Hotel receptions in the south of Gran Canaria are abuzz. A new law has come into force on 2 December, establishing new documentation and data registration obligations for hotel guests, as well as for car rentals. The new law has been the subject of intense debate and criticism from the tourism sector, which has denounced the plan as anti-competitive and a bureaucratic burden. Failure to comply with the new rules could result in hoteliers and owners of temporary rentals being fined up to 30.000 euros.
Affected businesses will be required to provide the corresponding data on the Ses.Hospedajes platform, available since 2022 and on which 61.540 hotel establishments, 1.994 travel agencies, 222 digital platforms and 1.720 motor vehicle rental companies are already registered. In total, 4,77 million user data linked to these companies have been registered. The Big Brother-style measures would be related to security and an anti-terrorist and anti-transnational crime strategy. Now, the obligation to provide information about customers to the government, as well as to those who rent vehicles, falls directly on companies, regardless of their size, so that they can collect data on all users of their services.
The data to be recorded includes information about the company, data of the travelers who pay for the service, including name and surname, sex, identity document number, type of document (DNI, passport, TIE), nationality, date of birth, place of habitual residence, landline and mobile phone, email, number of travelers in the group, and even the relationship between the travelers (if any are minors).
The transaction data is then included: contract (reference number, date and signatures), contract execution data (check-in date and time and check-out date and time) and payment data (type, payment method identification such as card type and number, payment method holder, card expiry date and payment date). In total, 42 pieces of data must be recorded and uploaded per customer every time someone pays for accommodation or rents a car. Fines of between 100 and 30.000 euros will be imposed on those who do not comply with the strict regulations.
