Do you had over your passport at the hotel?

[morellamalessdrama]

As the title says really. I'm pretty sure that the hotel we are going to in Croatia asks for visitors to handover their passports.

I'm not sure how I feel about this so I wanted to gauge how normal it is.

I've never done this. Showing passports when you check in, yes, and giving CC details.

For check in or to keep?

Usually you do. They have to be registered with the police in many countries.

I have never had to do this

It's the norm in many countries as, legally, visitors have to be registered with the local police on arrival. The hotel's get fined if they don't do it. They usually take down the number or make a photocopy and then give it you back.

This is quite normal in Greece and Spain, you get the passport back after a day or two

PS a London hotel once tried to tell us we couldn’t check in without showing our passports, we both live in the uk and were born here.

It depends on where some countries do require you to be registered at the hotel as part of the entry process and that does involve hotels keeping them overnight - Croatia did used to certainly require this.

No. They can take the details or a photocopy but I expect it to be handed back. Immediately. It always has been, including in Spain.

My passport details are usually already uploaded when booking my holiday so I normally just show my passport at the hotel but never hand it over to them.

Ok that's all really helpful.

I might take photocopies then they can just have those and I can keep the passports with us. I really don't like the idea of handing them over and them being out of sight, even if it's only temporarily.

Depends what you mean by ‘hand it over to them’ - but yes you do, and they make a copy there and then and return your passport.

If you mean ‘hand them over for the duration of the holiday’, I’ve never heard of that.

I have never done this.

In Spain they ask for the details of a valid photo ID document at check in but they never keep them - they just take the details down then hand them back. Or if your hotel has online check-in sometimes you can enter these details (a bit like API for a plane).

My experience in Spain is that you normally get your passport back within 24 hours of arrival

Always hand them taken in Italy. You get them back the next day.

I think I've handed them in when when visiting Majorca. It was only five years ago but my mind has gone blank which is why I wanted to check if I'd just imagined it!

No, you’re not not imagining it! We were in Greece last week and Majorca last year

Completely normal for hotels in some countries. I think this may have been less of a thing when we were in the EU. We're going to the Balkans later this year and our accommodation booking states we'll need to hand over our passports for registration with the police and we'll get them back within 24 hours.

Good point - happened to us in Crete last year.

I've almost always had to present it on check-in abroad, but I don't ever recall them keeping it.

They won't take a photocopy OP. They need the original. It's really fine.

I have done so frequently, then got it back.

No in Spain I have often had my passport retained for a few hours

When I went to Croatia a few years ago they took down the details on check in, but they didn’t hold onto them. If it’s for some kind of security thing I would have expected them to do so as the Prime Minister of China was staying in the same hotel.