How to Get The Best Deal For Hotels in China (2025 Guide)
Hotels in China are generally cheaper than western countries, even in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look for a good deal and pay more than is necessary. There are several factors which affect the rate per night, some of which apply differently to China.
This article is relevant for hotels at any price point. Take a look below and you could potentially save tens or hundreds of dollars: 💰
🖥️ Hotel Comparison Sites
This is my actual thought process when looking for a hotel in any Chinese city.
I use Trip.com as the first port of call. Type in the dates and the city you’re visiting. Hotels will start popping up.
The key filters I use are: location, budget, free cancellation, non-smoking rooms. For specific location, I usually select popular locations, and then choose the area that is closest to most of my activities. 📍
For example, for Chongqing, I picked Jiefangbei Pedestrian Street, which is close to many attractions including Hongya Cave. You can filter by attractions if you’re not sure about the exact area. I’m not saying ‘‘stay in the centre’’, most of these districts are pretty big and you could totally get a hotel that is 10 minutes away within the same district.
Once you’ve found one you like, do a cross comparison price check with at least one other platform. Earlier this year, my brother found the same hotel that was around 20% cheaper on Trip compared to another major platform.
Trip has various budget and mid-range hotels that are not on the platforms that you normally use (such as Booking.com). If you can’t find that hotel on another platform, it doesn’t actually mean there’s something wrong with it. Trip is dominant in China, so it is preferred by some hotels. In contrast, nearly all luxury hotels are on most platforms.
Have a look at the pages showing the room facilities and communal areas. Go through the list - you’ll see anything not provided has a strikethrough. Key things to look out for are a separate shower cubicle (some budget hotels don’t have this), a sit-down toilet, a kettle. See if it suits your needs and you’re happy with it. 🚿
One thing: Some budget hotels have rooms without windows - they are almost always the cheapest in that hotel. If you are a window person (like me), make sure you check the pictures and text to make sure you don’t accidentally select a windowless room. 🪟
Go to the hotel’s “Policies” section and scroll down to “Guests Accepted” where you should see “Guests from every country/region are welcome at this property”. On a national level, all hotels are required to accept foreigners, but a sneaky 1% might still refuse - that’s why you should check this line. That said, you shouldn’t have any issues on Trip.com because hotels on there know it’s an international platform.
Look at a few negative reviews + see what they’re saying. No hotel is perfect for everyone - even the best hotels will have negative reviews - if you see the same issue across many reviews, you may want to consider if that issue bothers you enough. For example, “very noisy at night”.
Once you’ve decided, proceed to checkout. If you are a first time user, check if you have any coupons. It should show up in the checkout. If you are a repeat user, sometimes they give out random coupons as a promotion. That could also make the price cheaper. 💴
After you’re done, take a screenshot of the booking reservation for easy reference. Remember to have the address in Chinese, if you’re taking a taxi to the hotel.
NOTE: Below, I have listed the major factors affecting price during the search process.
Factors Affecting Price You Should Consider
📅 Travel Outside of Public Holidays + Minimal Weekends
On public holidays, prices can double or even triple compared to a regular day. Last year during National Day Golden Week, I noticed that my room had jumped from 200rmb to 600rmb!
Public holidays are normally highlighted either in a different colour or an asterisk when selecting your dates on the Trip.com calendar. Dates further away may not be highlighted yet. Golden Weeks may not be highlighted, just the first day of the holiday! So, you should do a quick check yourself. If certain days cost much more compared to the rest of the month, that’s normally an indicator.
On weekends, prices are normally higher than a weekday, unless the weekday is a public holiday.
If your trip only straddles one weekend instead of two, the total cost could potentially be cheaper - e.g. if you’re staying for 10 nights, staying from Monday 1st to Thursday 11th (which contains one weekend) is probably cheaper than Friday 5th to Monday 15th (which straddles two weekends). Not always though, so make sure you check.
Don’t forget that the summer holiday during July and August is also a busier period. Prices don’t normally rise as much as public holidays though, but if you’re flexible, try and avoid this period. ☀️
Special events like major sports championships, concerts, and fairs will also jack up the price. To avoid this trap, just search two periods two weeks apart to get a feel for the differences in price. If one week is double the price of the other and it’s not a public holiday, special events may be happening.
🌆 Locations Further Out
Many people want to stay as close to the attractions as possible. Goes without saying, the average price is typically higher in the core central locations because there’s higher demand. But if you’re not fussed about being at the centre of everything and willing to travel a little more, you could save a lot of pennies.
Not saying you should live an hour away. I’m talking a 10-20 minute radius from the centre. For example, instead of staying near the Bund, you can consider staying in Jing’an District which is just a few metro stops away (around 10-15 minutes away). You might find it within acceptable distance. 🚇
Personally, I lived even further out when I stayed in Shanghai - this was the hotel, Harbour Plaza Metropolitan if you’re interested. It’s near Metro Line 14 and takes only 20 minutes on the metro to Yu Garden and Nanjing Road. However, I wouldn’t choose it if you prefer taking taxis, because it is a good distance away from the centre and you’ll spend too much time in traffic.
Why did I choose it? Well, firstly because it was a real bargain when I went a couple of summers ago when China had just reopened after the pandemic - 390 RMB (~55 US$) average rate per night. There’s no way I’d get a similar 4 star hotel with breakfast buffet for that price downtown and this would definitely cost 1000 RMB+ in Hong Kong. I also loved the bed and sofa. Secondly, it’s within walkable distance to Shanghai West station - which has a few trains to Suzhou! That saved me some time and the journey to Suzhou only took 30 minutes. However, the local area is nothing fancy, but there was a little mall and shops nearby. Just my honest opinion. Personally, I would go again.
Just remember to pick hotels that are near a metro station. Some cities have quite big holes in their metro network and you don’t want to be caught out. Aim for ones that are within 500m of one. If you are too far from one, you may feel tempted to get a taxi, and this would cost you quite a lot more over the vacation period.
🛏️ Consider Similar Hotels
Don’t be tempted to go for the first one you are attracted to, particularly if it’s a bargain compared to your own country. Some hotels charge more if they contain facilities that similar hotels don’t have (e.g. gym) or simply because they’re next to some public venue. If you don’t need these things, I wouldn’t pay extra for them.
If it’s a chain, search for other branches in the same city. They normally offer similar things, but the prices will differ. See which one you prefer. China does have its own budget, mid-range, and luxury chains, so you can consider those as well alongside international chains. Basically, if you just need a comfortable bed, shower, toilet and nothing fancy, there are plenty of local choices which would cost less.
🛎️ Booking Too Far Ahead
This is not a hard rule. But in a couple of instances, the price had dropped when I checked the hotel again. I’m personally not that bothered with rebooking unless there’s a big enough price difference. But if you are, pick a hotel with free cancellation. That way if the price drops, you can cancel it and book it again. ❌✅
I wouldn’t hold off booking the hotel too long because it can be a risky move - prices can rise as well as drop, almost like the stock market. However, if you’re visiting during a public holiday, I would book further in advance because it’s quite common for hotels to be fully booked.
Remember: If you need English speaking staff, luxury/high-end hotels are the only type of hotel that have a really high chance of having some staff being able to speak English. Chances are higher in Shanghai and Beijing. Hong Kong and Macau are the only cities with many hotels that have fluent English speaking staff at all price points.
