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My wife and I are due to visit Germany soon with friends who organized accommodation at a guesthouse in Bavaria (if that matters). Now, a few days before departure, the guesthouse contacted my friends with a request of all the names and birthdays of the people staying at the guesthouse.

I am not particularly keen to provide this information for personal reasons (I am happy that they have my name and confirmation that I'm an adult, but not my birthday), but I will provide it if it otherwise would create a legal hassle for the guesthouse or even endanger the visit. Is this request for personal information a legal requirement and/or normal practice for guesthouses in Germany?

Normally I would contact the guesthouse myself but the arrangements are via my friends and I want to keep my concern about this to myself for now.

Additional information that could be relevant: My wife and I live in the UK and I will travel to Germany as a British citizen, my wife has an EU nationality. Some of the other people staying at the guesthouse are citizens of non European countries and they will enter with a Schengen visa.

To my understanding, the guesthouse is self-catering and I do not think there is going to be a check in process on arrival.

firtydank
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2 Answers2

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It is required by the German law to obtain such information from guests (source):

Meldescheine

Durch den § 30 kommen die Besonderen Meldescheine für Beherbergungsbetriebe ins Spiel. Diese sind auf Papier gedruckt und enthalten:

  • Datum der Ankunft und der voraussichtlichen Abreise
  • Familiennamen, Vornamen
  • Geburtsdatum, Staatsangehörigkeiten
  • Anschrift
  • Zahl der Mitreisenden (im Falle einer Gruppe, z.B. Familie) Bei ausländischen Gästen kommt die Seriennummer des Passes hinzu, und die >Gastgebenden müssen die o.g. Daten mit den Ausweisdaten vergleichen.

My translation:

Registration Forms

According to section 30, the special registration forms for accommodation businesses are relevant. They are printed on paper and contain:

  • Arrival and expected departure date
  • Surnames, names
  • Birth date and nationality
  • Address
  • number of travellers (in case they are a group, e.g. a family)

For foreigners travellers the passport number is required too. Data on passport must be compared with the aforementioned information.

Norbert S
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El_Muntagnin
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Is this request for personal information a legal requirement and/or normal practice for guesthouses in Germany?

Yes, it is normal after your arrival to fill on a special registration form, that will be kept for 1 year and then destroyed.

  • §30 BMG lists the data that may be generelly collected and how they may be used
  • §31 BMG Restrictions on use: list other cases where the data may be used

the guesthouse is self-catering, I'm not sure if they will meet us on arrival

This may be the reason why they are asking for the information beforehand.

Sources:

Mark Johnson
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