Host asking for passport copies

[Bruna-Ayako0]

Hi! I've used Airbnb a couple of times, and it's the first time my host asked me for the Passport copies. I'm hosted in Portugal and she said it's for paying taxes. I distrusted this information of her request because I always talked to my host in Portuguese and just this message was sent in English.

Anybody know if is it common ask passport information in Portugal? And is safe to provide this information?

Thanks!

[Cor3]

Hi @CristCaro0,

You can (for instance) check out this site: https://siba.sef.pt/Informacao/faqs_juridicas.html

As usual - for the Portuguese Government - the site is in Portuguese.

In the end, the host is responsible for gathering the information and reporting the information correctly and in time to the authorities. When a host fails to do so, this may result in a pretty huge fine - or even been send to jail! :-(.

And as we are a remote host, we have to request this information - before arrival (As also mentioned in our house rules, and which our guests have to agree to).

Since we ourselves are not on site, to verify the information. Our local customer representative will perform the task of verification of the supplied information. Once confirmed, our local customer representative will remove this data from her phone.

We have learned that trying to gather the data - when guests do or did arrive - simply does not work 😞 Even when we ask for this information beforehand, it's already difficult enough. Such as - Question: Place of Birth; Answer: England? Sometimes part of the group do arrive on a later flight. Not always all required data is on the passport, etc.

There are other means to communicate sensitive data. For instance WhatsApp instead of e-Mail. Or sending the data in a password protected document, and sending the password separately, etc.

Ps.

We do not need a photocopy of the passport, so no need for the social security number of Non-Portuguese citizens!

[CristCaro0]

Hi @Cor3, thanks for taking the time to post and explain. We aren't familiar with Portugal laws, certainly handing over private info is a concern; yes, the host will need to delete it after, and who guarantees that? Is it the Portugese government? I doubt it. Seems like their concern is to collect some tax from the hosts rather.

We booked 4 places in Portugal, and none of the other 3 asked for this info.

Also, this one just sent us a link to http://siga.center and asked to fill out this private into.

I don't know what this site is, without explaining that this is the "law", it makes it highly questionable to ask for and provide private info, flight info, birthdate, passport info, etc. Who manages this SIGA website where all this private information is collected?

I don't recall this info being in any house rules that we agreed to, but we will look through that. That's a good point.

We have agreed to fill out all information except birthdates and passport numbers; the host can check that when we arrive.

Am I the only one that finds that handing out this info to some third party run website questionable in terms of risk for private information?

Cheers!

[Cor3]

Hi @CristCaro0,

I can imagine that handing over personal private information is a concern to many guests. But it is indeed the Portuguese law, requiring this. Some of our own guests find this a bit hard too (for the same reasons as you have).

First of all, each online STR advertisement in Portugal must also specify the local lodging rental license number (In the format: “12345/AL”; AL obviously stands for “Alojamento Local”). Actually companies like Airbnb are nowadays requiring this field to be populated, when it concerns a Portuguese property.

I don’t know the site, you mentioned (at least it is using https, which is more secure than standard http). And I’ve had 1 guest in the past, asking for such a website to register their personal information. Preferably I would have liked Airbnb to provide such a service (including collection of arrival and departure data). But Airbnb does not provide this functionality.

I can imagine that this particular host, is using such a website to collect this information. But maybe the host should have given you more background about this site. As it is now raising further questions.

This law is not (mainly) intended to collect tax from the host, but to avoid housing (inter)nationally wanted persons, etc.

When a guest does not want to adhere to these rules, then they are actually forbidden to stay at the property!

The host has to store (by law) this information for 1 year and then to delete it (but obviously this cannot be checked, by anyone).

Be assured: When this data is NOT collected – by the host, by the latest at check-in. Then you know you are staying illegally (in Portugal). And suppose the authorities find out about you staying illegally. Then the consequences will be yours too (and the host as well, of course).

When the host/owner is present during check-in, obviously all of this is much easier.

But as we use a local customer service representative, we request this information beforehand. Because as said before: Trying to get additional or still missing data afterwards is a nightmare. And we only have 3 working days from arrival to report this information to the authorities. And there are pretty severe penalties to the host, when the host does not adhere to these rules.

So you don’t have to take my word for it. But “SEF data collection and reporting” is mandatory for local lodging in Portugal! The keyword: “Alojamento Local”.

In Europe we’ve had our share of terrorism, and internationally wanted persons to be able to remain under the “radar” for a considerable amount of time. And this is just one of the measures to avoid these type of issues from happening.

Like I said before, there are other safe means to provide this sensitive data to the host/owner.

And in Portugal the host/owner is obliged to adhere to these rules.

Airbnb is about trust. So the owners are trusting you with their property. And in Portugal, you will have to trust the hosts/owners to handle your private information with appropriate care.

It is pretty hard to find all the legal rules concerning local lodging in Portugal. So we ended up hiring a pretty expensive company to sort all of this out – on our behalf. In order to be fully compliant with all the rules in Portugal. SEF reporting is just one of these rules. There are quite a few other rules, which a host has to adhere to – in Portugal. With regards to safety, hospitality-standards, inspections, taxes, etc.

You can try to find all the Portuguese rules on the internet. But it will take you days, if not weeks. And everything that really matters officially will be in Portuguese.

Success – and happy holidays in Portugal!

[Catherine1164]

Thanks a lot. It helps me to explain to my guests!

[David-and-Shari0]

We've stayed in many south and south-east Asian countries and no AirBNB ever required our passports, but small guest houses and hotels almost always do. When we've traveled in India all hotels are required to keep a copy of our passports so we just carry a lot of photocopies with us. That's sufficient, otherwise they physically take our passports to make copies which we're not comfortable with. One hotel in India actually kept our passports overnight which really made us nervous! Copies work well so you don't have to hand over a passport.

It appears all countries are different. Best to know the laws before you travel so you don't get surprised.

[David-and-Shari0]

Although it would be helpful it hosts in these countries explain this in their House Rules section that a passport will be required at check-in if you're a foreign traveler. Probably the law is different for locals. It's true that not much of the USA population has passports and no one needs them for in-country travel. We'd rather check a driver's license for ID from nationals.

[Ido12]

Hey guys, I booked a place for an apartment in Madrid. I've used Airbnb a couple of times, and it's the first time a host asked me for passport copies. My hosts are from Spain and they said we must send them by e-mail filled documents of our information (ID number, Address, Phone number) and also to send them a copy of our passports! They say they need it for legal reasons. I feel unsafe to send my passport information.
Is it common to ask passport information in Spain? And is it safe to provide this information?

Thank you

[Martin333]

Hi from Galicia Spain,

yes we as licensed hosts have the obligation to register each guest with the guardia civil (police).

To speed up and smooth arrival it is helpfull to have the details beforehand.

Full name, nationality, type of id e.g. passport, number of document,  issue date of document ( not expiery), office or town where issued, birthday, sex  and date of arrival.

To a host of good standing (reviews....) I see no problems in providing this beforehand.

A full copy is normally not needed but because most travellers do not provide the correct info e.g.issue date, it is sometimes easier when one has a copy of the document.

A telephone number is allways great as even the best prepared host can get stuck in traffic or the car doesent start, etc......

So yes here in Spain it is normal to ask for these details.

Saludos

PS Airbnb can and does not pass on any personal details and my host insurance states that you are only covered once I have these details.

[Jay383]

Guest chiming in. Please take my opinions as trying to further the conversation/share perspectives. I welcome your thoughts and criticism to my line of thinking!

I noticed a few responses from hosts giving the rationale similar to, "this is my property and if you don't like my rules, you don't have to stay with me." I sympathize and agree with this line of thinking up to a point. In my opinion:

- Guests should be made aware of these requirements in advance of booking. Please put that you require this additional information in description/rules; wherever you think is most applicable and appropriately visisble. [As a courtesy (not necessarilly a requirement), it would also be nice to know why you require this information (e.g., goverment requirement, company requirement, personal assurance), but that's up to you!]

- Data security should be considered and mitigated, and your IT security strategy should be communicated in advance of booking. How you are using personal data, storing the data, and disposing of that data needs to be addressed. If you are requiring this information, and you receive it, you are responsible for managing this data appropriately.

1. Using: Are you sending personal data via email? Are you entering it into a web form? Who is receiving this data? a governement organization? a private company for background checks?
2. Storing: Are you storing this data? How are you storing this data (e.g., your inbox, cloud server, hard drive)?
3. Disposing: Are you planning on deleting the data once it has been used? How long are you planning on storing this data before it is deleted (e.g., some countries have laws requiring this personal information be deleted after a year)? How are you deleting it and ensuring it's deleted and not archived?
   
   For each of these topics, you should ask what might be the security implications/risks of your strategy. Are you using, storing, and disposing in a responsible and secure way?

Along the same line of thinking, how secure is your information and IT personally/professionally? It's a good practice to do a health check on how secure your own data/systems are, especially if you are responsible for others. When is the last time you updated your passwords? Are you using two-factor authentication for your accounts? Have you checked whether your accounts have been recently hacked?

Again, this is all my opinion and I'm not a professional in IT/cyber security - just an enthusiast! Also, I might be a little idealistic to think others share the same concerns over data security (ironic considering my profile is visible to you all right now!).

Cheers,

Jay

[Cor3]

Hi @Jay383,

Thanks for your comments.

In the EU, there is special legislation on this topic (known as: GDPR). Which covers all these aspects.

Actually you are required to report data-breaches to the authorities!

So all of those aspects are known, and have to be attended too.

And so we did 😄

[Chong19]

Dear Jay and Cor,

thank you for your comments as I have come across this issue as a guest recently. I can see  the relevance from both sides. Like Jay, my comments are purely layman, based on my reading on this post and what is out there on the internet.

The hosts do seemed to need to conform to their national legal obligations and to protect their properties. However, the adoption of GDPR since  May 2018 appears to override these ? Jay has outlined some of these principles, from my reading of the E.U. guidelines. Perhaps the principle of Consent could be more fairly applied by informing the guests prior? The collection, processing and holding of personal date e.g. passport details could be more in line with GDPR ? Having ones’s passport details photographed on a smart phone does not seemed to be very secured, although is very convenient? As Jay has highlighted, how personal data is collected, stored, processed ( and destroyed) are all relevant issues covered under GDPR’s section on consent (or right to withdraw). Perhaps Air BnB should provide some guidelines?

some relevant links:

https://https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-protection-eu_en#fundamental-rights

ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/ds-02-18-544-en-n.pdf

https://www.visitbritain.org/business-advice/registration-and-data-protection

And how Air BnB applies and conforms to their obligations under GDPR

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms/privacy_policy

[Mykola3]

Total BS. I pay money not for having a headache about my security. Those hosts who don't understand the idea of respect to their customers should not lease their apartments until internalising some culture of hospitality and at least a bit of common sense.

[Pat5]

Hello!

@Martin333 @Cor3 

Could you please post the official & direct link from your government about ID?

Also, does this requirement has to be done Before the check-in date or the at the check-in?

 Any other Host from EU and non-EU are welcome to post the official links to inform future guest

Thank you

[Cor3]

Hi @Pat5,

Here's the official link to the text of the law (Dated: 4th of July 2007).

http://www.dgpj.mj.pt/sections/informacao-e-eventos/2007/lei-n-23-2007

Happy reading (Obviously in Portuguese).

And here is a better readable version, written by a very knowledgeable host.

https://www.alesclarecimentos.pt/travelers/

But this is not an official source of course.

The requirement is: Guests are not allowed to stay, unless they provide this information.

So guests should hand-over this information, by the latest: during check-in.

[Pat5]

Thank you @Cor3. It helps a lot.