travel to china via Chengdu

Anyone any experience of Chengdu hotels, near airport, cheap / overnight accommodation only, please?
any to recommend ?

Ok. Forget it . It's sorted!

My wife came back via Chengdu (overnight stopover) on her last trip with KLM/China Southern. Never again! KLM insisted that accommodation was included but CSA changed the booking code for the CTU-AMS leg to avoid providing it. At least they found her a place in nearby Jiancaogao for €15 (7-Days hotel). Not too bad!

We now have a twice-weekly direct flight from Budapest to Chongqing with Hainan Airlines. Local connection to Nanning with their partner Beijing Capital Airlines for only €400 return. Just started this week. My wife goes home for Spring Festival so she will give it a try.

Thanks, Dafu for your input and comments.
Lei and I intend to fly with a different airline, but we will be interested to compare any notes with you about hotel accommodation, later.

Also, we aim to return to LHR/ London via Beijing Int. Airport, .but will not use a hotel for the shorter Stopover on our return trip but 'chill out', ( if that turns out to be an appropriate phrase), for 7 hours or more in Beijing Airport , waiting for our flight back to LHR /London.

Pronto

Have a good trip, Pronto!

Thanks , Dafu. You seem to be well organised for your various trips.

We, i.e.Lei and myself.
actually travelled from LHR to CTU, Chengdu with China Air, on 8th January'20 , and , although i had thought I was having a cheapish overnight stay at a local hotel, trip, I got an even cheaper one, working out at 100 rmb per the night, instead of over 300 rmb by my previous search. Mind you, breakfast was not included, but that didn't matter to us on that occasion.Also it was a little outside the Airport where we stayed but no charges for travel from CTU to hotel and back.
It was a small family hotel, and there were several other families there that night as we saw them next morning.
We were not disappointed with our accommodation and the hospitality afforded us overnight.
Shenzhen Airline ( an associate or partner airline for China Air apparently ) was the carrier for our onward flight from Chengdu to Nanning, also
satisfactory.

Interesting that you had no problems with a small, family hotel.

We're probably all aware of the old requirement that any "foreigner" staying in a hotel needed to have the hotel take a copy of passport to be lodged with the local police. That meant that, generally, only 4 star and above hotels were available to stay in, creating a problem in some smaller centres.

That law changed a few years ago but, on my last visit, I still had problems with a couple of hotels in Yizhou, which although small by Chinese standards, is hardly a backwater village. The new law apparently allows foreigners to stay at all(?) hotels but the hotel seems to be able to refuse if they couldn't be bothered. Trying to explain the law to them was a waste of time - if they don't want to then they won't, period.

Maybe the fact that it was Chengdu and not too far from the airport meant that they were up to date on the law? Were any questions asked?

Hi Chris,
I was aware that staying in a hotel in China meant you had to go through passport formalities
but since we don't normally stay in hotels when visiting China, I thought it would be a formality
once at the hotel.
The booking had been arranged on our behalf, by someone else, and when we arrived at the Airport and a friend
telephoned the hotel for us. it appeared that being a foreigner and wanting to stay
at the hotel might be a problem, which was news to us.

But, anyway, our friend at the Airport told us to wait for our transport to the hotel, as had
been indicated earlier that could be arranged for us on arrival at the airport.
and enquiry at the Information desk.

To cut a long story short , on reaching the hotel we produced our passports etc to the hotel owner, after he made
one or two phone calls ( which I assumed was probably to get the 'say-so' or 'nod' from the local police to cover concerning our arrival and
hmself), he helped us bring in our luggage and ushered us into our room, with smiles. and no problems.

That's the jist of it, and he arranged to call us early morning to drive us , and others, to the Airport,
which he did, after Lei and I had had a comfortable overnight stay in his hotel.

So over to you, Chris.

Pronto

Ah, thanks.

Yes, it sounds like the hotelier didn't know about the change of rules but was prevailed upon by your friend to actually check, upon which he was assured that it was ok and took the opportunity to take your money rather than see it go somewhere else.

Lucky for you that you had your friend there and that you were talking to the owner rather than just an employee. All's well that ends well but it does highlight what I was talking about and how a part of the industry doesn't understand the rules at all.

I regularly stay in local hotels in very remote country villages around where I live in Guangxi. Typically I pay 50 - 100 rmb per night for a double room with en-suite and western wc. It has never been a problem that I am a foreigner. I'm sure some of these hotels won't be licensed for foreigners but that is their problem not mine.