Guest registration rules for hotels in Spain, Italy and Croatia (2026)

If you run a small hotel, guesthouse or set of apartments in southern Europe, guest registration is one of those jobs nobody thanks you for but everybody checks. Every country has its own platform, its own deadlines and its own list of fields. Get it wrong and you risk fines, inspections or, in the worst case, problems with your licence.

This guide summarises the rules in Spain, Italy and Croatia as of November 2026. It is a practical overview, not legal advice. Rules change, regions add their own requirements and enforcement varies, so always check with your local authority or a local adviser before you rely on any detail here.

Spain: SES.Hospedajes

Since 2 December 2024, accommodation providers in Spain report guests through SES.Hospedajes, a platform run by the Ministry of the Interior. The legal basis is Royal Decree 933/2021, which widened the information you have to collect and send.

The essentials:

Every guest aged 14 or over must be registered.
The data must be communicated within 24 hours of arrival.
You need to register your establishment on the platform before you can submit anything.
Bookings themselves (not only arrivals) are also covered, so reservation data has to be kept and reported.

The decree added fields that many hoteliers found intrusive or impractical, such as the relationship between adults and minors travelling together and details about the payment method used. These extra fields were controversial with the industry and generated a lot of debate, so make sure you work from the current version of the guidance rather than an older checklist.

There are regional differences too. In Catalonia, establishments report to the Mossos d'Esquadra through their own system, and in the Basque Country reports go to the Ertzaintza. If you operate in one of those regions, confirm exactly which channel applies to you.

Tourist taxes are also regional. Catalonia and the Balearic Islands have long-established ones, and other regions and cities have introduced or discussed their own. Rates depend on the type and category of accommodation and sometimes the season, so check the rules for your municipality.

More on how Ospitessa works for Spanish properties: Ospitessa in Spain.

Italy: Alloggiati Web, ISTAT and the tassa di soggiorno

In Italy the core obligation is reporting guests to the State Police through Alloggiati Web.

Guests must be reported within 24 hours of arrival.
For stays shorter than 24 hours, the report should be made immediately on arrival.
You need credentials from your local Questura before you can use the system.

Separately, you send statistical data (ISTAT) on arrivals and nights. This usually goes through a regional system, and each region has its own portal and format, so the process in Tuscany will not look exactly like the one in Puglia.

The tassa di soggiorno (tourist tax) is set by each municipality. Amounts, exemptions (for example children or long stays) and reporting deadlines differ from town to town, and many municipalities run their own online portal for declarations.

If you let short-term rentals, the CIN (Codice Identificativo Nazionale) is now required. It must be displayed in your listings, including on online platforms, and in the property itself.

One area to watch closely is remote identification. In 2024 and 2025 there was a public debate about self check-in and key boxes, after the Interior Ministry issued guidance stressing in-person identification of guests. That position has been contested, including in the courts, and practice has varied. If you rely on self check-in or smart locks in Italy, check the current guidance with your Questura before deciding how you verify identity.

More details: Ospitessa in Italy.

Croatia: eVisitor, tourist tax and fiscalisation

Croatia uses a single national system, eVisitor, for guest registration.

Guests must be registered within 24 hours of arrival.
Check-out must be registered as well, not only check-in.
The tourist tax (boravišna pristojba) is calculated and paid through eVisitor.

Croatia also requires real-time fiscalisation of receipts: each receipt issued to a guest has to be reported to the tax administration as it is issued, and the receipt must carry the codes that prove it.

From 1 January 2026, Fiskalizacija 2.0 extended the system to B2B e-invoicing. If you invoice companies, such as tour operators, agencies or business travellers billed to their employer, those invoices fall under the new e-invoicing rules. Make sure your invoicing tool and your accountant are ready for it.

More details: Ospitessa in Croatia.

A practical checklist for 2026

Whichever country you are in, the same habits keep you out of trouble:

Confirm you are registered on the right platform (SES.Hospedajes or the regional system in Spain, Alloggiati Web in Italy, eVisitor in Croatia) and that your credentials work.
Write down the exact list of fields required in your country and region, and compare it with what your booking and check-in process actually collects.
Collect guest data before arrival wherever possible, so the front desk is not typing passport numbers at midnight.
Scan identity documents rather than copying them by hand, to avoid typos in names and document numbers.
Set a fixed time each day to check that every arrival from the last 24 hours has been reported.
Record check-outs where your country requires it (Croatia does).
Check tourist tax rates and exemptions for your municipality at the start of each season.
Keep proof of submission (receipts or confirmation numbers) for the period your country requires.
Store personal data securely and delete it when you no longer need it, in line with GDPR.
Review the rules at least once a year. All three countries have changed something in the last two years.

How to make this less painful

Most of the work in guest registration is not the submission itself. It is chasing missing data, retyping documents and remembering who has and has not been reported. A few changes make a large difference.

Collect data before arrival. With online check-in, guests fill in their details and upload their document from their phone before they travel. By the time they arrive, the registration data is already on the booking.

Scan, do not type. ID scanning reads the machine-readable zone (MRZ) of passports and EU identity cards, so names, dates of birth, nationality and document numbers go straight into the guest profile without manual entry.

Keep a paper fallback. For walk-ins or guests who skip online check-in, a printable registration card with the right fields for your country gives you a signed record at the desk.

Put the tourist tax on the booking. Adding tourist tax lines directly to bookings means the amount is visible to the guest, included on the invoice and easy to total up for your municipal or national declaration.

Use self check-in carefully. A self check-in kiosk or smart locks can save a lot of staff time, but make sure the way you verify identity meets the current rules in your country, especially in Italy.

Where Ospitessa stands today

Ospitessa already covers the data collection side: ID scanning, online check-in, printable registration cards and tourist tax lines on bookings. Direct submission to SES.Hospedajes, Alloggiati Web and eVisitor is being added country by country. It is not available everywhere yet, so ask us for the current status in your country, or see the pages for Spain, Italy and Croatia and the full list of countries.

If you would like to see how registration data flows from booking to check-in, you can book a demo.

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