My situation: I've been hired to teach English in Shanghai, but due to the olympics, I cannot get a Visa Notification or Official Invite Letter right now -- Therefore, I'm trying to get a tourist visa for the first 30 days and then go from there. Here's what I need help with:

Getting a hotel reservation so my visa application doesn't get rejected -- I have a friend finding an apartment for me right now so I will move in to it when I arrive -- any sites where I can make a reservation without having to use my credit card to pay up front -- any advice?

You can book a room at the Captain's Hostel without needing a credit card. They want you to pay at reception when you arrive anyway:

http://www.captainhostel.com.cn/en/order.php

Captain Hostel is *not bad*. Just avoid the "sailors rooms" for 60 or so RMB a night. They're OK until the drunken Koreans burst into the room at 1.48 am. Spend a little more and get a private room

I think if you read the original post, he's not actually looking for a plce to stay, just somewhere that will let you book without needing a credit card, in order to apply for a visa.

Sorry Zak, that sounded a bit petty. I wasn't having a go...

You're right, the Captain's Hostel probably isn't the greatest place to stay, but it is a pretty cool location, especially for a first time visitor to Shanghai. Also, some people might quite like drunken Koreans.

From my experience, all hotels use the credit card to hold your reservation and would not charge it unless you fail to show up for the first night. If you make a reservation and get your visa soon afterwards, then you can cancel your reservation right afterwards as long as its 24-48 hrs before your arrival. This is mostly valid for booking a reservation at the hotel's website.

If you book at Expedia.com, Hotel.com, Wotif.com, etc...you will most likely need to pay upfront. In other words, stay away from these sites if you don't want your credit card charged.

What some of our customers did was make the reservation online and called the hotel to get a letter confirming their reservation faxed to them. Used it to apply for their visa...but in their case they actually stayed at the hotel.

www.ctrip.com - allows you to book a hotel without paying and you can print off your itinerary and booking.

...

I've booked hotels through http://www.elong.net/ I know there are no credit card problems because I don't have a credit card.