Should getting & giving physical addresses be mandatory?

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.

As a host, do you require guests booking direct with you to provide their physical address when booking?

Yes
13
76%
No
4
24%
 
Total votes: 17

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CSE
Posts: 4414
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:34 pm
Location: Galicia

Post by CSE »

That link I gave says that
Accommodation: keeping a register of your guests

Does this Act apply to me?

Yes: under the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972, all serviced and self-catering accommodation premises must keep a record of all guests over the age of 16.

What do I need to record?

To comply with the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 you need to collect the following information from guests on their arrival:

full name
nationality
Note: you are not legally required to take a guest's home address or contact number. etc etc
I would love for an official view as to whether have the address of the lead person (some members collect addresses of all of the group) is actually contractually needed. After all you are not going to use it to say send an item/goods to them.

So why are is anyone asking for more?
I personally like to control my personal data. That is why I do not like the idea of health passports, especially on a phone.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
Joanna
Posts: 1091
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: Chester, North West England & Sidmouth, East Devon
Contact:

Post by Joanna »

Pengman wrote:I do accept that they could provide a false address - is anybody aware of a quick, easy cost effective way to check a person’s address?
I'd like to know this too - when we started out 17 years ago taking bookings by post wasn't unusual. Now people do expect it all to be online. But, sending the booking form by post is the only foolproof method we've come up with for verifying their address. Plus letting guests verify our address seems like one way of reassuring them that we have nothing to hide.

I know that having a verified address is important - partly in case of a serious accident like a fire, although thankfully nothing remotely like this has ever happened to us or any other owners that we know of.

It's also important if there are any legal issues - guest causes a lot of damage but refuses to pay up, for example.

I've experienced the opposite side of this when I was part of a group who booked a large house for a weekend and there was an issue with payments. The owner decided our booking was cancelled by default and re-booked the house but refused to refund us. The friend who made our booking only had the owner's mobile number and a hotmail address. It turned out that we could only make a claim against the owner if we had their postal address.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
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