Can you believe that you can find a double room for US$10 per night, at a place which takes only 1 metro stop from Pazhou exhibition center and 5 min. from metro station?

Can you believe you can find guesthouse which is also on the metro line and charge you US$10 per night and is spotlessly clean, with very friendly staff?

Are you looking for a hotel room which is clean, convenient and most importantly, reasonably price?

This is the page which is dedicated to introduce the budget accommodation for visitors of Canton Fair, we would share the tips with you and help you to set the right expectation on what to expect.

Before you start looking for hotel, it is important to find out what kind of accommodation you are looking for. What is your key criteria?

Close to city center? Close to night life? Close to Pazhou exhibition center? Or close to Liuhua exhibition center? (this is the 2 venue for Canton Fair and they are quite apart, so you need to find out which one you prefer) Security? If there is any free shuttle bus to exhibition center? Close to metro station?  Taxi fare to different place is not too expensive? Decent room? Or just looking for a clean environment?  Broadband internet access? Or just with an internet café around the corner is OK?

These are important questions. As you should understand during the 2 weeks Canton Fair, there is more than half a million local exhibitors and overseas visitors flux into Guangzhou area, so you have to understand what is your preference and what is your tolerance level before you search  for the hotel.

In this site, we would focus to introduce budget accommodation which is linked to Pazhou venue by metro, so as to advice a resting place for the visitors of Canton Fair. We would try to share different type of information to you, so as to help you to make the informed choice.

So, maybe the hotel introduced in this site would not satisfied those who would have great preference to stay in city center, night life, hub , bars and night club.  Also, by default, those hotel which is still bargain in Canton Fair means they do not get used to receive foreign guests and that means most of the hotel staff cannot speak English.  So, please examine carefully about your tolerance level before you start the searching process.

To start on the introduction, we would focus on the accommodation which is located on Guangzhou No. 4 metro line.

The reason is simple, metro No. 4 line is the latest metro line which just opened in 2005. Before the open of metro no. 4 line, area south of Guangzhou is regarded as rural area and few would consider to stay outside Guangzhou. Besides, another important factor is: no matter you take metro or coach to Pazhou from city center, you would not pass by the area of no. 4 line, therefore, it is not easy for you to notice. That is why you can find lots of hidden treasure along the line.

Maybe before you start the searching process, it is better for you to get a rough idea about what kind of accommodation is available.

Normal Hotel

We used the term normal hotel, refers to the hotel which has the standard hotel facilities, and most of them are newly built, intend to cater to visitors of Canton Fair.  Since metro line 4 is newly finished, so there is not too much hotel of such choice along the line. Foreigners would basically find these kind of hotel acceptable and it is legal for these hotels to receive foreign guests. This type of hotel may have internet access. Their staff may speak some limited English.

Old Hotel, with certain village style

Before the start of Pazhou exhibition center, area along metro line 4 is regarded as rural area in Guangzhou, so there is only some old, traditional style hotel which is catered to the villagers in the area, located in town center. These hotels would have very basic hotel facilities, yet, the environment is not so modern and foreign visitors may feel not very comfortable staying in this type of hotel.  Also, legally, most of them do not fall into the category of: “accept foreigner hotel”, so that means it is not 100% sure they can accept foreign guests. But when you asked them, they would tell you, they can accept foreign guests, and according to our understanding, it is still OK for foreigner to stay in this type of hotel.  Usually, this type of hotels do not have internet access.  Their staff just cannot speak any English.

Usually, they would still have an English word, hotel on the signage.

Hostel

The term hostel here means those low end hotels which still have license to take guest. Most of them are still clean, with hot shower, and some of the room are equipped with air conditioner, ( even though this is not too important, as temperature in April and October in Guangzhou is quite moderate), but most of the room would not have internet access. Usually, they do not have much experience in taking foreign guest and of course, the staff cannot speak any English. Legally, this kind of hostel can accept local guests and according to our understanding, legally, they are not allowed to take foreigners. Foreigners mean anyone who is not Chinese nationality, therefore, that means people from Hong Kong, Taiwan are included as well. Even though most of them would accept HK or Taiwanese, since it is hard to tell from their outlook.

Would they accept foreigner who obviously is not a Chinese?  Then, it depends. Since most of these hostels esp. those on line 4 is not good, therefore, some of them would just say yes to anyone.  They would tell you, unless there is any accident, or criminal offence, otherwise, police would not pay attention to them.  So, they would welcome anyone to come. Yet, some of them would say, they are not allowed to accept foreigners and just say no. So, even if you can find a local to book these hostels for you, make sure they would check in advance, to avoid any future misunderstanding.

Guesthouse

Guesthouse is those houses which are just village house, supposed to build as residential for the villagers.  Many villagers would build such house and lease the room to others. Some of them would not have toilet inside the rooms and they need to share bathroom and toilet with other guests on the same floor.

Legally, these guesthouse is not allowed to take any customers, include the local ones, so obviously, it is not legal for them to take foreign guest. But anyway, many of them would just say it is OK for them to take foreign guest. Maybe they just do not know they cannot accept foreigners or they just do not bother. 

According to our understanding, basically, public security just does not bother to check who is staying where. But if under certain circumstance, they would adopt different policy, is hard to tell.

Different from other hotel, guesthouse, they should have a close circuit TV and linked to the public security bureau. These guesthouses just do not have any such facilities. And of course, there is no serious management of such hotel. So, maybe the floor is so slippery that you found yourself walking on a skating rink. Of course, the owner cannot speak any English and not to mention internet access.  Even though very likely, you can find an internet bar around the corner.   They would not offer free shuttle bus to Pazhou venue.

Since these kind of guesthouse is not really legal, so there is no permanent signage to show they are the guesthouse. Maybe they would have a mobile sign written accommodation in Chinese language, which they would take it out certain time of the day.  But it is not guarantee you can see it, since it is not legal for them to offer accommodation as a business, so they may hide the sign from time to time.

Of course, it would be much cheaper to stay in such guesthouse and it is much likely there is space available. Make sure you have enough psychological preparation to tolerate all these shortcomings before you book on such guesthouse.

Character of metro line 4

Metro line 4 is just finished in 2005 and is still continue to extend the line, we focus on introducing this line because it is closest to Pazhou exhibition center and is the relatively under developed area. 

Even if you are not looking for accommodation, it is still worthwhile to take a ride.  Maybe this is the first time, you can see fish pond or vegetable field on top of metro station ( not train station).  You can get a feel of the tremendous development potential of the area.

While many people is interested to find accommodation close to metro station, and you would expect in small town on the line, you would find the hotel would gather around the metro station.  Yet, this is not the case in Guangzhou. Different from other developing countries, which the infrastructure is long built and the development would surround the transportation hub.   In Guangzhou, the hotel you would find are mainly built before the metro is built. And maybe in order to avoid paying huge compensation for the villagers to buy the land, or to reserve the land above metro station for large scale real estate development project, metro station is far from the town center. So, you need to spend 10 minutes to walk or take some transport to go to the town center where the hotels are located.

Yet, one problem is: it is not very easy for you to find taxi outside Guangzhou city, ( area on Guangzhou metro line 4 is not included as Guangzhou Municipal city ),  so you may need to take a bus or motorcycle.  So, make sure you feel comfortable to take motorcycle as means of transport, if you are looking for bargain in metro line 4.  Also the other alternative is: the hotel may book a small van to pick you up if you are in a big group.

Staying on metro line 4 may help you to understand the look of a town before Guangzhou area is fully developed, or you may have better understanding of the life of the workers who is producing the goods which you buy.

Metro line 4 is not fully developed, so mainly only hotel in Wanshengwei or some 4-5 star hotel in Nansha would have shuttle bus.

Generally, the thumb of rules in finding out if you are getting bargain is: if they offer free shuttle bus to Pazhou. Generally, hotel in Xinzhao, Shiqi, Huangge, Jinzhou, Nanhai area would not increase the price during Canton Fair period and that means the also would not offer free shuttle bus.  Generally, if they would offer free shuttle bus to Pazhou is the indicator if they would increase the price.  So, if you are looking for bargain and if you are traveling with a group, then it maybe more economical for you to stay in a hotel which do not offer free shuttle bus and you pay for fee of leasing the van, which would be more economical than staying in hotel which offer free shuttle bus.

Note: metro line no.4 runs from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. As metro line no. 4 is quite far from city, so taxi fare is quite expensive.  So, please think carefully if it is very likely that you would go back to hotel before 10:00pm.