Guest registration rules for hotels and rentals, country by country

Rules on registering guests change often and depend on your property type, so treat this as a starting point and check with your local authority. We list the official source for each country where one exists. Last checked in October 2026.

At a glance

We found no clear current national rule for hosts in Malaysia, the Philippines or Sri Lanka. Ask your local police or tourism office.

India: Form C

Hotels, guesthouses, homestays and other paid hosts report every foreign guest, including OCI card holders, within 24 hours of arrival and again after departure, on indianfrro.gov.in. Our Form C guide walks through it step by step, and InnRow's Form C helper keeps every detail ready with a countdown to the deadline.

Thailand: TM30

Under section 38 of the Immigration Act, the owner or manager of a hotel, guesthouse, apartment or rental house that takes in a foreigner files form TM30 within 24 hours of the guest's arrival, with the local immigration office (or the police where there is no office), in person, by registered post or online (Thai government). Hosts usually record the guest's name, nationality, passport number, visa type, date of entry and stay dates.

Vietnam: temporary residence declaration

Any place that hosts a foreign guest overnight declares their temporary residence. Under Circular 87/2026/TT-BCA, in force since 24 July 2026, an online declaration is due right after the guest arrives; a paper form (NA17) to the commune police is due within 12 hours, or 24 hours in remote and mountainous areas. The declaration covers name, sex, date of birth, nationality, passport number, visa or residence document and expected stay. Fines under Decree 282/2025 start at VND 2 to 4 million for an individual who fails to declare one to three guests (Viet Nam News).

Indonesia: APOA

Owners and managers of hotels and other places used as lodging must report foreign guests through APOA, the immigration directorate's foreigner reporting application, logging check-in and check-out. Indonesia's immigration directorate reminded lodging operators of the rule in March 2025; the law provides for up to 3 months' detention or a fine of up to IDR 25 million (CNN Indonesia, Antara). Villa and homestay hosts should confirm with their local immigration office how it applies to them.

Spain: SES.HOSPEDAJES

Since 2 December 2024, Royal Decree 933/2021 requires anyone providing lodging, professionally or not, including private holiday-rental hosts, to register with SES.HOSPEDAJES and send every traveller's details: identity document data for guests aged 14 and over, contact details, and booking and payment details. Data is due within 24 hours of the booking, of a cancellation and of the start of the stay. Fines run from €100 for late or wrong data to €30,000 for not reporting at all (Ministry of the Interior FAQ, PDF).

Italy: Alloggiati Web

Hotels, B&Bs, affittacamere and short-term rentals of under 30 days, including private hosts, send every guest's details to the Polizia di Stato on Alloggiati Web within 24 hours of arrival, or within 6 hours for stays of less than a day. Each guest's name, sex, date and place of birth and citizenship are sent; identity document details are sent for the lead guest of a group (Chekin). In 2025 an administrative court annulled a ministry circular that had required guests to be identified in person.

Portugal: SIBA

Anyone paid to host guests, from hotels to alojamento local, sends a boletim de alojamento for every non-Portuguese guest, children included, within 3 working days of check-in and again of check-out, through SIBA. SEF no longer exists; SIBA is now run under the Internal Security System (GuestReady).

Greece

Greece has no separate police guest register for short-term rentals. Hosts file a short-stay declaration with AADE, the tax authority, naming the main booker with their citizenship and passport or tax number, by the 20th of the month after check-out (Your.Rentals).

France: fiche de police

Hotels, chambres d'hôtes, furnished tourist rentals and campsites ask each foreign guest to fill in and sign an individual police form on arrival. The host keeps it, on paper or digitally, and hands it to the police or gendarmerie only when asked (CNIL).

Germany: Meldeschein

Since 1 January 2025, only foreign guests fill in the registration form (Meldeschein) at accommodation businesses; German citizens no longer have to. The host keeps it for 12 months, for inspection by the police and other authorities (Haufe).

United Kingdom

The Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 applies to any premises offering sleeping accommodation for payment. Every guest aged 16 or over gives their full name and nationality; foreign nationals also give their passport number and place of issue and their next destination. The host keeps the record for at least 12 months and shows it to the police on request (legislation.gov.uk).

Keeping guest details ready

Whatever your country asks for, the work is the same: collect ID details at check-in, keep them safely, and send or show them on time. InnRow helps with the first two everywhere:

• ID photos and details for each guest at check-in, taken with the phone camera.
• A digital guest register you can print or download for any dates. See our guest register format.
• In India, a Form C helper with every field grouped for copying and a 24-hour countdown.

InnRow does not send data to SES.HOSPEDAJES, Alloggiati Web, SIBA, TM30 or APOA; you submit on each official portal.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.

Questions people ask