A passport photo in a hotel chat outlives the stay

ADAC describes a familiar check-in. A receptionist copies an identity card, a host photographs a passport, or an online booking will not continue until a scan is uploaded. The German motoring club tells guests to ask which duty requires a full copy, whether showing the document is enough, and to send a copy only by a secure route when there is no alternative. The Dutch data protection authority draws a harder line for the Netherlands: a hotel, bed and breakfast, holiday park, or campsite there is not allowed to copy, scan, or photograph your passport. Writing down some details, such as your name, can be allowed. Other countries set other rules, so a Dutch limit is not a world rule. A picture dropped into a booking chat has no expiry. TripCheck can send a link that stops after 48 hours, and the viewer does not need an account. Unlimited documents on Pro are £3.99 a month or £24.99 a year, about £2.08 a month.

Last updated 2026-10-25

Check this trip in TripCheck

The desk wants the page, and the thread keeps it

The hotel needs to register the guest. The fastest reply is the photo page in the same conversation as the booking. That image then sits on every phone in the thread, including staff who join later, and you cannot expire it when the stay ends. Ordinary email has the same long memory. ADAC's point is that a full copy can disclose more than a form needs, and that an open message is a poor way to move it. In the Netherlands the authority says the copy should not be made at all. Elsewhere you may still be asked. The useful habit is to find out whether a look at the passport, or a few typed fields, will do before you attach the whole page.

Send a link that ends, and keep the original

Store the passport in TripCheck, then share the secure link when someone must see the page now and should not keep a file. That link expires after 48 hours, and the person opening it does not create an account. When the time runs out, the link stops and the original stays in your vault for the next form. Free covers two active documents. A household that also stores a visa will want Pro, at the monthly or yearly price above, and a new account includes a 7-day Pro trial. None of this changes what a given country allows a hotel to collect. Ask, and read the sources below, before you assume a copy is mandatory or forbidden everywhere.

Check this trip in TripCheck

Sources

AI is guidance, not legal advice. Verify final visa and border requirements with official embassy or government sources.

All passport guides