hotel requiring rapid test at checkin

Em, I have a US friend now traveling in Portugal (for the last 10 days). She sent me this note:

You must present a negative test (within 72 hours) or your CDC vaccine
card to check in to hotels and for all restaurants/bars/museums/etc on
the weekends. So far only one hotel out of five has said our CDC cards
were not accepted and had us take a rapid antigen test on the spot
(for 2 EUR pp).

So it appears the "check-in" requirements do vary from hotel-to-hotel, based on their interpretation of a USA CDC Vaccination card. Go idea to plan ahead. Good Luck!

Em, I agree. If it is easy for you to get the test, I would bring them just in case. While the hotel didn't mention this, they may have kits too available for a nominal price. Great idea to plan ahead.

I'm wondering if a US Binax kit will be accepted? Or will they prefer a different kind of test available in the EU? I'm a little worried because the EU has different standards, and I wonder if our US tests meet them? Thanks for the info!

Hi,
I'd bring a couple of the test kits just in case. That's what we did, even though we ended up not using them. But since they are inexpensive, why not. I went ahead and included a link to an article by "The Points Guy" that speaks about his experience which included bringing binax test kits for hotel check-in etc.
He has a couple additional articles related to his trip that I think might be helpful.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/portugal-opening-questions-answers/

Boy, if the test at the front desk only cost €2, I’d gladly pay that, rather than toting around extra personal test kits. But how can you be sure what the cost of the tests is going to be? And will the hotel accept a test a customer has brought with them, over the @srandard” test they’re used to seeing from every local pharmacy?

Based on another post up thread, will a CDC vaccination card be accepted, eliminating the need for a rapid test? Or does your hotel require the test, regardless of vaccination documentation? Can you confirm with the hotel that a Binax test kit you’ve brought from hone is sufficient?

Cyn, my understanding is that Portugal requires a rapid negative test on the weekends from 7 p.m. through Sunday evening for restaurants. It isn't something you can bypass with the CDC card. We had to do this twice for restaurants when we there in August and it wasn't a big deal. One restaurant charged us a couple euros and one had it free (Time Out Market).

This site has some helpful details explaining more: https://www.visitportugal.com/en/content/covid-19-measures-implemented-portugal

You do raise a great point about seeing if the hotel would accept the Binax now test or if it has to be local. Our accommodations didn't ask for it when we there, so that is harder to answer.

Hey there everyone! We're also trying to figure out the COVID protocols and the best way to do things. We were thinking about getting rapid antigen tests done at pharmacies (which would be good for 48hrs). But it sounds like some on this thread recommend doing the instant kind of test at the door of restaurants/hotels. My understanding is that those are only valid for that one instance? (i.e. you if did one a a restaurant for dinner, then wanted to do to a different bar you would need to do another test). Does anyone else know if that would be true?

Just back from Lisbon and Porto. I'm sure places would accept the cheap Binax tests, but tests seemed readily available and in some places there were tests available right there. All around Lisbon there were mobile sites set up for testing, and pharmacies are everywhere. Probably a fine idea to bring a few Binax kits if you can find them here in the US. If not, don't sweat it too much. Portugal seems to be handling this all really well and is just going with the flow. Seemed easy to get tested if needed, but we never needed to get one other than for our return to the US.

This is great info and very reassuring, thank you all! We are so excited to be going to Portugal, and a bit part of the reason that we excited and not stressed is because of the great community here and all the information that is being shared. Thanks!