Do all hotels require your passport in Italy?
Jul 5th, 2007, 07:56 AM
#1
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Do all hotels require your passport in Italy?
I've read a few threads about this...I don't like the idea of leaving my passport at the hotel. A copy is fine, but not my original passport..
Jul 5th, 2007, 08:05 AM
#2
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An Italian hotel has no legal right to keep your passport overnight.
They need your passport in order to complete a registration document for the police, but this only takes a couple of minutes.
Many hotels like to keep the passport overnight as security, so that guests won't run off in the morning without paying. A copy would be of no use for this. If a hotel wants your passport as security, you can offer to pay for the room in advance. I don't have a problem leaving my passport overnight, but whenever I've asked for my passport, the hotel has returned it to me.
They need your passport in order to complete a registration document for the police, but this only takes a couple of minutes.
Many hotels like to keep the passport overnight as security, so that guests won't run off in the morning without paying. A copy would be of no use for this. If a hotel wants your passport as security, you can offer to pay for the room in advance. I don't have a problem leaving my passport overnight, but whenever I've asked for my passport, the hotel has returned it to me.
Jul 5th, 2007, 08:28 AM
#3
In five trips and a dozen or so different hotels in Italy, I've always given them my passport at check-in, and if I don't get it back right then and there after they look at it, I get it back after I've gone up to my room to settle in and change -- they give it back as I'm heading out to sightsee. I've never not had it back within an hour or so.
It's my understanding that hotels have to report your stay with them to the local police, not that they're holding your passport as hostage until you pay up.
It's my understanding that hotels have to report your stay with them to the local police, not that they're holding your passport as hostage until you pay up.
Jul 5th, 2007, 08:45 AM
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Hi S,
>I don't like the idea of leaving my passport at the hotel.
It's highly unlikely that they will want your passport for more than 1 hr.
If you don't trust your hotel to keep your passport overnight, why would you teust them with your luggage when you are out of the room?
>I don't like the idea of leaving my passport at the hotel.
It's highly unlikely that they will want your passport for more than 1 hr.
If you don't trust your hotel to keep your passport overnight, why would you teust them with your luggage when you are out of the room?
Jul 5th, 2007, 10:30 AM
#5
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It's not the hotel that wants your passport - it the Italian government. The hotel is using the passport to register you with the local police - and you have no choice in the matter. (And no - a copy is not acceptable for this.)
That said - you don;t have to leave it with them forever - you can get it back in a couple of hours once they're done the paperwork.
That said - you don;t have to leave it with them forever - you can get it back in a couple of hours once they're done the paperwork.
Jul 5th, 2007, 10:46 AM
#6
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We just came back from Italy and stayed at 5 different hotels. 4 out of 5 asked us to leave the passport for a short time (10 min. to 1 hour) so they could do the paperwork. We got the passports back as soon as we asked, usually within one hour.
Jul 5th, 2007, 11:49 AM
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Hello nswisschocolate, as others have said the hotels in Italy are required by law to register their hotel guest with the local police department and the information has to be taken from the original passport. I have lost count of the amount of hotels I have stayed at in Italy over the decades and not once have I ever had a problem.
I have a good Italian friend in Italy who use to be the night manager of a hotel. Their hotel (a small one) completed the form for the PD somewhere around 10:00pm at night. My experience has been that various hotels keep the guest passports for various lengths of time depending on their schedule and how many employees for the office work they employee.
You will have to turn over your original passport when registering to stay at a hotel in Italy.
BTW, when staying at the hotel my friend use to be the night manager of had the police contact him one day as a guest (checked out of the hotel that morning) was wanted throughout Europe on a murder charge. Yikes!!
I have a good Italian friend in Italy who use to be the night manager of a hotel. Their hotel (a small one) completed the form for the PD somewhere around 10:00pm at night. My experience has been that various hotels keep the guest passports for various lengths of time depending on their schedule and how many employees for the office work they employee.
You will have to turn over your original passport when registering to stay at a hotel in Italy.
BTW, when staying at the hotel my friend use to be the night manager of had the police contact him one day as a guest (checked out of the hotel that morning) was wanted throughout Europe on a murder charge. Yikes!!
Aug 8th, 2011, 09:38 AM
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Americans are not the only ones who are reluctant to leave passports with hotel staff. As Canadians we are too, and for good reasons. The Government of Canada passport website instructs us this way:
"A passport is a valuable document. Protect it at all times. Do not leave it unattended in your baggage, automobile, hotel room or elsewhere. Keep it with you at all times, such as in your inside coat pocket, purse, or money belt. Carry your passport with you in a money belt or lock it in your hotel safe. In some countries, you may have to surrender your passport to a foreign government official or a hotel/hostel employee. If you don't get it back in a reasonable time, inform the nearest Government of Canada office abroad."
The question is, what is a "reasonable time" for the purposes of registration?
In our recent trip to Italy, we rarely had to wait more than 20 minutes for our passports to be returned, but I think we were completely right to become frustrated when one hotel took 4 hours after we repeatedly asked for them to be returned. It was a situation when we were starving and really needed to go out for supper.
It is not acceptable for a hotel to hold our passport hostage while we go out for the evening, where we might need it in an emergency.
European hotels should definitely be efficient and should never have to keep for the evening much less overnight -- it's 2011 now! Technology for copying should be at hand! As a hotel, they should have access to a photocopy machine or a scanner or even take a digital photo of our passport info.
"A passport is a valuable document. Protect it at all times. Do not leave it unattended in your baggage, automobile, hotel room or elsewhere. Keep it with you at all times, such as in your inside coat pocket, purse, or money belt. Carry your passport with you in a money belt or lock it in your hotel safe. In some countries, you may have to surrender your passport to a foreign government official or a hotel/hostel employee. If you don't get it back in a reasonable time, inform the nearest Government of Canada office abroad."
The question is, what is a "reasonable time" for the purposes of registration?
In our recent trip to Italy, we rarely had to wait more than 20 minutes for our passports to be returned, but I think we were completely right to become frustrated when one hotel took 4 hours after we repeatedly asked for them to be returned. It was a situation when we were starving and really needed to go out for supper.
It is not acceptable for a hotel to hold our passport hostage while we go out for the evening, where we might need it in an emergency.
European hotels should definitely be efficient and should never have to keep for the evening much less overnight -- it's 2011 now! Technology for copying should be at hand! As a hotel, they should have access to a photocopy machine or a scanner or even take a digital photo of our passport info.
Aug 8th, 2011, 10:16 AM
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Hi T,
>It is not acceptable for a hotel to hold our passport hostage while we go out for the evening, where we might need it in an emergency. <
That's why it is a good idea to make a copy of your PP.
>It is not acceptable for a hotel to hold our passport hostage while we go out for the evening, where we might need it in an emergency. <
That's why it is a good idea to make a copy of your PP.
Aug 8th, 2011, 10:32 AM
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Has anyone ever heard of an European hotel losing, keeping or
highjacking a passport?
I've been going to Europe since 1960 and my passport has been
surrendered to many hotels and it's been returned without fail.
highjacking a passport?
I've been going to Europe since 1960 and my passport has been
surrendered to many hotels and it's been returned without fail.
Aug 8th, 2011, 10:36 AM
#11
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As a European who resides in one of the many EU countries where ID is mandatory, I would not think about leaving my ID documents (ID cards are more common in Continental EU for intra-EU travels than "real" passports) for more than the odd minute or two it needs to photocopy the document with a hotel employee.
This is standard procedure in Belgium, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands or Poland that they copy ID while they check you in.
No reason why an Italian hotelier thinks he needs 4 hours to make a photocopy.
If you feel uncomfortable, just tell them at check-in that they have a minute to make a photocopy, and then have them hand back the passport.
This is standard procedure in Belgium, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands or Poland that they copy ID while they check you in.
No reason why an Italian hotelier thinks he needs 4 hours to make a photocopy.
If you feel uncomfortable, just tell them at check-in that they have a minute to make a photocopy, and then have them hand back the passport.
Aug 8th, 2011, 10:59 AM
#12
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If you've been at a hotel before, they will have your data and will see this on their computer system as you check in. Then they will not need to review your passport. That happened to us this summer when returned to a hotel in Padova where we had stayed a few years ago. Otherwise, like other posters, we've typically had the passports returned in the time it takes to get the luggage to the room. Never a problem.
Aug 8th, 2011, 12:01 PM
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I have always had to provide the real passport when I check into a hotel in Italy.
When I got my passport back was different depending on the premises. Large business hotels with many staffs and a copier at the desk area almost always made a copy and immediately gave back the passport. On the other hand, at family run inns with owners available only when the guests were expected tended to keep the passport longer especially when there were several people checking-in/out at the same time or the owner/receptionist/reservationist had to attend phone calls.
When I got my passport back was different depending on the premises. Large business hotels with many staffs and a copier at the desk area almost always made a copy and immediately gave back the passport. On the other hand, at family run inns with owners available only when the guests were expected tended to keep the passport longer especially when there were several people checking-in/out at the same time or the owner/receptionist/reservationist had to attend phone calls.
