This Monday the controversy comes into force traveler registration which the government approved despite the criticism it received from the entire tourism sector. From December 2, the royal decree will be applied establishing the documentary registration and information obligations of natural or legal persons who carry out accommodation and motor vehicle rental activities and which provides for fines of up to to 30,000 euros in the event of non-compliance.
This new measure has been the subject of constant criticism from the accommodation sector and travel agencies, denouncing the heavy bureaucratic burden, the loss of competitiveness and the possible violation of travelers’ privacy.
The Ministry of the Interior assures that throughout the process of developing and approving the decree, it respected the principle of transparency and efficiency, having had the participation of the recipients and the objectives of the regulation being clearly defined as in the preamble to the standard and in the memorandum, without “unnecessary or incidental administrative burdens having been included”.
Finally, the companies concerned will be obliged to provide the corresponding data on the platform His.Hospedajes, available since 2022 and in which 61,540 hotel establishments, 1,994 travel agencies, 222 digital platforms and 1,720 motor vehicle rental companies have already registered.
Adding all these companies, a total of 4.77 million user data related to these companies was recorded.
Of the department he heads Fernando Grande Marlaska Emphasis was placed on the current security situation, emphasizing that the greatest attacks against citizens are carried out by both terrorist activities and organized crime, in both cases with a marked transnational character.
“In both cases, the logistics of accommodation and the acquisition or use of motor vehicles are of particular importance in the modus operandi of criminals, whose procurement today is carried out by countless means, including telematics, which ensure greater confidentiality in these transactions. “, he explained on this subject.
Thus, for the Interior, the current regulations are “obsolete” and “useless” because, for example, the rule for registering housing is 65 years old (Decree 1513/1959).
This implies excluding from its scope new types of accommodation activities, such as short-term tourist residences operated by companies or individuals through registration on portals or reservation centers via the digital media or the Internet.
In this sense, this total of nearly 4.8 million data made it possible to locate 18,584 people appearing in national or international databases, thus falling within the main objective of the decree, which is to improve security citizens, according to Inside.
First of all, accommodation activities are those carried out, whether professionally or not, with the aim of providing, in exchange for a price, consideration or compensation, a room or space to spend at night to people, with or without other complementary services. These include hotels, inns, guesthouses, guest houses, rural tourism establishments or similar, campsites and motorhome parking areas.
For their part, the rental activities of driverless motor vehicles are those carried out in order to facilitate their use by a third party, for a specific period, and in exchange for compensation, consideration or a certain price. The rental of vehicles without a driver and, in general, the rental of vehicles with a driver are excluded from the provisions of this article.
In addition, the regulation envisages in both activities tour operators who provide intermediation services between businesses and consumers, and the activity of digital platforms dedicated, for a fee or free of charge, to the intermediation of these activities via the Internet, which whether they are or not. provide the underlying service that is the subject of the mediation, provided that they offer services in Spain.
Regarding the possibility of an increase in costs for the companies concerned, the Interior assured that the new register should not result in this possibility, excluding “considerable” investments, since “the data collected is the same as until now”. “.
Traveler registration data
Regarding data collection, Interior reiterated that companies will not collect more than they already do currently. In particular, several categories are distinguished for registration. On the one hand, hospitality activities must communicate and record the following information:
— Data from the leasing company: Name or company name of the owner, CIF or NIF, municipality, province, landline and/or mobile phone, email address, company website and URL to identify the ad.
— Establishment data: Establishment type, name, full address, postal code, city and province.
— Traveler data: Full name, gender, identity document number, type of document (DNI, passport, TIE), nationality, date of birth, usual place of residence (full address, city and country), landline and mobile, email, number of travelers and relationships between travelers (in the case where one of them is a minor).
— Transaction data: Contract (reference number, date and signatures), contract execution data (entry date and time and exit date and time) and payment data (type, identification of payment method as type card number and number, payment method holder, card expiration date and payment date).
For non-business accommodations, some information varies, including the full name, gender and ID of the property owner, as well as the number of rooms or internet connection of the property.
In the case of vehicle rental, the data to be provided is similar to that of accommodation, while adding the corresponding information of the main driver and the second driver (if applicable).
