Turning your passport over to a hotel clerk?

Many countries require that the passport data of all visitors be registered where they stay....that information is then turned over to police. It's not much in use any more, but you will find they'll ask for your passport in France and Italy. If you refuse to give it to them, you can't stay there. Don't sweat it....they'll either copy the info down right away, or if it's really busy, do it later then get it back to you.

It is now European Union (EU) law that all hotels/hostels/even agritourismos must copy your passport info. Most of the time they don't take it, they just simply take it to a copier and make a photocopy of it, which is how they register you. They no longer need to keep it overnight.

I have spent 84 nights in Germany this century, and no one at a hotel has ever even asked to see my passport, let alone copy it or write down information.

Hi, Maggie - like Lee in Denver I have spent a lot of time in Europe and have not been asked for my passport at a hotel in recent years. Like you, I would be really nervous if I had to give it up. I think by the time they've verified your credit card they already have all the info they need.

I just spent three weeks in France, Italy (mostly) and Switzerland. We stayed in 6 different hotels and all of them in France and Italy asked for them. Sometimes they only wanted a passport from one of us. Usually, we had to leave them for a little while and pick them up later.

Maggie, if you use an Internet Cafe in Italy, you'll also have to provide your Passport. I've used my Driver's License for this on a couple of occasions, but some Cafes insist on a Passport (they said "this is the law").

Cheers!

For some reason Americans (don't know about our Canadian friends) seem to be very hung up on giving up the passport which has little critical information but will hand a credit card to a total stranger (a waiter) and let them keep it for several minutes out of sight. That is a much greater risk. Fifteen years ago it was common to keep the passport over night but now it is more common to take it for a hour or so or make a photo copy and return quickly. We were on a cruise last year when the cruise ship took the passport when we boarded and returned it 14 days later when we left the ship. That has never happened before. In all of those years and nearly 300 days of travel we have never had a problem with giving up our passport for a period of time. It is not a big deal.

Lots and lots of countries require you to present a passport/id when checking in. Even in London I have had to present a passport when checking in. The times they haven't asked for one is when I return to the same hotel time and time again and they already have my information on file.

Obviously some places don't ask for it - but go prepared to hand the passport over. In E. Europe most small hotels don't take credit cards and normally don't take cash up front. In this case they will normally hold onto the passport till you are checking out.

I don't think you have to worry about id theft since your SSN is not on the passport. Even your address is not on your passport unless you write it in. I would be more worried about writing your full address on luggage tags.

I just back from a month in Spain, Portugal and France and was asked for my passport at every hotel. If someone is going to misuse the information on the passport they can do it with or without the original so I don't worry about letting them keep it for a couple of hours if they want to.

Nobody is going to steal your identity, relax! :-)

For good measure you should tuck a few copies of your passport away in your luggage/backpack anyways.

Here is the deal:
Europeans, and visiting foreigners are required to register their residency, even be it for a night.
In America I constantly had to show my drivers-license for ID, in Europe it's the passport:
almost all Europeans have a passport (but few have driver licenses),
so, it simply is the ID of choice, especially for foreigners visiting. It's really nothing to worry about!

I know that only about 24% of Americans own a passport, so I can understand why it would be upsetting to you to have to hand it over -
but!!!!!!!!!!!
These days,
as already posted,
it involves no more than getting it copied, or knowing your passport number, and filling it in on your guest registration form the next morning over coffee and crisp rolls/croissants :-))

I have my passport number written down in my journal, for just such occasions.
Granted, I am European - but I haven't been asked to actually hand over, never mind show, my passport at reception, for YEARS!

Enjoy Europe, everything is very relaxed here - we have open borders AND open hearts.
So come on over :-))

I've never had a problem with it. They are required to record your information and report it to police. It's routine for them so they don't think anything about it.

If you are uncomfortable, you can ask if you can wait for them to copy down information so you don't accidentally forget your passport. They may think you're strange (hopefully not suspicious) but will probably oblige if there aren't people waiting behind you.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, much appreciated.

Cheers,
Maggie