Guilty as charged - I do way too little research when I travel and I trust my common sense most of the time. However, sometimes my common sense is way different than the cultural common sense of the place. Let's take China for instance.
I booked my hotel room without any problems on the internet and happily arrived at this local city somewhere in the desert. I don't recall the name of the city as eventually I only stayed there for a couple of hours.
I entered my booked hotel, thinking about a good rest as I just spent 15 hours in an overnight train. However, China had different ideas - the first thing that the receptionist told me upon the arrival was "No no no." You don't need much knowledge of Chinese culture to understand that "No no no" means that something bad is about to happen. After asking what exactly is "No no no" I got the broken English answer via translator that foreigners are not welcome in the hotel because of the Chinese regulations.
The hotel did not have a license which would guarantee "safety" to the foreigners. In other words, I could only be "safe" in some freaking expensive hotel on the other side of the street. It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
Funny thing, I was left emptyhanded in the street rather than staying in a cozy hotel room. Is it just me or a cozy hotel room sounds a little bit safer than the street? Anyway, tell it to the government. What's the moral of the story? If you travel in China, first find some reviews of foreigners about the place you are staying at because no reviews probably mean that no foreigners are allowed.
Also, a local panda is not enough to persuade people that you are Chinese. And one more thing - nobody cares about your safety but you.