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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?

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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TOURISM

Flights, hotels, beaches: How the cost of travel to Italy is rising this summer

Inflation may now be falling but the price of a summer holiday in Italy has risen again - by up to 20 percent compared to last year.

Flights, hotels, beaches: How the cost of travel to Italy is rising this summer

Italian consumer rights groups said last year that the summer of 2023 would be remembered as “the most expensive ever” for travel. But 2024 has already smashed that record, according to the latest price surveys.

The rising cost of air fares, ferry tickets, hotels, restaurants and beach clubs add up to mean a holiday in Italy will be 15-20 percent more expensive this summer compared to last year, according to a survey conducted by the Assoutenti consumer research centre in June.

While price rises in recent years have been attributed to Covid and rising inflation, which is no longer thought to be a factor, this year Assoutenti said high demand was pushing up prices amid the post-pandemic tourism boom.

Prices in Italy were “out of control as a consequence of the resumption of tourism, after the stop imposed by Covid, and the record number of foreign visitors recorded in the last year,” the survey’s authors wrote, calling on the government to take measures to contain price increases.

READ ALSO: ltaly set for summer tourism boom as bookings increase again

They warned that more Italian families were likely to “give up the summer holidays this year, not being able to face an expense that increases from year to year,” and that those who do travel may book shorter trips to keep costs down.

Some 6.5 million Italians say they won’t be going on holiday this summer at all, with half citing economic difficulties, according to a separate survey commissioned by price comparison website Facile.it.

Meanwhile, there had been a nine percent increase this year in applications for personal loans for travel purposes, the survey found.

Flight prices

One of the biggest factors was the cost of air fares, as both domestic and international flights to and from Italy were found to be more expensive again this year.

While the cost of flights between European countries had fallen slightly following inflation-driven price hikes in 2023, Italy was bucking the trend.

Italy’s flight costs had risen instead, according to recent analysis in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, with the average price of a summer flight between Italy and the rest of Europe up by seven percent and domestic flights by 21 percent.

READ ALSO: Why are flight prices higher in Italy than the rest of Europe this summer?

Industry sources suggest the price increase is again down to unprecedented demand, while consumer groups say the main culprit is a lack of competition on the Italian market.

Transport costs

There were price hikes too for those using other modes of transport, with the rising cost of fuel and motorway tolls in Italy named as another contributing factor in the Assoutenti survey.

Ferry tickets were also more expensive, it found, with the average increase this August at +6.3 percent compared to 2023.

Hotels and B&Bs

For a family of four, the Assoutenti survey found the most expensive place to stay in Italy this summer was Porto Cervo, Sardinia, where the average price of a week’s three-star accommodation in August came to 3,500 euros.

The cheapest options were found to be Bibione, outside Venice (872 euros) and Rapallo in Liguria (909).

READ ALSO: Tourist tax: How much is it increasing in Italy’s cities this year?

The cost of accommodation at coastal destinations had risen by 23 percent on average overall, a separate survey by consumer group Altroconsumo found.

Hotels in cities were found to be a less expensive option, with most Italian families heading for the beach or mountains to escape the heat.

Restaurants

Adding to the overall cost, prices also continued to rise this year at restaurants in holiday resorts and at beach clubs: Assoutenti recorded an average increase for the catering sector of +3.5 percent on 2023.

Beaches

Renting sunbeds and umbrellas at Italy’s beach clubs is seen as a necessity by many Italian families – and often by international visitors too, given the lack of free options in many areas.

This too was becoming more expensive in 2024, with the average daily rate for a slot at one of Italy’s private beach clubs up by more than five percent on last year. Prices had also risen by as much as 11 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Beachgoers can now expect to pay around €30-35 for two sun loungers and a beach umbrella for the day on average, though prices can rise as high as €90 in Salento and €120 in parts of Sardinia.

Both private and free-access beaches in Italy also increasingly require advance booking due to higher demand.

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