Guest registration and SES.HOSPEDAJES: a practical guide

SES.HOSPEDAJES is the Ministry of the Interior platform to which accommodation providers must send traveller and booking information. It stems from Royal Decree 933/2021 of 26 October, which regulates the document-keeping and reporting obligations of individuals or companies engaged in accommodation and vehicle rental. In practice, it replaces the old traveller registration form (the "parte de viajeros"), which was filed in a different way and with less information.

The obligation has been fully enforceable since 2 December 2024. From that date, submitting the traveller form by the old means is no longer enough.

The rule is aimed at whoever provides the accommodation service. In general, that includes:

• Hotels, aparthotels, hostales, guesthouses and similar establishments.
• Tourist apartments, holiday homes and villas.
• Agrotourism estates, rural accommodation, campsites and other types of lodging.
• Managers and companies that operate third-party homes, depending on how they take on the service towards the guest.

If you are unsure whether your case is covered, the prudent course is to consult the official information from the Ministry of the Interior or your adviser. Responsibility lies with the holder of the accommodation, even if you use a program to send the data.

An important difference compared with the traditional traveller form is that data on the stay and on the contract is now sent, in addition to the traveller's. Broadly speaking:

The exact list and format can change. For that reason, always check the regulation and the technical instructions published by the Ministry. Data must be kept for the period set by the rule, and always processed in accordance with the GDPR and Spain's data protection law (LOPDGDD).

To begin, you have to register as a provider on the Ministry's platform and identify each establishment. After that, reports can be made in several ways: manually from the website, or through software that connects to the service. The report is made within a short period after the stay begins; check the official information for the current deadline and procedure.

1. Registration of the holder and the establishment on the platform.
2. Collection of the traveller's data before or at the time of arrival.
3. Submission of the traveller and booking data.
4. Retention of the information for the required period and handling of any incidents.

• Leaving pre-registration to the last moment. If the guest arrives suitcase in hand, the front desk grinds to a halt. Asking for the data before arrival avoids queues.
• Incomplete or misspelled data. A document number with an error or a name without a surname can lead to rejections.
• Forgetting the companions. The rule requires the data of all travellers, not only the person who made the booking.
• Minors without a recorded relationship. When minors travel, the relationship to the adults has to be stated.
• Not checking the submission. It pays to confirm that the report was accepted, not only that it was sent.
• Mixing tools. If you collect some data on paper, some in a spreadsheet and some in the PMS, the chance of errors grows.

Besides sending, you have to keep. The rule requires storing the information for a set period and handling it with the safeguards of the GDPR: limited access, a specific purpose and security measures. That is why traveller data should not circulate by email, messages or photos of documents on the front desk phone.

A single record, tied to the booking and accessible only to those who need it, makes it easier to answer an enquiry from the authorities, correct a wrong data point or delete it once the period has passed. A good habit is to review periodically which data you keep, for how long and who can see it.

If you work with several establishments, also check that each one is correctly registered on the platform and that reports are linked to the right establishment. It is a frequent mistake when adding a new property in the middle of the season.

A PMS does not take away your responsibility, but it can take away the repetitive work. In PMS Balear, the guest can complete an online pre-check-in with their details before arriving. That data stays linked to the booking and, from the booking record itself, is reported to SES.HOSPEDAJES, without retyping it anywhere else.

• Online pre-check-in

  The traveller fills in their details before arriving and the front desk only reviews them.

• Submission from the booking

  Traveller and booking data is reported from the record, with no duplicated tasks.

• Every traveller

  Registration of each person on the booking, not only the holder.

• Data in the EU

  Information hosted in the European Union and isolated per company.

If you are still choosing software, the guide to choosing a PMS includes the questions worth asking about regulation. On PMS for holiday rentals and PMS for hotels you can see how it fits into daily operations.