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

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.