Hotels holding passports

I will be in Europe later in 2004.

I will be in France, Germany and Austria.

I have seen some references to hotels holding your passport but
nothing recently.

What are the rules?
What should I expect?

When I was in Germany for 2 weeks earlier this year the hotel did not
ask for my passport but I was staying in the same hotel the entire
time.

TIA

Bob

bob wrote:

I will be in Europe later in 2004.

I will be in France, Germany and Austria.

I have seen some references to hotels holding your passport but
nothing recently.

What are the rules?
What should I expect?

SFAIK, there's no reason you have to LEAVE your passport with the hotel,
nor have I ever been asked to. (In fact, I think that, theoretically,
you are supposed to have it with you at all times, although many people
carry a photo copy of the relevant pages in their wallet/pocket-book,
and leave the actual document in the safe in their rooms.)


When I was in Germany for 2 weeks earlier this year the hotel did not
ask for my passport but I was staying in the same hotel the entire
time.

If they didn't ask to at least see it, you must have given them the
number when you made your reservation (although they usually want to see
it, when you check in). I think the "rule" is that you must show it to
the desk-clerk when you register, but I don't think they can legally
retain it.

bob writes:

What are the rules?

You are only required to surrender your passport to duly authorized
agents of the host country (police and so on), at their request. You
are never required to hand it over to anyone else.

What should I expect?

In France, at least, hotels may ask to see your passport and/or make a
copy of it. They are required to report all foreign guests to the
police, and this is the purpose of seeing your passport. They do not
have to actually hold your passport, no matter what they might claim,
and they have no right to do so. You should not give any hotel your
passport for any reason.

I don't know what the situation is in Germany, but most European
countries seem to have similar regulations that require hotels to report
foreigners. Reporting them and keeping a passport are two different
things, however.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:

In fact, I think that, theoretically,
you are supposed to have it with you at all times, although many people
carry a photo copy of the relevant pages in their wallet/pocket-book,
and leave the actual document in the safe in their rooms.

In France, foreigners must be able to identify themselves to the police
on request, and prove that they are in the country legally. For
temporary visitors, this generally means that they should carry their
passports on their person at all times.

I don't consider it secure to leave a passport anywhere, and certainly
not in a hotel, even with a safe in the room. You should always have
your passport with you.

This does not apply to resident aliens, who typically have another
official ID issued by the host government that provides sufficient
identification for any purpose (and presumably they have a safe place to
keep their passports at home).

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

When I was in Germany for 2 weeks earlier this year the hotel did not
ask for my passport but I was staying in the same hotel the entire
time.

If they didn't ask to at least see it, you must have given them the
number when you made your reservation (although they usually want to see
it, when you check in). I think the "rule" is that you must show it to
the desk-clerk when you register, but I don't think they can legally
retain it.

That's depending from country to country; in some the passport number
must be noted on the registration form - in others they only need to
see the passport and some don't want anything.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:

In France, foreigners must be able to identify themselves to the police
on request, and prove that they are in the country legally. For
temporary visitors, this generally means that they should carry their
passports on their person at all times.

I have never done this in France. In fact last year my passport was stolen
with my camera bag. I reported this to the Nice cops and they could not have
been more helpful and sympathetic.

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message ...


bob wrote:

I will be in Europe later in 2004.

I will be in France, Germany and Austria.

I have seen some references to hotels holding your passport but
nothing recently.

What are the rules?
What should I expect?

SFAIK, there's no reason you have to LEAVE your passport with the hotel,

If you go back far enough, the French Police used to visit hotels each
morning and they would then expect to be able to view the identification of
anyone who had arrived the previous day. Therefore, foreigners had to leave
their passport at Reception when they arrived and would be able to collect
it after the Police visit, usually by mid-morning. However, I don't recall
that happening within about the past three decades or so.

Colin Bignell

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 06:19:36 +0100, Mxsmanic wrote:

bob writes:

What are the rules?

You are only required to surrender your passport to duly authorized
agents of the host country (police and so on), at their request. You
are never required to hand it over to anyone else.

What should I expect?

In France, at least, hotels may ask to see your passport and/or make a
copy of it. They are required to report all foreign guests to the
police, and this is the purpose of seeing your passport. They do not
have to actually hold your passport, no matter what they might claim,
and they have no right to do so. You should not give any hotel your
passport for any reason.

I don't know what the situation is in Germany, but most European
countries seem to have similar regulations that require hotels to report
foreigners. Reporting them and keeping a passport are two different
things, however.

It's the same in Italy and Germany as well, but in Germany they normally
only want you to fill out the "visitors card" at breakfast the next day.
This has less to do with the police registration than paying the visitors
tax to the local tourist office. Some places are more concientious than
outers.
I think the police rule only applies to visitors staying more than three
days in one place, or something like that.

--
Tim.

If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would
be so simple that we couldn't.

"bob" wrote in message
...
I will be in Europe later in 2004.

I will be in France, Germany and Austria.

I have seen some references to hotels holding your passport but
nothing recently.

What are the rules?
What should I expect?

When I was in Germany for 2 weeks earlier this year the hotel did not
ask for my passport but I was staying in the same hotel the entire
time.

Last time I was in Spain, about 10 years ago. They asked for our passports
when we arrived in the evening and told us we could collect them from the
desk by lunchtime the next day.

"nightjar" writes:

If you go back far enough, the French Police used to visit hotels each
morning and they would then expect to be able to view the identification of
anyone who had arrived the previous day. Therefore, foreigners had to leave
their passport at Reception when they arrived and would be able to collect
it after the Police visit, usually by mid-morning. However, I don't recall
that happening within about the past three decades or so.

It has never been mandatory to leave a passport with the hotel. The
police can indeed ask to see it, but they have to do that themselves in
order for it to be an obligation; the hotel is not their proxy.

Passports are extraordinarily valuable, and they don't belong to you.
You should only give them to authorized government agents, never anyone
else.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.