Guest registration across Europe: a country-by-country map
Wherever you operate in Europe, the same quiet obligation follows every guest: you have to establish who they are and report their stay to the authorities. What makes it hard is not the idea. It is that every country does it its own way, with its own system, its own data set and its own deadline.
Here is a practical map of how guest registration works across several European markets, and where it is all heading next.
Why this exists
Guest registration rules are security and record-keeping measures. National authorities want to know who is staying where, and they place the duty to collect and report that information on the accommodation provider. The penalties for getting it wrong sit with the operator, not the guest or the booking platform.
A country-by-country snapshot
Rules change often, so treat this as orientation rather than legal advice, and always confirm the current requirements locally.
Netherlands - Nachtregister
Accommodation providers must keep a guest register (nachtregister), an obligation rooted in the Dutch Criminal Code and reinforced at municipal level. It records the guest's name and place of residence, arrival and departure dates, and number of nights. It applies broadly: hotels, B&Bs, holiday parks, campsites and short-stay alike.
Spain - SES.Hospedajes
Spain has gone furthest. Under Royal Decree 933/2021, enforceable since December 2024, operators report a large data set, including payment details, to the Ministry of the Interior through SES.Hospedajes, within 24 hours of check-in, with fines reaching 30,000 euros. We cover this in detail in Spain's SES.Hospedajes, explained.
Italy - Alloggiati Web
Operators report guest data to the local police (Questura) through the Alloggiati Web portal, typically within 24 hours of arrival (and faster for very short stays), and since 2025 every property also needs a national CIN code. We cover both in Italy's Alloggiati Web and the new CIN code.
Portugal - accommodation bulletin
Accommodation providers submit a guest bulletin for each stay to the national authority responsible for borders and immigration. The system and the body behind it have changed in recent years, but the duty to report each guest remains.
France - foreign guest records
Hotels and similar accommodation must complete an individual record for non-EU guests, which is made available to the authorities. The exact form and handling differ from the Spanish or Italian model, which is precisely the point.
Germany - Meldeschein
Guests complete a registration form (Meldeschein) at check-in, which the accommodation keeps on file for a set period and makes available to the authorities on request.
The common thread
Read those back to back and the pattern is obvious. Every market asks for the same chain of work, establish identity, register the stay, do it on time, but through a different system, a different data set and a different deadline. For an operator with properties in more than one country, that is not one compliance task. It is several, each with its own way to slip up.
What is changing: the EU identity wallet
On top of this fragmented picture, a continent-wide shift is arriving. Under eIDAS 2.0, every EU member state has to offer a digital identity wallet, and the way guests prove who they are is set to change across the board. We unpack what that means for hospitality in eIDAS 2.0 and the EU identity wallet.
The operators who adopt a compliance-native approach now will be ready for that shift. The systems that treated registration as an afterthought will be rebuilding.
One flow, every set of rules
This is the problem Guest OS is built for. Instead of a separate manual process per country, it is designed to handle identity, legal registration and access as one automated flow, mapped to each market's own requirements. Start with the regulation, and the cross-border complexity becomes something the software carries, not your front desk.
If you run accommodation across more than one European market, we would like to talk.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Guest registration rules vary by country and municipality and change over time. Verify the current requirements for your situation with an official source or a qualified advisor.