Blog
Check guests inOverview · 20 min read ·

The guest register: what must not be missing (and what does not belong there)

„Keep a guest register“ sounds like a duty from the First Republic — yet it is live law and the first thing both a municipal inspection and the Foreign Police will want from you. The good news: once you know what to record, it is a handful of details per guest.

The worse news: half the „templates“ on the internet demand more from guests than is permitted, and the other half forget the box for which municipalities assess the fee retroactively.

In brief
Whothe guest register is kept by every provider of a paid stay (§ 3g of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.); the house book by anyone who provides accommodation for payment or accommodates more than 5 foreign nationals (§ 99 (1) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.)
Wherewith you — you send the register nowhere, you merely produce it when the municipal office or the Foreign Police ask
How muchnothing, it is your own record
How longa few minutes per guest, ideally right at check-in
Deadlineenter continuously, „in real time“ (§ 101 (3)); retain for 6 years from the day of the last entry
What you riskfrom the municipality up to CZK 500,000 (§ 247a (1) (b) of the Tax Code) plus an assessment of the fee and its increase of up to twice the difference (§ 11c (1)); from the Foreign Police up to CZK 50,000, and that even for a non-business natural person (§ 156 (2) and (5) (a) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.)

What to do

What to do
  • Keep a guest register for each facility or place where you provide a paid stay — two flats mean two separate records (or one divided by unit)
  • Enter every accommodated person separately, Czechs and persons exempt from the fee included
  • For foreign nationals (Slovaks and Germans included) additionally keep the house book and have them sign the registration form or a document with the same particulars
  • In the „fee“ box always state the amount, or the reason for exemption in the words of the law
  • Make the entries continuously on the day of accommodation, not retrospectively at the end of the season
  • Retain for 6 years from the day of the last entry — and back it up
  • Collect nothing extra: no birth numbers, no copies or photos of documents
  • Tell the guest what you do with their data and how long you keep it (Article 13 GDPR)

Two books, one entry

These are two separate records under two acts. Meeting one does not release you from the other.

  1. 1THE GUEST REGISTER under the Act on Local Fees — for the municipality, because of the stay fee. It is kept by the payer of the fee, i.e. the provider of the paid stay, „in paper or electronic form … for each facility or place where they provide a paid stay“ (§ 3g (1) of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.). You enter everyone to whom you provided a stay for payment — Czechs and foreign nationals, taxpayers and exempt persons alike. A guest accommodated entirely free of charge does not belong in it, because it is not a paid stay.
  1. 1THE HOUSE BOOK under the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals — for the Czech Police, the foreign police department. It is kept by the „provider of accommodation“, i.e. anyone who provides accommodation for payment or accommodates more than 5 foreign nationals, close persons excepted (§ 99 (1) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.). A foreign national is anyone who is not a citizen of the Czech Republic, „including a citizen of the European Union“ (§ 1 (2)) — so a Slovak and a German belong in the house book. Beware of the reverse case compared with the guest register: if you are a provider of accommodation under § 99 (1), a foreign national accommodated free of charge belongs in the house book too. You are a provider not only when you accommodate for payment, but also when you accommodate more than 5 foreign nationals without payment — close persons excepted.

The same Act brings further duties for a provider (§ 100 of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.): to allow the police to enter places used for business, to issue a foreign national a confirmation of accommodation on request, to report the death of an accommodated foreign national without delay, and to provide accommodation that is not manifestly inadequate — at least 8 m² of floor area for one person, 12.6 m² for two persons and 5 m² more for each further one. The same police check it during the same inspection.

UbyPort does not replace the house book. You report a foreign national's accommodation within 3 working days of them being accommodated (§ 102 (1)); anyone whose business is accommodation must report by remote access, i.e. through UbyPort, where such access is set up and functional (§ 102 (3)) — you keep the book alongside that. → UbyPort without the stress: how to report foreign guests to the foreign police correctly

Most of the particulars repeat in both books, so the most sensible thing is to keep one well-designed record covering both duties at once — it must merely contain all the particulars from both acts. That is exactly what our app does: one guest check-in fills the particulars into both books and into the report. For the house book you additionally need the foreign national's signature under § 103 (b) — on a signed document or form; in our app the foreign national adds it as an electronic signature directly in the check-in form. The details are in the answer „Paper or electronic?“ below. Since 6 September 2026 the purpose of stay is a separate check-in field. Besides the document number, the guest register for the stay fee also wants its type — and the law lists nine of them in § 3g (2) (d): a travel document, an identity card, a certificate of temporary residence in the territory, a residence card of a family member of an EU citizen, a residence permit card, a residence permit card for foreign nationals, a permanent residence permit card, a card of an applicant for international protection and a card of an applicant for temporary protection. The list is exhaustive: „another document“ does not belong in the register, and a driving licence, an insurance card or an ISIC are not identity documents for this record.

What the record must contain

For the MUNICIPALITY, for each accommodated person (§ 3g (2) of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.):

For the type of document the law lists nine options: an identity card, a travel document, a certificate of temporary residence in the territory, a residence card of a family member of an EU citizen, a residence permit card, a residence permit card for foreign nationals, a permanent residence permit card, a card of an applicant for international protection and a card of an applicant for temporary protection. A driving licence or an insurance card is not among them.

For the FOREIGN POLICE, the house book contains the particulars in the scope of the registration form plus the beginning and end of the accommodation (§ 101 (1)). Under § 97 the form is broader than most templates allow for:

The foreign national must fill in and sign the registration form in person, or sign a document with the particulars in the scope of the form — you may pre-fill that one for them (§ 103 (b)); this does not apply to children under 15. A set of documents signed in this way may replace the house book (§ 101 (1), second sentence), but without a signature it is no substitute.

The form is called the foreign national's registration form and you will find it at policie.gov.cz/ubyport; instead of it you may use your own document with the same particulars.

You make the entries continuously and in an unbroken series. Into the guest register „correctly, completely, verifiably, clearly, comprehensibly, in a manner guaranteeing the permanence of the entries“ and „arranged successively in chronological terms“ (§ 3g (3)); into the house book „in real time, regularly, clearly and comprehensibly“, again chronologically (§ 101 (3)).

Per-guest stay: the detail that decides

The booking is for 10 nights, but the husband arrived three days later? The register is supposed to match reality — the law ties the day the stay begins and ends to each individual person, not to the booking. The Ministry of Finance confirms this for an interrupted stay too: when a guest leaves and the days of absence are not paid for, you enter their end date and after their return a new stay begins (MP/08/2020).

Most templates and competing apps forget this and record the booking dates for everyone. With us each guest can have their own from–to; the fee is then calculated correctly as well, its base being the number of commenced days of the stay excluding the first day (§ 3c).

Example · apartment BYT1 in Vinohrady, Prague 2026 (rate CZK 50), booking 1 June – 11 June 2026
Guest A, 1 June – 11 June 10 days × CZK 50CZK 500
Guest B, arrived 4 June 7 days × CZK 50CZK 350
child of 12, 1 June – 11 JuneCZK 0 (exempt, in the register as „a person under 18“)
Total to remit to the municipalityCZK 850
Wrongly, the booking dates for all threeCZK 1,000
There are three rows in the register, each with its own from–to. In Prague the remittance is due by the 15th day of the following month, i.e. by 15 July 2026. → Stay fee: every municipality sets it differently — and you are the one collecting it

Do not invent reasons for exemption: they are listed in § 3b (among others a person under 18, a blind person, a holder of a ZTP/P card and their companion, a hospitalised person outside spa care, a person on seasonal work). The municipality may add more by decree — Prague, for instance, exempted the temporary accommodation of students and pupils or companions of hospitalised patients (§ 6 of Prague Decree no. 18/2019 Coll.). Before you fill in the box, open your municipality's decree; you must be able to prove every claim you make.

A stay longer than 60 consecutive calendar days with one provider is not subject to the fee at all — not even for the first 60 days (§ 3a (1)); under the Ministry of Finance's interpretation MP/08/2019 neither the fee duty nor the record-keeping duty then arises. The duties towards the Foreign Police (the house book and the report) do not lapse, however.

Six years of archiving

You retain both books for 6 years from the day the last entry was made (§ 3g (4) of Act no. 565/1990 Coll. and § 101 (4) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.). If you replace the house book with signed documents or forms, those 6 years run separately for each document — from the end of the foreign national's accommodation (§ 101 (4), second sentence). And if the guest signed the form but you report electronically through UbyPort, you keep the form for 6 years from the accommodation anyway (§ 102 (4)).

That is longer than many a notebook, phone or cloud service survives — think about backups. Electronic form is expressly permitted for the guest register („in paper or electronic form“); for the house book the law prescribes no form, but the police mention paper form on their website, so always keep the book ready to print and export.

Excel alone is not enough. The requirement of „verifiably and in a manner guaranteeing the permanence of the entries“ is interpreted by fee administrators to mean that the record must be able to trace changes retrospectively and must not allow a detail to be simply deleted. A spreadsheet without an audit trail and without backups is a weak point at an inspection — and data loss is moreover a security incident, reportable to the Data Protection Authority within 72 hours where it poses a risk to guests (Article 33 GDPR).

What does not belong in the register

More does not mean better — with personal data the opposite is true. You process it because the law requires you to (Article 6 (1) (c) GDPR), and only to the extent the law demands (Article 5 (1) (c), minimisation). The following do not belong in the record and should not be collected:

You may look into the document and copy the number and type from it — that is exactly what the law requires of you. What is prohibited is making an image of it.

The other side of the coin: you must inform the guest what you do with their data (Article 13 GDPR) — why you process it (compliance with a legal obligation under § 3g of Act no. 565/1990 Coll. and § 101 of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.), to whom it is passed (the municipality, the Czech Police), how long you keep it (6 years) and what rights they have. The simplest way is to have it in the check-in terms. → GDPR and guest data: what you may, what you must and what is forbidden

What is coming: eTurista

You may hear that the books will soon be abolished by a central eTurista register. As of 5 September 2026 nothing of the sort applies: Act no. 159/1999 Coll. is still in its wording of 1 March 2021, the government bill (parliamentary print 761) ended with the electoral term without a third reading, and the members' bill (print 106 of 10 February 2026) has a negative opinion from the government and awaits its first reading at the Chamber's 30th session from 8 September 2026. The Ministry for Regional Development talks about a launch „from 2027“.

Even if the bill passed, the books would not disappear — an entry in the register could merely replace them (the proposed § 3g (5) of the Act on Local Fees and § 102 (5) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals) and you would enter the guest within 24 hours of them being accommodated. The same print wants to raise the fee ceiling from CZK 50 to CZK 100. Watch it, but do not act on it.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 has indeed applied since 20 May 2026, but each state introduces its own registration procedure — compulsorily only if it requires the platforms to pass data on (Article 4). Czechia has not introduced one, so a Czech registration number for a listing does not exist yet and the platforms cannot require it.

The most common mistakes and myths

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to record a visitor who did not sleep over?
No. What is recorded is accommodated persons: for the municipality a paid stay, for the police a relationship arising from an accommodation, lease or sublease contract (§ 99 (2)). A visit for coffee is not accommodation.
The guest refuses to give their details. What now?
Without the details you will not meet your statutory duty and you risk a fine — you cannot escape liability by pointing out that the guest refused. So do not accommodate a guest without the details; that is your business decision, not a statutory ban on accommodating them. With a foreign national you have the law behind you: they are obliged to present a document and sign the form (§ 103 (b)), otherwise they risk a fine of up to CZK 3,000. The best solution is an online check-in filled in beforehand. → Online check-in and the guest portal: fewer messages, happier guests
Paper or electronic?
Both are legal. Electronically you fill the details in once and use them three times — the book, the report, the fee; paper you transcribe. Even so the foreign national's signature remains (§ 103 (b)): in our app the guest adds it as an electronic signature directly in the check-in form, otherwise they sign the form or a document on the spot, or you print the document from the check-in for signature. The law does not prescribe the form of the signature, and no public position of the Foreign Police on an electronically created signature is available — if you want certainty before an inspection, ask your foreign police department. Either way, keep the signed document for 6 years from the end of the foreign national's accommodation (§ 101 (4)); a signed registration form is kept for 6 years from the accommodation (§ 102 (4)).
Is keeping the register enough, or do I have to notify the municipality?
You do have to notify. As the payer of the fee you file a notification with the municipality (§ 14a of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.) — in Prague within 30 days of the day you start the activity, to your city district office; in it you state, among other things, the addresses of all facilities or places and the number of beds (§ 4 and § 7 of Prague Decree no. 18/2019 Coll.). Changes are reported within 15 days. → Stay fee: every municipality sets it differently — and you are the one collecting it
Who actually inspects my register?
The guest register is inspected by the municipal office as the fee administrator (in Prague your city district office), the house book by the Foreign Police — to whom you must provide cooperation on request in obtaining the particulars (§ 101 (2)). An unlawful copy of a document is dealt with by the municipal office of a municipality with extended powers, superfluous data by the Data Protection Authority.
How Ubyo helps
The guest fills in the check-in from their phone, the record is written into both the guest register and the house book, the fee is calculated including exemptions, UbyPort goes out by itself — and for six years everything is traceable and exportable in one click. Each guest has their own from–to, so the register matches both reality and the remittance.
Legal framework and sources (7)
  • Act no. 565/1990 Coll., on local fees, § 3a–§ 3h, § 11, § 11c, § 14a — the guest register, the content of an entry, exemptions, assessment and increase of the fee
  • Act no. 326/1999 Coll., on the residence of foreign nationals, § 1 (2), § 97, § 99–§ 103, § 156, § 157 — the house book, the registration form, the foreign national's signature, fines
  • Act no. 280/2009 Coll., the Tax Code, § 247a — a fine of up to CZK 500,000 for failing to meet a non-monetary duty
  • Act no. 269/2021 Coll., on identity cards, § 39 and § 65, and Act no. 329/1999 Coll., on travel documents, § 2 (3) — the ban on copying documents
  • Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Articles 5, 6, 9, 13 and 33 — minimisation, legal basis, informing guests, incidents
  • Prague General Binding Decree no. 18/2019 Coll., on the local stay fee, as amended by Decree no. 19/2021 — the rate of CZK 50, further exemptions, remittance by the 15th day of the following month
  • policie.gov.cz/ubyport — the foreign national's registration form and the reporting of accommodation

Updated: 5 September 2026, verified against the sources listed above. This is informational text, not legal or tax advice — consult a professional about your specific situation.

ubyo
Blog
Check guests inOverview · 20 min read ·

The guest register: what must not be missing (and what does not belong there)

„Keep a guest register“ sounds like a duty from the First Republic — yet it is live law and the first thing both a municipal inspection and the Foreign Police will want from you. The good news: once you know what to record, it is a handful of details per guest.

The worse news: half the „templates“ on the internet demand more from guests than is permitted, and the other half forget the box for which municipalities assess the fee retroactively.

In brief
Whothe guest register is kept by every provider of a paid stay (§ 3g of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.); the house book by anyone who provides accommodation for payment or accommodates more than 5 foreign nationals (§ 99 (1) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.)
Wherewith you — you send the register nowhere, you merely produce it when the municipal office or the Foreign Police ask
How muchnothing, it is your own record
How longa few minutes per guest, ideally right at check-in
Deadlineenter continuously, „in real time“ (§ 101 (3)); retain for 6 years from the day of the last entry
What you riskfrom the municipality up to CZK 500,000 (§ 247a (1) (b) of the Tax Code) plus an assessment of the fee and its increase of up to twice the difference (§ 11c (1)); from the Foreign Police up to CZK 50,000, and that even for a non-business natural person (§ 156 (2) and (5) (a) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.)

What to do

What to do
  • Keep a guest register for each facility or place where you provide a paid stay — two flats mean two separate records (or one divided by unit)
  • Enter every accommodated person separately, Czechs and persons exempt from the fee included
  • For foreign nationals (Slovaks and Germans included) additionally keep the house book and have them sign the registration form or a document with the same particulars
  • In the „fee“ box always state the amount, or the reason for exemption in the words of the law
  • Make the entries continuously on the day of accommodation, not retrospectively at the end of the season
  • Retain for 6 years from the day of the last entry — and back it up
  • Collect nothing extra: no birth numbers, no copies or photos of documents
  • Tell the guest what you do with their data and how long you keep it (Article 13 GDPR)

Two books, one entry

These are two separate records under two acts. Meeting one does not release you from the other.

  1. 1THE GUEST REGISTER under the Act on Local Fees — for the municipality, because of the stay fee. It is kept by the payer of the fee, i.e. the provider of the paid stay, „in paper or electronic form … for each facility or place where they provide a paid stay“ (§ 3g (1) of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.). You enter everyone to whom you provided a stay for payment — Czechs and foreign nationals, taxpayers and exempt persons alike. A guest accommodated entirely free of charge does not belong in it, because it is not a paid stay.
  1. 1THE HOUSE BOOK under the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals — for the Czech Police, the foreign police department. It is kept by the „provider of accommodation“, i.e. anyone who provides accommodation for payment or accommodates more than 5 foreign nationals, close persons excepted (§ 99 (1) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.). A foreign national is anyone who is not a citizen of the Czech Republic, „including a citizen of the European Union“ (§ 1 (2)) — so a Slovak and a German belong in the house book. Beware of the reverse case compared with the guest register: if you are a provider of accommodation under § 99 (1), a foreign national accommodated free of charge belongs in the house book too. You are a provider not only when you accommodate for payment, but also when you accommodate more than 5 foreign nationals without payment — close persons excepted.

The same Act brings further duties for a provider (§ 100 of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.): to allow the police to enter places used for business, to issue a foreign national a confirmation of accommodation on request, to report the death of an accommodated foreign national without delay, and to provide accommodation that is not manifestly inadequate — at least 8 m² of floor area for one person, 12.6 m² for two persons and 5 m² more for each further one. The same police check it during the same inspection.

UbyPort does not replace the house book. You report a foreign national's accommodation within 3 working days of them being accommodated (§ 102 (1)); anyone whose business is accommodation must report by remote access, i.e. through UbyPort, where such access is set up and functional (§ 102 (3)) — you keep the book alongside that. → UbyPort without the stress: how to report foreign guests to the foreign police correctly

Most of the particulars repeat in both books, so the most sensible thing is to keep one well-designed record covering both duties at once — it must merely contain all the particulars from both acts. That is exactly what our app does: one guest check-in fills the particulars into both books and into the report. For the house book you additionally need the foreign national's signature under § 103 (b) — on a signed document or form; in our app the foreign national adds it as an electronic signature directly in the check-in form. The details are in the answer „Paper or electronic?“ below. Since 6 September 2026 the purpose of stay is a separate check-in field. Besides the document number, the guest register for the stay fee also wants its type — and the law lists nine of them in § 3g (2) (d): a travel document, an identity card, a certificate of temporary residence in the territory, a residence card of a family member of an EU citizen, a residence permit card, a residence permit card for foreign nationals, a permanent residence permit card, a card of an applicant for international protection and a card of an applicant for temporary protection. The list is exhaustive: „another document“ does not belong in the register, and a driving licence, an insurance card or an ISIC are not identity documents for this record.

What the record must contain

For the MUNICIPALITY, for each accommodated person (§ 3g (2) of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.):

  • the day the stay begins and the day it ends,
  • the first name or names, the surname and the address of the place of registration or of a similar place abroad — i.e. permanent or registered residence, not the actual address,
  • the date of birth,
  • the number and type of identity document,
  • the amount of the fee collected, OR the reason for exemption from the fee. This is the most frequently missing box.

For the type of document the law lists nine options: an identity card, a travel document, a certificate of temporary residence in the territory, a residence card of a family member of an EU citizen, a residence permit card, a residence permit card for foreign nationals, a permanent residence permit card, a card of an applicant for international protection and a card of an applicant for temporary protection. A driving licence or an insurance card is not among them.

For the FOREIGN POLICE, the house book contains the particulars in the scope of the registration form plus the beginning and end of the accommodation (§ 101 (1)). Under § 97 the form is broader than most templates allow for:

  • first name, surname and date of birth,
  • citizenship,
  • permanent residence abroad,
  • the number of the travel document and the visa number, if one is marked in the document,
  • the beginning and place of the stay (the address where you accommodate the guest),
  • the expected length of the stay and its purpose.
The foreign national must fill in and sign the registration form in person, or sign a document with the particulars in the scope of the form — you may pre-fill that one for them (§ 103 (b)); this does not apply to children under 15. A set of documents signed in this way may replace the house book (§ 101 (1), second sentence), but without a signature it is no substitute.

The form is called the foreign national's registration form and you will find it at policie.gov.cz/ubyport; instead of it you may use your own document with the same particulars.

You make the entries continuously and in an unbroken series. Into the guest register „correctly, completely, verifiably, clearly, comprehensibly, in a manner guaranteeing the permanence of the entries“ and „arranged successively in chronological terms“ (§ 3g (3)); into the house book „in real time, regularly, clearly and comprehensibly“, again chronologically (§ 101 (3)).

Per-guest stay: the detail that decides

The booking is for 10 nights, but the husband arrived three days later? The register is supposed to match reality — the law ties the day the stay begins and ends to each individual person, not to the booking. The Ministry of Finance confirms this for an interrupted stay too: when a guest leaves and the days of absence are not paid for, you enter their end date and after their return a new stay begins (MP/08/2020).

Most templates and competing apps forget this and record the booking dates for everyone. With us each guest can have their own from–to; the fee is then calculated correctly as well, its base being the number of commenced days of the stay excluding the first day (§ 3c).

Example · apartment BYT1 in Vinohrady, Prague 2026 (rate CZK 50), booking 1 June – 11 June 2026
Guest A, 1 June – 11 June 10 days × CZK 50CZK 500
Guest B, arrived 4 June 7 days × CZK 50CZK 350
child of 12, 1 June – 11 JuneCZK 0 (exempt, in the register as „a person under 18“)
Total to remit to the municipalityCZK 850
Wrongly, the booking dates for all threeCZK 1,000
There are three rows in the register, each with its own from–to. In Prague the remittance is due by the 15th day of the following month, i.e. by 15 July 2026. → Stay fee: every municipality sets it differently — and you are the one collecting it

Do not invent reasons for exemption: they are listed in § 3b (among others a person under 18, a blind person, a holder of a ZTP/P card and their companion, a hospitalised person outside spa care, a person on seasonal work). The municipality may add more by decree — Prague, for instance, exempted the temporary accommodation of students and pupils or companions of hospitalised patients (§ 6 of Prague Decree no. 18/2019 Coll.). Before you fill in the box, open your municipality's decree; you must be able to prove every claim you make.

A stay longer than 60 consecutive calendar days with one provider is not subject to the fee at all — not even for the first 60 days (§ 3a (1)); under the Ministry of Finance's interpretation MP/08/2019 neither the fee duty nor the record-keeping duty then arises. The duties towards the Foreign Police (the house book and the report) do not lapse, however.

Six years of archiving

You retain both books for 6 years from the day the last entry was made (§ 3g (4) of Act no. 565/1990 Coll. and § 101 (4) of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.). If you replace the house book with signed documents or forms, those 6 years run separately for each document — from the end of the foreign national's accommodation (§ 101 (4), second sentence). And if the guest signed the form but you report electronically through UbyPort, you keep the form for 6 years from the accommodation anyway (§ 102 (4)).

That is longer than many a notebook, phone or cloud service survives — think about backups. Electronic form is expressly permitted for the guest register („in paper or electronic form“); for the house book the law prescribes no form, but the police mention paper form on their website, so always keep the book ready to print and export.

Excel alone is not enough. The requirement of „verifiably and in a manner guaranteeing the permanence of the entries“ is interpreted by fee administrators to mean that the record must be able to trace changes retrospectively and must not allow a detail to be simply deleted. A spreadsheet without an audit trail and without backups is a weak point at an inspection — and data loss is moreover a security incident, reportable to the Data Protection Authority within 72 hours where it poses a risk to guests (Article 33 GDPR).

What does not belong in the register

More does not mean better — with personal data the opposite is true. You process it because the law requires you to (Article 6 (1) (c) GDPR), and only to the extent the law demands (Article 5 (1) (c), minimisation). The following do not belong in the record and should not be collected:

  • birth numbers — without the holder's consent you may use them only in the cases under § 13c of Act no. 133/2000 Coll.; a combination of the date of birth and the suffix is a birth number too,
  • copies and scans of documents „just in case“ — a copy of an identity card without the holder's consent is directly prohibited by law (§ 39 (c) of Act no. 269/2021 Coll.), an offence with a fine of up to CZK 10,000 (§ 65); the same prohibition applies to a Czech passport (§ 2 (3) of Act no. 329/1999 Coll.), and for a foreign national's passport the prohibition follows from the GDPR, because you have no legal basis for a copy,
  • health data beyond what the law requires — it is a special category under Article 9 GDPR; the exception is a statutory reason for exemption, which is entered in the words of the law („holder of a ZTP/P card“), never a diagnosis or a copy of a card,
  • payment details and card numbers,
  • anything „extra“ that the law does not require.

You may look into the document and copy the number and type from it — that is exactly what the law requires of you. What is prohibited is making an image of it.

The other side of the coin: you must inform the guest what you do with their data (Article 13 GDPR) — why you process it (compliance with a legal obligation under § 3g of Act no. 565/1990 Coll. and § 101 of Act no. 326/1999 Coll.), to whom it is passed (the municipality, the Czech Police), how long you keep it (6 years) and what rights they have. The simplest way is to have it in the check-in terms. → GDPR and guest data: what you may, what you must and what is forbidden

What is coming: eTurista

You may hear that the books will soon be abolished by a central eTurista register. As of 5 September 2026 nothing of the sort applies: Act no. 159/1999 Coll. is still in its wording of 1 March 2021, the government bill (parliamentary print 761) ended with the electoral term without a third reading, and the members' bill (print 106 of 10 February 2026) has a negative opinion from the government and awaits its first reading at the Chamber's 30th session from 8 September 2026. The Ministry for Regional Development talks about a launch „from 2027“.

Even if the bill passed, the books would not disappear — an entry in the register could merely replace them (the proposed § 3g (5) of the Act on Local Fees and § 102 (5) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals) and you would enter the guest within 24 hours of them being accommodated. The same print wants to raise the fee ceiling from CZK 50 to CZK 100. Watch it, but do not act on it.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 has indeed applied since 20 May 2026, but each state introduces its own registration procedure — compulsorily only if it requires the platforms to pass data on (Article 4). Czechia has not introduced one, so a Czech registration number for a listing does not exist yet and the platforms cannot require it.

The most common mistakes and myths

  • „I'll write the register up once a month.“ — The law demands continuous entries in real time. When an inspection begins you must produce the register with the details of guests staying with you right now (§ 100 (f)).
  • „I don't have to write down exempt guests.“ — You do, you merely state the reason for exemption instead of the amount. Without it a person is treated as a taxpayer: the municipality assesses the fee (§ 11 (3)) and may increase it by up to twice the difference (§ 11c (1)), and defective records additionally risk a fine of up to CZK 500,000 (§ 247a (1) (b) of the Tax Code).
  • „I record whoever the booking is in the name of.“ — Everyone accommodated is recorded, each on their own row, children included.
  • „Slovaks and Austrians are not foreign nationals.“ — For the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals a foreign national is anyone who is not a citizen of the Czech Republic, EU citizens included. A defective house book costs up to CZK 50,000 (§ 156 (2), for entrepreneurs § 157 (4)).
  • „I'll photograph the passport, just to be safe.“ — A copy of a document without consent is prohibited, and consent of the „otherwise I won't accommodate you“ kind is not freely given. The law wants the particulars from the document, not the document itself.
  • „I'll delete it after two years.“ — Six years from the last entry, otherwise the duty is unfulfilled.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to record a visitor who did not sleep over?
No. What is recorded is accommodated persons: for the municipality a paid stay, for the police a relationship arising from an accommodation, lease or sublease contract (§ 99 (2)). A visit for coffee is not accommodation.
The guest refuses to give their details. What now?
Without the details you will not meet your statutory duty and you risk a fine — you cannot escape liability by pointing out that the guest refused. So do not accommodate a guest without the details; that is your business decision, not a statutory ban on accommodating them. With a foreign national you have the law behind you: they are obliged to present a document and sign the form (§ 103 (b)), otherwise they risk a fine of up to CZK 3,000. The best solution is an online check-in filled in beforehand. → Online check-in and the guest portal: fewer messages, happier guests
Paper or electronic?
Both are legal. Electronically you fill the details in once and use them three times — the book, the report, the fee; paper you transcribe. Even so the foreign national's signature remains (§ 103 (b)): in our app the guest adds it as an electronic signature directly in the check-in form, otherwise they sign the form or a document on the spot, or you print the document from the check-in for signature. The law does not prescribe the form of the signature, and no public position of the Foreign Police on an electronically created signature is available — if you want certainty before an inspection, ask your foreign police department. Either way, keep the signed document for 6 years from the end of the foreign national's accommodation (§ 101 (4)); a signed registration form is kept for 6 years from the accommodation (§ 102 (4)).
Is keeping the register enough, or do I have to notify the municipality?
You do have to notify. As the payer of the fee you file a notification with the municipality (§ 14a of Act no. 565/1990 Coll.) — in Prague within 30 days of the day you start the activity, to your city district office; in it you state, among other things, the addresses of all facilities or places and the number of beds (§ 4 and § 7 of Prague Decree no. 18/2019 Coll.). Changes are reported within 15 days. → Stay fee: every municipality sets it differently — and you are the one collecting it
Who actually inspects my register?
The guest register is inspected by the municipal office as the fee administrator (in Prague your city district office), the house book by the Foreign Police — to whom you must provide cooperation on request in obtaining the particulars (§ 101 (2)). An unlawful copy of a document is dealt with by the municipal office of a municipality with extended powers, superfluous data by the Data Protection Authority.
How Ubyo helps
The guest fills in the check-in from their phone, the record is written into both the guest register and the house book, the fee is calculated including exemptions, UbyPort goes out by itself — and for six years everything is traceable and exportable in one click. Each guest has their own from–to, so the register matches both reality and the remittance.
Legal framework and sources (7)
  • Act no. 565/1990 Coll., on local fees, § 3a–§ 3h, § 11, § 11c, § 14a — the guest register, the content of an entry, exemptions, assessment and increase of the fee
  • Act no. 326/1999 Coll., on the residence of foreign nationals, § 1 (2), § 97, § 99–§ 103, § 156, § 157 — the house book, the registration form, the foreign national's signature, fines
  • Act no. 280/2009 Coll., the Tax Code, § 247a — a fine of up to CZK 500,000 for failing to meet a non-monetary duty
  • Act no. 269/2021 Coll., on identity cards, § 39 and § 65, and Act no. 329/1999 Coll., on travel documents, § 2 (3) — the ban on copying documents
  • Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Articles 5, 6, 9, 13 and 33 — minimisation, legal basis, informing guests, incidents
  • Prague General Binding Decree no. 18/2019 Coll., on the local stay fee, as amended by Decree no. 19/2021 — the rate of CZK 50, further exemptions, remittance by the 15th day of the following month
  • policie.gov.cz/ubyport — the foreign national's registration form and the reporting of accommodation

Updated: 5 September 2026, verified against the sources listed above. This is informational text, not legal or tax advice — consult a professional about your specific situation.