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by black69wolf69 » Sun Aug 13, 2017 4:00 pm
I've used AirBnB in Vientiane. Strictly speaking they may be breaking the law, but haven't heard of any confirmation banning it so far. It may come in time, but wherever you stay in Laos, there doesn't seem to be any enforcement on registering yourself or showing your passport. In my experience of having traveled in and out of Laos for 14 years, they only check passports in the more tourist oriented places anyway, and even in some of these cities, they aren't too strict about it - it depends on the hotel. I have never seen them look at or photocopy anything other than the passport information page and if you're traveling with other people, they generally only want to see one passport. In this respect, they are about the same as Thailand and Cambodia.
Myanmar and Vietnam are a different story. Only once in both of these countries have I ever not been asked for my passport. In Pyin Oo Lwin and Mu-se in northern Myanmar, as well as Myawady, a border city next to the Thai border, I filled in the "foreigner registration form" myself, using my passport and visa details, in all other cases a clerk took my passport and filled in these details for me, returning my passport to me within 5-30 minutes depending on the hotel and city. In Vietnam, just once was I not asked for my passport (at a hotel in Dalat).
I know a couple of expats living in Yangon. He tell me they travel to Bangkok at least once every 1-2 months anyway, so never stay the full 70 days allowed on their business visas. This is because they get exhausted of living in Yangon and "need a break" so only being able to stay 70 days and then being forced to leave is never a problem. No idea how things will be for them if this law is entered into force, but they reportedly rarely travel outside of Yangon save for going overseas.