kamaoleman

Staying at a B and B in Rome soon. They told us, "following a recent European law against terrorism, all home holiday and B & B's need to ask for an ID/ Passport of guests to keep for the entire stay?"

What say you???

zoecat

Seems wrong. I would email them for clarification. They should be able to just copy your passport info for their requirements.

kamaoleman

The verbage I used in my posting was an exact quote from them and I took that to mean I had to surrender my passport. I bet you are correct with your point.

J62

Hotels have long asked for passports upon checkin to register guests per regulation. To me this sounds like an extension or reminder of the practice to B&Bs & home stays. Nothing more IMO.

janisj

sometimes they keep the passport for a few minutes, sometimes over night - but it is very common for hotels and B&Bs in Italy to need one's passport. Otherwise, you will have to go to the police and register in person. I assume you'd rather have the landlord do it for you??

slangevar

It´s not a European law... we`ve been to two B&Bs in the past week - one in Amsterdam and one in Lisbon and neither held our passports. They didn´t even look at them in Amsterdam, though they did record the info on the last day of our stay in Portugal.

GeoffHamer

Italian hotels and B&Bs need to see the passport to register guests. They do not need to keep the passport to do this. This has been the law for many years and has nothing to do with terrorism.
Hotels often keep a passport or similar document as security. They have no legal right to do this but, if you refuse, they may ask you to pay in advance.

Jean

We've always had to "surrender" our passports, but we get them back within a few hours or the next morning at the latest. No hotel or B&B has retained our passports through our entire stay, and I wouldn't feel comfortable with that scenario.

stepsbeyond

I say GeoffHamer is right but I also say that English is probably not the first language of the person who wrote that "verbage" as you put it, so I'm not sure reading what to think it means.

kamaoleman

Okay so I went to California schools. VERBIAGE!!!

bratsandbeer

We have only had our passports looked at in a hotel and no one has kept them for hours or a day or longer. I don't recall having them looked at in a b&b anywhere in Europe and we have stayed in many of them.

I would look for a different b&b unless you can find out that this is a new law in Italy. It doesn't seem reasonable to me.

janisj

I have had my passport taken every trip to Italy - not anywhere else (UK, Germany, France etc)

It is not the least bit unusual or new. As has been mentioned - sometimes they only take if for 5 minutes, other times for over night. It is a regulation, and has been for a very long time, that foreign visitors are supposed to register w/ the police. In practice the hotels do it for you.

I <i>think</i> the B&B simply is not that fluent in English and has mis-stated the procedure. If it makes you nervous - just give them a copy of your passport.

StCirq

<<to keep for the entire stay?">>

This is the language I'd be concerned about, and having done a google search, I don't think it's correct, and I searched in Italian, which I read and speak.

Hotels and B&Bs in Italy have since 2006 been required to take your passport info and report it to the local police authorities. Generally you get your passport back within a few minutes or hours of checking in.

I would never turn over my passport for an entire stay at a hotel. I would bring a copy of it and let them have that. But never turn over my actual passport for several days. Uh uh.

kamaoleman

Thank you all very much!

travelgourmet

I would NEVER leave my passport with a hotel or B&B. If a hotel insisted upon keeping it, then I would simply go somewhere else. Simple as that. I've never had to leave my passport for more than the time it takes to copy it or write down the information anywhere in Europe, including Italy.

alihutch

It's very normal in Italy for them to take the passport and give it back the next morning.

Alec

It has been known for some B&Bs and hostels in certain countries to keep your passport if you intend to settle your room charge at the end of your stay. If you pay up first, you will get your passport back. This is to stop people leaving without paying (which some unscrupulous travellers have done in the past). They are often simple places without facilities for taking credit card details, another way of ensuring you pay up.

travelgourmet

<i>It's very normal in Italy for them to take the passport and give it back the next morning.</i>

I've never had this happen in Italy, nor has the wife, who travels there more than me. They have always just photocopied my passport or filled out a form, same as pretty much everywhere else in the world. Perhaps this is only done at the smallest places?

Echnaton

As others have written, it is quite common that the hotel takes your passports and keeps it for the whole stay.

My advice: Give them the passport and ask them in the evening to give it back to you. Say you need the passport for a transaction at the bank. If the clerk refuses in the evening, try next morning again. Then be adamant. Do not return the passport to the hotel.

stepsbeyond

kamaoleman, me too!