I usually book most of my stays through Booking.com and have had little complaints; however recently while booking a place in Genoa the owners requested me to upload my picture, give details about my passport including my document number and oddly ask for us to leave 3 euros per person, per day on the table when we leave, claiming it as a "tourist tax". Thoughts please.
Posted by
6623 posts
That’s because they were following the law, all totally normal practice to register you and pay tourist tax.
Posted by
Singapore
1129 posts
Nothing odd about it, it's a legal requirement - they have to submit images of your passport to the authorities when they register you, and tourist tax is also charged.
This link is helpful:
https://www.italy-villas.com/to-italy/2024/travel-tips/guide-to-tourist-tax
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
17486 posts
They have to upload your passport data on the Police Headquarters’ portal within 24 hours from check in. So they do it ahead of time to save time. That is a law requirement for all hotels, vacation homes, hostels, campgrounds, etc.
The tourist tax varies from municipality to municipality (some don’t have it, many do), and I checked the one for the Municipality of Genoa and for vacation homes it is in fact 3€ per person. Florence charges twice as much, in case you are venturing there.
https://www.comune.genova.it/servizi/tributi-finanze-e-contravvenzioni/imposta-di-soggiorno-ids
Some accommodations, especially mom and pop’s apartments, prefer to be paid in cash for that tax, because the tax is due to the city in full, while if you pay with a card, the landlord has to pay a commission to the credit card. Many hotels simply charge you more for the room to cover the cost of the commission on the tax paid by card, but I guess some less sophisticated landlords haven’t figured that out yet.
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
854 posts
My experience was that smaller places like b&bs, especially ones with some type of self check-in and/or check out, asked to have the information uploaded electronically and asked to have the tourist tax left in cash whereas larger hotels with a regular reception desk and means for processing credit cards, added the tax to the total bill. If you look closely at the reservation confirmation it probably says something like "tourist tax collected by the property," or from booking.com it may say something like "there may be other taxes and fees." (I didn't see Roberto's response until I had posted mine.)