showing passports when checking in to hotel

If I've ever had to do it, I've only shown mine, not my daughters.

This may vary by country. In Italy when I checked into a hotel, I was required to show my wife's passport in addition to mine. I do not have experience with traveling in Europe with children.

We have had to show only the passport of the person named in the reservation or the passports of both adults and even a couple of times the passports for all four or us. I know that I have had to show all four in Spain, France, Croatia and Italy but not at every hotel and I do not really care about that so I have not been paying attention to which specific hotels asked for the passports and which did not.

Presumably your daughter will be travelling with you therefore it will be in her/your possession. Is there any other reason for your query? Do you not want to show her passport?

According to the Schengen Area rules, hotels are supposed to record passport details of all foreigners. Whether they stick to the letter of the law and ask for all passports, or just the person who made the booking, is up to the hotel.

As JC says, why would you object to showing your daughter's passport? Depending on her age, you may need to show it at other times, to prove she is under 18 to get entrance fee discounts, or to prove she is over 18 to buy alcohol.

thanks for the responses. i'm specifically wondering if it will matter what age my daughter is. some hotels will only allow you to book a room for 3 people if the 3rd person is under 18. she will have just turned 18 1 month before we're there. she's 17 at booking but will be 18 at the check in date. obviously the 3 of us want to share 1 hotel room. I just wondered if that will be a problem or if the hotel will ask us to book another room. even though the room has 1 double bed and 1 twin.... plenty of space for 3 people.

I guess I do not ever recall having a problem booking a Triple room and being asked the ages of those in the room. If the issue is you are trying to book a Double, indicating the third is a child, expecting no additional cost, then yes, you may have a problem. If you want to stay in one room, just ask for a triple.

If you use Booking.com to search for rooms, you'll see that the age for children stops at 17. Adults start at age 18. The timing is the "Age of child at check-out," not at reservation. If you put in 3 adults, you automatically get listings of rooms for 3 people. Doing a little test for one April night in Amsterdam for 3 adults, there are hotel rooms with 3 twin beds as well as with 1 queen and a twin at reasonable (for Amsterdam) prices.

I don't know the rules on this in the Netherlands,
but they are often based in safety considerations. I wouldn't try to get around them. You could be denied the room at check in or be kicked out, with no refund possible in either case.

No one asked us for our passports last year. A smaller hotel might request to see them but you might contact them to ask ahead of time and be prepared; would not worry about it. People are more security conscious these days; your daughter is not a young child.
Posters are giving good advice when requesting a triple room - it will work well for you.

Thanks for all of the info. We aren't trying to not pay for our child who will be 18, we just want to ensure that we'll be able to share one room rather than having to get 2. Some of the booking sites are unclear. It will say room is for 3, but will also say 1 double bed or 2 twins. And some hotels don't allow you to have 3 people in the room unless 1 is a child even though there are 3 beds. Just much different than booking a hotel in the States.

Thanks!!

Myra, yes it is different over there. Some countries have laws and regulations regarding hotel rooms, and how many people can be in them. Hotels can be required by law to charge by persons not by the room. So its not exactly arbitrary and capricious. Some countries, states and cities have rules requiring reporting names and passport numbers, for tax purposes, and for preventing things like human trafficking. We are used to using our state-issued drivers licenses for legal identification purposes. Thats not true over there.

"And some hotels don't allow you to have 3 people in the room unless 1 is a child even though there are 3 beds."

When you see the size of some of the rooms, and the size of some of the beds, you'll understand.

As said above, you are right, it is different from the US. You should contact the hotel directly by email and ask. As also said above, you don't want a problem at check in; get it figured out now. If they say you absolutely need two rooms at their hotel, you will want to know this now, so you can find another hotel with "a room for three adults." And if you are looking for another hotel, that's the best phrase to use, since there's no ambiguity.

Thanks again for the additional replies. I appreciate all of the help her on the forum!! We’re traveling with another family which is making it a bit difficult to agree on hotels. But this info is exactly what I was looking for!!
Thanks!!