Hi there,
My husband and I will be visiting the Amalfi Coast late September. We booked and Airbnb.
In their welcome letter they said that for privacy compliance they will take a copy of our passport to the local travel agency and the police dept.
is this normal.
I’ve not heard anyone else doing that so far.
Thanks
Yes, it's completely normal. Hotels make copies of guest passports upon check-in as well; every hotel we've stayed at in Italy has done so, and I believe it's required by law for all accommodations.
I'm not really sure why they would have to take a copy to the local travel agency, however. Unless someone else here knows the reason, I might question that one?
All of my apartment hosts have requested passport information. Some request a copy, some take a picture with their phone, and others fill out the police form and hand it back. Technically all visitors are required to register at the local police station, but apartment hosts (and hotels) do this on your behalf. Note that the information isn't actually needed until you arrive to check into your apartment.
Take it as a good thing - your host is following the country's housing laws.
Hotels and alternate lodgings require a copy of your passport to register you with the officials.
Your passport is the only official identification that a tourist will have in Europe. Your American driver's license is useless for this. So, you will need to become more comfortable with handing it over, or sending a photo of it, or a scan.
Completely routine for Italy. We have two AirBnb bookings (Verona & Trieste) and in each case the AirBnb host took photos of our passports. (We came prepared with scans and sent images via WhatsApp, which the hosts seem to prefer.)
No host in any of our France or Spain stays (or London) asked for this — only Italy. BTW, Italy also has a per diem/per person tax that the host will collect (in cash) when you check in.
All hotels and rentals in Italy require this.
Perfectly normal. Although I'm not sure why the travel agency is involved. Mis-communication or mis-translation? Not sure of GDPR there.
The translation must be a little off (they wouldn't actually TAKE a copy of your passport anywhere), but they are required to record information about all guests, including passport info. Perfectly normal.
Maybe the apartment owner doesn't live in Sorrento and uses a local travel agency to meet and check-in guests, so they're the ones who will actually complete the required information form and forward it to the police. Lots of rental apartments have property managers that act on behalf of owners.
Hotels usually do it as they are required to do so by the police in Italy.
I do not know why they go to the travel agency.
Absolutely. A frequent question here along with send cc number via email. All standard and relatively safe. And you have little choice.
I just posted the same question!
We just booked for Rome and yep, same thing was asked of us. I guess it's the normal procedure!
It is an antiterrorism law since the eighties: everybody giving accommodation to someone must check his/her identity against a valid ID and register him/her within 24 hours with the police. We suppose that most registrations are simply filed and never studied again. But as you even accept to remove your shoes for antiterrorism purposes, I do not see why you can't show your passport.
@keri, our hosts in Spain did. May depend somewhat on how it is registered.
Yes. It’s the law. Art. 109 of the TULPS (Testo Unico Legge Pubblica Sicurezza=Uniform Public Security Law) which requires operators of hotels, vacation homes, etc. to communicate guests’ info (copies of passport or similar ID) to the police authorities within 24 hr from their arrival.
If your host doesn’t comply with the law he/she will incur a fine of 206€ and a prison term of up to 3 months in jail, therefore your cooperation will be deeply appreciated by the owner of your AirBnB.
(This art. 109 was modified many times over the years, most recently this past year, but actually it originally dates back to long before the terrorism years of the 1980s. It was first introduced by a Royal decree in June 1931 by the Mussolini administration).
I traveled extensively in Europe in the early 1970s. Virtually everyplace I stayed required me to show my passport. Often, the desk clerk would take it from me and return it later in the evening or the next day. Paris was extremely vigilant.
On an overnight train trip from Venice to Paris in 2013, the porter on the train collected the passports from all the passengers and returned them the next morning. SOP
It's a booklet with your name, DOB, and some other information. Its intrinsic value is just to identify you. Make a color photocopy of the page with your picture on it and put that into your bag so in the event that it is lost, you can easily get a replacement at an embassy or consulate. .
Yes, every visitor needs to be registered with the Questura Police Department (immigration). Tourists are registered by the hotel or lodging accommodations.
Yep, same request from our Air BNB. I was planning to make a few extra copies to just hand them. Scanning and sending via whatsapp sounds good also.
