Hi
I will go to holidays to Rome. I will arrived late and the host is asking me to send by email the copy of my passport. Is it normal to ask it?
What do you think?
I know hotels in Europe often will ask especially in Italy. I don’t know why an individual Airbnb host would unless they were owned by a large managing company;
I believe that there is a law in Italy that requires that anyone hosting must have a copy of the passport. Not just hotels. Anyone who hosts.
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Everyone is meant to ask for ID in Italy not just hotels - pensions, apartments etc
Yes, its compulsory here in Italy- but usually on day of arrival.
It was compulsory in France 40 years ago to actually hand over your passport on arrival - think “Day of the Jackal”, but increasing anti-terrorist laws have spread this requirement further afield. I’ve had to send PP details in advance to STRs I’ve known for years in Portugal!
In Italy some regions do require to ask every airbnb host, bed&breakfast, hotel, hostel etc to report to the local police their guests IDs.
However when the local police informed me about this (I’m a host in northern Italy) they were strict to make it clear to not take photographs, copies or send ID informations by a message or email. I should never save these informations for myself. You should always do the registration in front of the guest by logging in to the local police registration system and hand the documents back right away.
But this is Italy. I know for a fact 90% of the airbnb hosts in my area do not even ask the IDs to avoid taxes, even though the penalties are absurd (in my region I might go to jail for not registering a guest). And if you are a host who prefers to do self check in, coming to meet the guests just for registering the IDs is much time consuming, so I see why some hosts ask to send the information just by email/message.
It’s the same here in Spain, and is now much stricter since the new STR regulations came in. If we have even one tiny room to rent we have to take a copy of the passport/national ID of the “lead guest” and details of all other guests over the age of 16 (knowing Spain, I’m surprised they don’t want a copy of your grandmother’s Birth Certificate … ah, bureaucracy, how we love it!) We must send these details to the local police within 24 hours. This is one reason that we ourselves have a 3-night minimum, I can’t imagine having to do this every day! This is also obviously a reason why self check-ins are difficult.
This query has come up more than once on the forum, so I’m making a plea to the OP and any others who may be visiting Spain/Italy/Portugal etc. and don’t like this requirement: we hosts don’t like it either, it is more work for us, we don’t like inconveniencing our guests but we have no choice … unless, of course, we want to be illegal and risk several thousand euro fines! Please bear with us …
I think some hosts ask for the information beforehand to save time at check-in - we are thinking of doing it as well, just leaving the copy of the passport till the last minute.
@FayeRubye My post crossed with yours, so I’ve duplicated some of your info. We’re somewhat different in that we have to keep the hard copies for 3 years - but now that data protection is becoming such an issue, I think this may possibly change.
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Great thanks all for the information
In Italy, all guest are required to be registered at the local office within 24 hours. Passports are needed to do this.
Yes, this is very common as it is mandated by Italian law. All tourist accommodation providers need to comply or face fines for non-compliance.
More details can be found on blog posts on this topic by Upmarket.cloud
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Yes, it’s required. When I traveled to Spain I was asked for a copy of my passport to submit with their paperwork. I stayed in different Airbnbs and hotels and each one asked for a copy.