live scope until 20 September 2026; from 21 September 2026 the notice extends the service nationwide. The regulator's own policy interpretation page has not been amended and still describes the pilot, so pages written from it — including this one until 5 October 2026 — kept publishing the seven regions after they stopped being the limit. Check the date on whatever you are reading.
Article 76 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law provides for a warning, and a fine of not more than RMB 2,000 may also be imposed. It applies to the host as well as to the traveller.
Go to the local police station or an exit-entry service window, or call +86-12367 first. Nothing published states what happens on a late filing, so treat it as an errand to finish today rather than a question to keep researching.
The China Immigration Service Hotline on +86-12367. English is answered directly by voice response and the line runs 24 hours. The same service is in the NIA 12367 app and its WeChat and Alipay mini programs.
Legally either of you can: Article 39, second paragraph of the Exit and Entry Administration Law names 本人 (you) or 留宿人 (whoever is putting you up) as the filer. But for the online route the immigration administration states that the first registration at an address is completed with the host's help, because the host holds the exact property details, and that you may file alone only if you have already registered at that same address through the platform or you own the home. So for a first night in a rented flat or a friend's place, arrange it with your host before you arrive.
Not according to anything currently in force. The law states 二十四小时内 — within 24 hours — with no rural variant. State Council Order No. 637, the regulation that implements the law, has 39 articles and does not contain the word 住宿 at all, so the variant is not there either; its final article repealed the 1986 implementing rules, as revised in 1994 and 2010, with effect from 1 September 2013, and that repealed text is where the 72-hour figure is usually traced. Treat the deadline as 24 hours wherever you are staying.
Both are exposed. Article 76 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law gives a warning and allows a fine of not more than 2,000 yuan to be imposed alongside it — 可以并处, so the fine is discretionary rather than automatic — and item (六) of that article is the one that cites the non-hotel registration duty. The immigration administration's interpretation states the liability as falling on 外国人或者留宿人, the foreign national or the person accommodating them. Nothing published describes how it is applied in practice, so this page does not guess.
Not published
These gaps are left open on purpose. Filling them from general knowledge would be guessing about a legal duty.
The other half of the first-night problem: a property that refuses a foreign guest, and what to do at the desk.
Open recovery guideVisa-free windows, stay length, and the onward-ticket question before the registration clock ever starts.
Open pagePut registration next to data, payment, and the transfer plan so it does not get discovered on day three.
Open pageNext move
Read enough to make the decision smaller, then open the checklist, search a specific question, choose a setup tool, or share the page with the person planning with you.
Use the checklist when the question has shifted from research to preparation.
Search by the actual problem: Alipay, eSIM, transit visa, first transfer, vegetarian food, or a city name.
Open recommendations when the task is clear enough for a short list to be useful.