Likely to affect Motorhomers & Tuggers as well ??

[Bobbejaan]

I've not heard any of this before and it mentions campsites & similar, but I've not been around much recently, so maybe I've missed it (or not)?

Spain hotel check-in delay fears as new registration rules begin

A new law requiring hotels and car hire firms to send customer data to the government starts on Monday.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[martxer]

Looks like we will be swerving Spain from now on

 

[Steve and Denise]

Shame our country don’t do a similar check on incomers

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Looks like we will be swerving Spain from now on

Why, if I may ask.
Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Always given passports in at Hotels to be registered with Local Police previously. And then collected next day.

 

[David and Sally]

When we have booked into sites in Spain we have had to register passports, reg numbers and home details.

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[EuroTrotters]

We rent our villa out.

We had to obtain a licence to do so since 2018.

We have to register all guests with the Guardia Civil locally over the age of 14 now.

There are many reasons for this.

One of them is for tax reasons. They clamped down on rental tax evasion long ago, 6 years for us.

But I rented an apartment in Benidorm this month. No deposit taken and he did not register us with the guardia . He did have a rental license so I assume he did not declare it . Owner was a Spanish lawyer. So I guess he had no worries.

I pay all our taxes, declare everything, so lt is not a problem for us

 

[EuroTrotters]

Looks like we will be swerving Spain from now on

No reason to

 

[martxer]

Why, if I may ask.
Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Always given passports in at Hotels to be registered with Local Police previously. And then collected next day.

Ok you asked.
We used to have an apartment in Spain and when we sold up the Spanish bank stopped access to my banking app and now they are hounding me for my bank being over drawn due to me not being able to cancel direct debits. There is no way I am paying interest on a debt that is totally the fault of the Spanish bank.

 

[LesW]

How would this work staying at unmanned aires?

 

[royandsharont]

In March 2023 we arrived at a fairly new camper stop at La Herradura. The lady booked us in on her mobile phone and took all our passport details etc on her mobile phone. She then sent them to who I understood to be the authorities and awaited their reply. It arrived in a couple of minutes and she said we had been CHECKED on their systems and bound to be all okay.

She said it was the new system and it all worked very good, perhaps it was something similar to the news today or a trial system. I had never experienced it before or since but am aware my details get passed on, generally once in a day.

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[EuroTrotters]

Ok you asked.
We used to have an apartment in Spain and when we sold up the Spanish bank stopped access to my banking app and now they are hounding me for my bank being over drawn due to me not being able to cancel direct debits. There is no way I am paying interest on a debt that is totally the fault of the Spanish bank.

Typical Spanish , I know how you feel.

When we were blocked from our Spanish Bank Account (they had changed to the OTP System), You had to go into the Branch to unlock account.

We went over to Spain to deal with legal issues and were deported on arrival during Covid as we were not EU Citizens or Residents.

The Bank, Santander Albir, would not Give out any details of our account over the phone, by text, email or post. I had to guesstimate what was in the account so I could pay bills. They paid out DD that I was unable to cancel and it took me an age to get the money back. Ridiculous system.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Ok you asked.
We used to have an apartment in Spain and when we sold up the Spanish bank stopped access to my banking app and now they are hounding me for my bank being over drawn due to me not being able to cancel direct debits. There is no way I am paying interest on a debt that is totally the fault of the Spanish bank.

Fair enough. But our visits to Spain are either in a hotel or apartment.
I have no intention of setting up ddr's or similar as I am only there as a visitor on a short term holiday visit, probably 1 month max. And I would not have a Spanish bank account as I would not need one.
Different to your circumstances I grant you, but for us personally I cannot see this new regulation making any difference to our visits whatsoever.
Agreed though, your situation is completely different to ours.

 

[martxer]

No reason to

You may not but we do. Our bank in Spain is hounding us for interest on an overdraft that is completely their fault.
I don’t want to turn up in Spain and risk being bothered by this.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

You may not but we do. Our bank in Spain is hounding us for interest on an overdraft that is completely their fault.
I don’t want to turn up in Spain and risk being bothered by this.

Just a thought, as a complete outsider to this system of Spanish banks, but cannot your UK bank, whoever you use, assist in any way to get either access to your accounts, or to stop your ddr payments and thus the potential risk of running up further debts?

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

How would this work staying at unmanned aires?

I stayed at the aire in Biar this autumn that required a visit to the local police station to register with passport.

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[martxer]

Just a thought, as a complete outsider to this system of Spanish banks, but cannot your UK bank, whoever you use, assist in any way to get either access to your accounts, or to stop your ddr payments and thus the potential risk of running up further debts?

I very much doubt it. I have spoken to the bank call centre in Madrid and even they have no idea why the account was shut down. When we sold up I left about 1000 euro in the account which was more than enough for covering bills. The bank have denied me access to my account since the sale and now there is an imaginary debt they are charging interest on.

 

[Steve and Denise]

I must admit I have always thought Spanish banks are run anyhow! And how it suits them, it could be a lot worse if it was run by British politicians

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

I very much doubt it. I have spoken to the bank call centre in Madrid and even they have no idea why the account was shut down. When we sold up I left about 1000 euro in the account which was more than enough for covering bills. The bank have denied me access to my account since the sale and now there is an imaginary debt they are charging interest on.

Understood that you have spoken to the Madrid call centre. But I meant using the facilities of your UK bank, in the UK, to help with sorting this with the Spanish bank.
Maybe I am looking at this from a very simplistic viewpoint, and have no wish to intrude on your personal circumstances, but If I was stuck with an overseas financial institution I would be looking for all the assistance I could get from my UK banking facilities , within the UK, using English speaking facilitators and translators ( if needed ) , and the international banking interactions.
But as I say, maybe that's my simplistic view.
I wish you well.

 

[Brains]

Shame our country don’t do a similar check on incomers

Denmark and the UK are the only two major countries world wide that do not have ID cards.

Until you roll out ID cards to everyone, and then start up a system of registration only then can you start checking illegals, people on the run etc.

The main draws for undocumented migrants into the UK are:
No ID card
Everyone speaks English and someone will speak your language.
No matter where you are from, there is a support network somewhere
Cash in hand work.

If the first issue was dealt with the others would be less important.

 

[nicholsong]

We have just spent 3 months rolling through 4 EU countries wildcamping with none of these requirements.

Presumably terrorists and criminals are smart enough to buy a camper and do the same, so what does this system achieve?

Illegal immigrants arriving by boat are unlikely to be checking into hotels.

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[Barryh]

Surely passport checks are commonplace throughout most of the world when checking into licenced accommodation. I don’t know what non uk passport holders do here but we have had to do it throughout Europe when checking into hotels, Airbnb and many campsites etc. We are touring India just now (not MH). Even the smallest 1 room homestay has copied our passport and visa, then we have had to fill in a huge ledger with all our travel details.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

I understand they are asking for bank and card details as well with the new system.

 

[Widge]

Denmark and the UK are the only two major countries world wide that do not have ID cards.

Until you roll out ID cards to everyone, and then start up a system of registration only then can you start checking illegals, people on the run etc.

The main draws for undocumented migrants into the UK are:
No ID card
Everyone speaks English and someone will speak your language.
No matter where you are from, there is a support network somewhere
Cash in hand work.

If the first issue was dealt with the others would be less important.

It would also solve this big (non) argument about people being discriminated against, and not allowed to vote becouse they do not have a photo id, one of the worst things they did after the war was to drop id cards IMO

 

[Widge]

This will probably also scupper the people who get a French 6 month visa, then sneek down to spain for most of the time.

 

[Flairy]

They used to do that in early 70s take your passport when you arrive give it back when you leave,

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[MichaelT]

In March 2023 we arrived at a fairly new camper stop at La Herradura. The lady booked us in on her mobile phone and took all our passport details etc on her mobile phone. She then sent them to who I understood to be the authorities and awaited their reply. It arrived in a couple of minutes and she said we had been CHECKED on their systems and bound to be all okay.

She said it was the new system and it all worked very good, perhaps it was something similar to the news today or a trial system. I had never experienced it before or since but am aware my details get passed on, generally once in a day.

We went there and had the same. Also at granada you need your passport to get in.

 

[Steve and Denise]

We have just spent 3 months rolling through 4 EU countries wildcamping with none of these requirements.

Presumably terrorists and criminals are smart enough to buy a camper and do the same, so what does this system achieve?

Illegal immigrants arriving by boat are unlikely to be checking into hotels.

They do here in England

 

[Widge]

They used to do that in early 70s take your passport when you arrive give it back when you leave,

I went to Berlin just after the wall came down, there were still police on the border between east and west, although a free flow of people going in both directions, but didn't go into east berlin as i had no id docment becouse the campsite were holding my passport.

 

[EuroTrotters]

I went to Berlin just after the wall came down, there were still police on the border between east and west, although a free flow of people going in both directions, but didn't go into east berlin as i had no id docment becouse the campsite were holding my passport.

A site it Italy in 2020 kept ours, my wife let them. I went back the next morning and insisted they return my passport.

Its has almost 3,000 pitches and you can imagine how many EU ID's and Passports they were retaining and how easy they could be lost, stolen, damaged or given to others in error.

A long row ensued and they would not give in. Until I suggested we call the Police.

Passport Returned to me straight away.

Never will I let anyone keep my Passport.

Wife got an earful too (gentle earful) !. She wont be making that mistake again.

We wouldn't return, far too big, busy and HOT

Homepage

Union Lido Mare is open from Wednesday 23 April to Monday 6 October 2025 !

mare.unionlido.com

 

[The Old Man]

I still remember the French 'Hotel Cards' system!

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