Hotel check in procedure

Yes, it is common and often required by local law. Sometimes the passports will be kept for a short time so that the information can be recorded. In Europe is FAR MORE COMMON for the room rate to be based on the total number of room occupants including children. In the US it is common just to rent the room regardless of the number of occupants. Also some fire codes are very strict about the number of people in a room. If you reserve a room for four and show up with five, there is good possibility it will not be permitted. We post a lot here about scams taking advantage of tourists but what you are doing is a scam against the rules of the hotels. You must advice the hotel of the number of occupants. If not you are just being dishonest regardless of your intentions.

Yes. In fact, not only are the hotel staff "looking at" each individual passport, they usually borrow the passport for some time (a few hours, or possibly overnight) and registering your stay with the local authorities as required by law. You are paying not for the room per se (like in the US), but rather a per-person rate for staying at the hotel. If you booked for 4, you're telling them that 4 people are staying there. To show up with 5, or to try to sneak in a 5th person, is a risk. I'm not saying nobody has ever been successful, but be prepared to be refused. I've never known anyone to refuse to present a passport, so I can't say what would happen if you try that. I think this is poor decision making on your part. If the hotel stay for 5 isn't in your budget, consider alternatives. Ask the people here on these boards about apartment rentals, etc. Everyone travels on a budget and there are many smart folk here who have cut costs without breaking laws in Europe.

You have to be honest about the exact number of people in a room. And yes, hotels want to record your passport information. That is the law. You say one person will sleep on a mat. Are you assuming that every hotel room has two large beds? That is not the case. When you book a double room it will sleep two, a triple will sleep three, etc. If you are on that tight of a budget, maybe you should go for a shorter time. Have you considered apartments? That often gives you more bang for your buck.

Some do and some don't, depending on the country. At least that has been our experience. Some photocopy the title page. In China I had my passport kept over night. All the western and eastern European hotels we have stayed in have asked to see our passports. I can't remember if that was the practice in Scotland or not. Its not a problem to hand over your passport for inspection.

Varies. We just got back from Paris and the check-in only wanted my passport and credit card. In other places/countries/times they have asked for all 4. At some places the charge for an extra cot is minimal... I'd go that route rather than trying to sneak an extra body in. As was mentioned, in some places it is more common to charge "per-person" than "by room". My 2 cents. Good luck.

You say you're sneaking in a 5th person in order to save money...just think how much money and time you're going to be spending when you show up at the hotel (yes they WILL notice the 5th person). 1) They're going to say "no way" and perhaps they don't have any additional rooms available. 2) You leave hotel and try to find a different hotel. You're going to be charged by the first hotel at least for the first night even though you've left to find a different hotel. 3) You already know how difficult it can be to find a 5-bedded room, but now you're going to have to go door to door trying to find one...probably without the help of the internet. This sounds like an absolute nightmare.

Okay - thanks for the info - really:) I will advise - we have not vacationed in Europe before and are just used to the American standards of the room costs x. Got it

Hi, Like all the others above, I say... don't do this. At check in you fill out a form, be it in France, England, Germany, etc. Maybe all 5 of you will fill out this form and the passports are collected for some period of time. In all the places I've stayed at from small hotels, B&Bs, Pensionen to a 3 star hotel, the front desk will see who is in your party. You cannot avoid being seen by the front desk. I wouldn't want to deal with the legal complications that could arise, let alone getting caught. This is one of the practices that you don't do over there. Example... If the hotel/Pension puts a party of two in a triple, (I've seen this in Berlin) fine...a party of three in a triple ....fine. But, if the guest puts in a fourth person without informing the hotel/Pension....well, don't do it. And it's just not done.

@Yolanda not sure which countries you are visiting but a couple of things to know about rooms in Europe. You say you know about small rooms. Do hope that is the case as the majority are smaller, sometimes significantly. A Motel 6 room cut in half is how I would describe it. Double beds are often two single beds combined. Always ask if the room is ensuite which assures you that the toilet, etc. is in your room and not down the hall. Showers often are only hand held mechanisms, not wall mounted. Many rooms will have bidets so expect the kids to ask "what this?" Unlike our hotel windows with security latches, screens and occasional bars, many places have windows that simply open. Lovely to let air in but if children like to climb. You get my drift. It's Europe. A different way of life.

Yvonda,, did you tell your children you planned on lieing and sneaking one in,, nice... I also had a family of five. And we wanted to do Europe too. But we knew that meant 5 full airfares, and renting a bigger car, and most often needing two rooms. We realized that added up to alot of vacation money at once. We decided to handle it differently. I took first child with me when he turned 14. Husband then took next child when he turned 14 , two years later.
Then I took daughter 2 years later when she was 11. All the kids got to have a great trip to Europe.. the money was spread out over 6 years. The one on one time was precious. And yes, we still were able to do family group vacations closer to home. I am frankly not impressed with the example of being dishonest in front of your children. In France the laws are based on fire code occupancy, if you try to sneak someone in, they will kick you all out.

Ps.. unless you are staying in a very large corporate chain type hotel they will see you are sneaking someone in, the lobbys are very small in small hotels, the desk it right there, and you generally have to hand the key in when you leave the room and ask for it on return, so they will clearly see you. It will be VERY difficult if not impossible to do what you propose in a smaller hotel . Adjust your hotel budget or get cheaper hotels, or rent an apartment.

Yvonda,, when we took the kids to Hawaii many years ago we wanted to stay in a hotel we had stayed in pre kids. Our children at the time were 5 months old , 4 and 6 yr olds. We were also under a strict budget and wanted to book the studio room, it had two queens, more then enough room, our baby slept with us and then the other queen bed for two little kids. Hotel would not let us,, they said fire codes only allowed a maximum of four people per room( based on square footage) no matter how young,, so , my point is, even in America you cannot book a room and misrepresent how many people are staying in it. We begged, come on , a 5 month old baby counting a whole person.. but they insisted we had to rent a suite. I am glad you were able to work it out,, it IS harder to travel as a family of five, and Europe is definately harder then North America,, their rental cars are smaller , their standard hotel rooms are smaller ( generally in large cities anyways) etc. The world does seem set up for smaller families.

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