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TOURISM

Is it legal for hotels and Airbnb owners in Italy to take a photo or scan your ID?

Hotels and B&Bs in Italy usually ask guests to provide a passport or ID card when checking in. But can they actually take a photo or scan them?

Published: 13 March 2024 16:44 CET
Updated: 17 March 2024 08:20 CET
A closeup shot of a hotel room key
A closeup shot of a hotel room key. Photo by Fernando Santander on Unsplash

If you’ve ever stayed at hotels or Airbnbs in Italy, you will be aware that receptionists and hosts usually ask either for your passport or another type of ID card when you check in to your accommodation. 

If you’re wondering why this is done, there is a legal requirement for accommodation owners in Italy – from hotels to B&Bs to holiday homes – to collect their guests’ details (usually full name, date of birth, nationality and passport or ID card number).

It is practically impossible to stay in any sort of Italian accommodation without presenting a valid form of ID. 

Article 109 of Italy’s Single Text of Public Safety Laws (TULPS) states that the “managers of hotel businesses and other reception structures […] can provide accommodation exclusively to people with an ID card or other document proving their identity”.

The article also specifies that the collected data must be sent to the relevant local police authorities within 24 hours of the guests’ arrival.

Any host or hotel manager who breaches the requirement faces up to three months in jail and a fine of 206 Euros per violation.

READ ALSO: What is Italy’s ‘tourist tax’ and where do you need to pay it?

But while accommodation establishments in Italy are actually obliged by law to collect their guests’ details, is it legal for receptionists or hosts to do so by scanning or photocopying your ID?

Though this is as legitimate a question as a guest could ever ask – after all, passport or national ID cards contain information that, if in the wrong hands, could be used for phishing scams or identity fraud – Italian law doesn’t address it directly.

However, Article 109 states that displaying your passport or other ID document is “enough” for the accommodation establishment to gather your data.

This means that hotel managers or hosts are not actually legally authorised to make copies or take photos of your identity documents. 

In other words, a guest is not required to have their ID document photocopied, scanned or captured in any other way as their only requirement is to show the document and allow the accommodation manager to note its details.

What can I do to protect my data?

Scanning or photocopying ID documents is something that many accommodation structures around Italy do just to avoid keeping guests waiting as they note down their personal data.

But there are several steps you can take in order to avoid that.

If you’re checking in in person and your hotel asks to photocopy or scan your ID card, you can remind them that this isn’t actually a legal requirement and ask them to just note down the relevant data instead.

If you’re doing a self-check-in and your accommodation provider is asking for a photo of your ID, you can give them the necessary details instead of an actual photo. Remember to only submit your data via secure platforms and check that the web page has a padlock symbol or green bar to indicate it’s secure.

If you are asked to send a photo of your ID by an apartment host via WhatsApp or text message you can either send them the information that’s necessary or arrange a quick in-person meeting for the host to collect the details.

As a final note, if you’ve discovered that your accommodation website or messaging service has been hacked, it’s important to report the incident to the local police so that they’re aware that someone else could be using your identity.

Member comments

  1. Tried to book tickets online for Scrovegni Chapel and they make you jump through hoops to purchase the ticket. They require heaps of personal information, date of birth, where you are born, etc. as well as passport number. I refused to purchase the tickets, as I am concerned about their site being hacked. Why is so much information required to purchase two tickets to a chapel?

  2. I rent out a holiday apartment and generally take a photo of guests’ IDs, so I can hand them back immediately and don’t waste their time on arrival, as noting down all the information (e.g. for 8 people) required not only for the police, but also for the regional tourist statistics data bank would take quite a bit of time. Noone has minded up to now.

  3. I find this article a trifle paranoid. Hotels (and Airbnb hosts) take photos or scans as a time-saving courtesy to their guests; otherwise, the guests must wait for the hotel clerk or host to write down all the passport data, which can take a lot of time when it’s a large family or group checking in. There are many Internet-related privacy and phishing threats to be alert about, but I truly don’t think this is one of them.

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For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Carta d’identità: Can I use my Italian ID card for travel?

The carta d'identità is an official identification document attesting to your status as an Italy resident - but can it be used as a travel document?

Published: 20 May 2024 10:29 CEST
Carta d'identità: Can I use my Italian ID card for travel?

Travel within the EU’s Schengen zone is usually a fairly slick business with reduced or no checks as you cross borders – but that doesn’t mean that you can leave your passport at home.

So integrated is the Schengen Area that if you’re travelling by car or train you may not even notice that you’ve crossed a border and entered another country until you start to see signs in a different language – and that’s the intention of the zone of free movement, created in 1995.

But while EU/EEA citizens can move freely within the zone, it’s a different story for non-EU/EEA citizens.

The rules

Borders between countries in the EU/Schengen area still exist and in order to cross an international border you will need a valid travel document – for EU citizens this can be a national ID card (issued by their own country), but for non-EU citizens that means a passport.

Although both Italian citizens and foreign residents of Italy are issued with a carta d’identità, if you look at the small print on your card as a non-Italian citizen, you’ll notice that it says ‘non valida per l’espatrio’, meaning ‘not valid for travel outside Italy’.

READ ALSO: How will the new app for Europe’s EES border system work?

If you try to cross a border without a valid passport you can be turned back.

While the carta d’identità is your Italian ID document, it doesn’t act as proof of your right to live in Italy and to re-enter the country in the way that a carta di soggiorno, or residency permit card, does.

Passengers wait to board a Ryanair flight at Treviso’s Antonio Canova airport on March 17, 2024. Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP.

It’s a good idea, then, to always have the latter with you when travelling abroad. If you travel without it, you may have your passport stamped as a visitor when you re-enter Italy.

READ ALSO: Can you travel abroad while waiting for an Italian residency permit renewal?

In theory, UK citizens who were legally resident in Italy before Brexit are not required to apply for the carta di soggiorno elettronica provided they can provide alternative proof of their status; in practice, many Brits report having their passports stamped when trying to re-enter Italy without one.

If your passport is stamped in error this may cause delays and questions when you next cross a border, but you cannot be penalised or denied entry provided you can show a valid carta di soggiorno.

On the ground 

As is often the case, there’s a difference between what the rule book says and what happens on the ground, and this is particularly apparent for travel within the Schengen area.

In practice, it’s common to cross a border with no checks at all – although things tend to be stricter if you are travelling by plane.

Cars and trains often pass through with no checks, or with checks when guards will happily accept a carta d’identità or even a carta di soggiorno.

However checks do happen – sometimes this is in response to a security alert, for example after a terror attack, but sometimes it’s random or when the border police are training their new recruits. We regret to say that there is often an element of racial profiling, so travellers of colour are more likely to be asked to produce their travel documents.

Cars can be pulled over at border checkpoints while if you’re travelling by train, police will often board the train close to the border and check passengers.

If you are asked, you will need to show your passport – so don’t forget to take it with you when travelling within the EU and Schengen zone.

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