How to Call a Hotel or Travel Agency in China: What to Say

Two phone calls are almost unavoidable once you land in China: one to your hotel, and one to your travel agency or your driver. The trouble is that a phone call is nothing like talking face to face. There are no gestures, no time to type into a translation app, and the person on the other end cannot see your expression. Plenty of visitors hang up after thirty seconds in a panic and switch to messaging apps, then wait two extra hours for a reply.

In fact, getting your point across takes only three things: one opening formula, one sheet of paper with your answers already written down, and five Chinese phrases that keep the conversation alive. This guide follows the real order of a call and writes out the six situations where travellers get stuck most often. You can read the lines straight off the screen.

Last updated: October 2026. The etiquette and phrases below apply to hotels, travel agencies, private drivers and attractions in mainland China.

1. First, understand how Chinese phone habits differ from yours

• An unknown number is often simply not answered. Chinese mobile users are extremely wary of nuisance calls, and a foreign number is likely to be declined outright. So ask the other party to add you on WeChat or WhatsApp before you travel, and to send a message saying "I'm calling you now" just before they dial. That one message lifts the answer rate from roughly a third to well over nine in ten;
• The first word is always "wéi". It is not "hello" — it just means "I'm listening". Replying with "wéi" is enough; there is no need to feel nervous;
• They will open with a long, very fast company name. Not catching it is completely normal. Do not try to repeat it back — go straight to your own question;
• There is no "please hold" buffer on the line. Chinese workplaces move fast and a front desk may be handling three things at once, so keep your sentences short, specific and finishable in one breath;
• WeChat is the universal fallback. Even mid-call you can say "wǒ yòng WeChat fā gěi nǐ" (I'll send it to you on WeChat) and then text the address, room type or car number. Almost every front desk agrees immediately, and it is far faster than struggling through speech.

2. The golden opening: four lines are enough

Read these four in order and the other person will understand what you need. Write them into your phone notes beforehand and simply read them aloud during the call.

1. Nǐ hǎo, wǒ shì… (Hello, I am…) — add your surname or order number, e.g. "Nǐ hǎo, wǒ shì Wang";
2. Wǒ bú huì shuō Zhōngwén (I don't speak Chinese) — ⚠️ Say this one without fail. It makes the other person slow down, switch to simple words, or fetch a colleague who speaks English. Skip it and they will keep talking at full speed;
3. Qǐngwèn nín huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma? (Do you speak English?) — if the answer is "huì" (yes), you are in luck. If it is "bú huì" (no), move straight to line 4 rather than persisting;
4. Wǒ kěyǐ fā WeChat ma? (May I message you on WeChat?) — this is the line that rescues the entire call. Once they say "kěyǐ" (yes), hang up, type, and send. Communication quality doubles instantly.

3. Calling a hotel: six real situations, line by line

Situation 1: Confirming a booking (the most common call)

• "Nǐ hǎo, wǒ yǒu yí ge yùdìng." (Hello, I have a booking)
• "Dìngdān hào shì…" (The order number is…) — then read the digits. ⚠️ Read numbers one digit at a time, never as one large number;
• "Míngzi shì…" (The name is…) — spell it out letter by letter, e.g. W-A-N-G;
• "Wǒ jīn wǎn dào." (I arrive tonight) / "Wǒ míngtiān dào." (I arrive tomorrow)

Situation 2: Airport pickup or arrival time

• "Wǒ sān diǎn dào jīchǎng." (I arrive at the airport at three)
• "Kěyǐ lái jiē wǒ ma?" (Can you come and pick me up?)
• "Hángbān hào shì…" (The flight number is…) — letters plus digits, e.g. C-A-4-5-6-7;
• "Wǒ huì zài WeChat fā gěi nǐ wèizhì." (I'll send you the location on WeChat) — extremely useful; a pinned location beats any description of an address.

Situation 3: Something in the room is broken

• "Wǒ de fángjiān yǒu wèntí." (There is a problem with my room)
• "Kōngtiáo bù liáng." (The air conditioning isn't cooling) / "Méiyǒu rèshuǐ." (There's no hot water) / "Wǎngluò bù néng yòng." (The internet doesn't work)
• "Fángjiān hào shì…" (The room number is…) — lead with the room number, it is the one detail that matters;
• "Kěyǐ xiànzài lái kàn yíxià ma?" (Could someone come and look now?)

Situation 4: Late check-out and luggage storage

• "Kěyǐ wǎn yìdiǎn tuìfáng ma?" (Could I check out a little later?) — add the time, e.g. "liǎng diǎn" (two o'clock);
• "Kěyǐ jìcún xíngli ma?" (Could I store my luggage?)
• "Wǒ wǎnshang lái qǔ." (I'll collect it in the evening)

Situation 5: Extra bed, room change, extra night

• "Kěyǐ jiā yì zhāng chuáng ma?" (Could we add an extra bed?)
• "Kěyǐ huàn fángjiān ma?" (Could we change rooms?)
• "Wǒ xiǎng duō zhù yì wǎn." (I'd like to stay one more night)
• "Duōshao qián?" (How much?) — the single most useful phrase, for confirming any extra charge.

Situation 6: Three lines for when you don't understand

• "Qǐng màn yìdiǎn shuō." (Please speak a little slower) — almost always works;
• "Qǐng zài shuō yí biàn." (Please say that again);
• "Qǐng yòng WeChat fā wénzì gěi wǒ." (Please send it to me as text on WeChat) — the ultimate fallback, more reliable than any listening skill.

4. Calling a travel agency or your driver

These calls usually have a tighter goal: confirm the time, the place, the headcount and the price. Travel agency staff generally speak better English than hotel front desks, but it still pays to follow this order.

• Identify yourself first: "Nǐ hǎo, wǒ shì Jadetour de kèrén." (Hello, I'm a Jadetour customer) — swap in the company you actually booked with;
• Give date and route: "Míngtiān, Wǔlóng." (Tomorrow, Wulong) — keywords only, time plus destination, are less likely to be misheard than a full sentence;
• Confirm the pickup: "Jǐ diǎn? Zài nǎlǐ?" (What time? Where?) — two short questions back to back will always get you two answers;
• Confirm the headcount: "Liǎng ge rén." (Two people) / "Wǔ ge rén." (Five people);
• Confirm price and tickets: "Duōshao qián?" (How much?) / "Hán ménpiào ma?" (Does it include entrance tickets?);
• Report any change immediately: "Wǒ chídào le." (I'm running late) / "Wǒ gǎi shíjiān." (I'm changing the time). Chinese drivers will wait patiently, so an unexplained half hour of silence really does leave someone standing there.

⚠️ Private drivers and day-tour operators usually pick people up using a WeChat location pin, not a written address. So what you actually need to do is send the hotel's location to the driver in WeChat, then make one short call giving only the time and the number of people. That works far better than attempting to describe a street name in Chinese.

5. Read-aloud phrase table

6. Three ways to avoid speaking at all

• WeChat text plus voice translation: write your question in English, use WeChat's built-in translation or your keyboard's dictation to render it in Chinese, and send. The reply is often a Chinese voice message, which you translate back. In hotel settings this loop already solves around eight out of ten problems;
• Let your travel agency be your spokesperson: if you booked hotels and cars through an agency, hand any communication problem to your trip advisor and let them make the call. This is the least effort by a wide margin, and it is the route we recommend guests use first;
• Walk to the front desk with your phone: if you are already in the hotel, don't phone — go downstairs, show the screen, use gestures and a map, and you will settle three things in one go. Phones are good for confirming; faces are good for negotiating.

7. Frequently asked questions

The other person keeps speaking Chinese and I understand nothing. What now?

Do exactly one thing: say "Qǐng yòng WeChat fā wénzì gěi wǒ" (please send it to me as text on WeChat) and give them your WeChat ID, or ask the front desk to add you. Text can be translated; speech cannot. Turning a phone call into text is the single most effective communication strategy for foreign visitors in China.

What if nobody answers?

First consider whether your number is being filtered as spam. Fixes: ① ask the other party to save your number before you travel; ② send an SMS or WeChat message first explaining who you are and who you want; ③ switch to the hotel or agency's official account or mini-program online chat, which usually responds faster. Ordinary landlines (numbers beginning with an area code such as 023) are answered more reliably than mobiles.

Do I need to learn pinyin?

No. Play the sentences above through your phone's read-aloud function and they will be understood, or simply show the Chinese characters. The one thing genuinely worth practising is reading digits one by one — order numbers, room numbers and flight numbers all depend on it.

Is there a good time to call?

Yes. Hotel front desks are staffed around the clock, but between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. is smoothest, and the duty manager with the best English is most likely on shift then. For travel agencies, call during normal weekday office hours. ⚠️ Avoid repeatedly calling between 12:30 and 14:00, the lunch break, when many Chinese companies don't take business calls.

What number do I call in an emergency?

Police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120 — all free and available 24 hours. ⚠️ Emergency lines normally operate in Chinese only. If you cannot explain yourself in Chinese, the fastest route is to contact your hotel front desk or travel agency first and ask them to report the incident and describe your location on your behalf. For how to describe your position and have numbers repeated, see our companion article on calling the police in China.