Holiday rental blog

Practical guides on managing tourist accommodation in Spain, up-to-date rules to meet your legal requirements, register on SES.HOSPEDAJES, and manage your region's tourist licence.

Browse by topic

Regulations & obligations

Every rule that governs short-term rentals in Spain, gathered and kept up to date: the obligations under Royal Decree 933/2021, guest registration, the tourist licence in each autonomous community and the penalties. Step-by-step guides to stay compliant, with the official source always at hand.

Browse category

Legal updates

The legal changes affecting short-term rentals, explained as soon as they land and with the official source: Supreme Court rulings, regional decrees, the EU short-term rental regulation and SES.HOSPEDAJES updates.

Browse category

Software & automation

Honest comparisons of apps and tools for holiday rentals: what to choose to automate check-in and guest registration, how to sync your bookings by iCal with Booking and Airbnb, and how to save hours of admin every week.

Browse category

Rental management

Tutorials and articles to run your holiday rental better, beyond the paperwork: pricing strategy, guest communication, productivity and the day-to-day business decisions of managing one or several tourist properties.

Browse category

Latest

Cobalt-blue azulejo: a manager waters the geraniums on her modernist Eixample balcony in Barcelona while glancing at the wrought-iron street clock on the pavement below

Tourist licence

Catalonia Tourist Flat Licences: the 2028 Deadline Stands

Junts tried to overturn Catalonia's tourist-flat regime and Parliament said no. What Decree-Law 3/2023 means for your HUT, how the little-known extension of up to 5 years works, and where Barcelona's 10,101 licences stand.

August 14, 2026

Cobalt-blue azulejo: through the doorway of a whitewashed Spanish house, a manager sets a table with two places while, down the alley, two guests with suitcases are still walking toward the house; a cat sleeps on one chair

Guest registration

Reserva de hospedaje or parte de viajeros in SES.HOSPEDAJES

Spain's guest registration portal asks you to pick a communication type and the confusion starts there: the booking communication reports the contract when the reservation is made; the traveller report identifies the people when the stay begins. Which one is due when, with the deadlines, and why the sales channel changes who reports what.

August 7, 2026

Cobalt blue tile scene: in the reception of a classic hotel, with its wall of key pigeonholes and a brass bell, four travellers wait in line and each holds a document of a different size, a card, a folded sheet, an open booklet; the receptionist studies the first one's

Guest registration

What Is a NIE in Spain? NIE, TIE, NIF and DNI Explained

Four acronyms that get confused daily, and one distinction almost nobody explains: which of these Spanish documents identifies its holder, and which only proves they are registered.

August 4, 2026

Cobalt blue tile scene: at the counter of a Spanish immigration office, a suited official with a cord-tied dossier under his arm slides over a stamped certificate; the applicant, an Asian man, takes it and turns it over to look at the reverse; a cat sleeps on a stack of files

Guest registration

NIE Support Number in Spain: Where to Find It

If the number is rejected, it is usually the missing letter or the missing leading zeros. Where to find it on each Spanish immigration document and exactly how to write it.

August 4, 2026

Cobalt-blue azulejo: in bright morning light, a guest with a worn suitcase lifts the keys from an open lockbox by the portal, phone in hand; nobody receives him except a cat sitting on the doorstep like a tiny concierge

Software & automation

Check-in Apps for Hotels and Rentals in Spain (2026)

Reception desk or not, the check-in tool decides whether your guest's data reaches SES.HOSPEDAJES correctly and on time. The apps and software available in Spain compared, with published prices and the fine print, ours included.

July 31, 2026

Cobalt blue tile scene, first-person view: our own hands over a desk, one steadying an identity card while the other passes a magnifying glass across its data side; two more cards from different generations lie beside it, and a cat's tail curls into frame

Guest registration

Spanish DNI Support Number: Where to Find It

Three letters and six digits that almost nobody finds first time, because the label changes with every version of the Spanish ID card. Here is which word to look for on the document in your hand.

July 31, 2026

Cobalt-blue azulejo: a village Guardia Civil barracks with its wooden service hatch shut, a small cobweb in the corner; beside it a blank arrow sign points down the road and an innkeeper cycles away with her folder in the basket

Guest registration

Hospederías Guardia Civil: why the old Spanish site is closed

If you are still looking for hospederias.guardiacivil.es to file your Spanish guest reports, that channel closed in December 2024 and your old credentials no longer work. What Hospederías was, what replaced it, and how to declare today, region by region.

July 24, 2026

Cobalt-on-white azulejo: a foreign owner, newly arrived with a travel-labelled steamer trunk, stands back to admire a freshly mounted plaque beside her front door; a cat at her feet, Spanish rooftops behind

Guest registration

SES.HOSPEDAJES: English Guide for Foreign Owners (2026)

No English screen on the Ministry's portal, no plain password to log in. Here is what each Spanish label means and exactly what SES.HOSPEDAJES asks of you.

July 21, 2026

Cobalt-blue azulejo: two officials argue on the balcony of an official building under a circle-of-stars flag while, at the whitewashed house across the street, a manager warmly welcomes a guest with suitcases

Legal updates

Brussels opens a case against Spain's guest registration

The European Commission says Spain's traveller data collection breaches the EU police-data directive. What the infringement procedure means for your Spanish holiday rental, what deadlines it opens, and why you must keep filing guest reports today.

July 18, 2026

Cobalt-blue azulejo: in a festive Spanish beach-town street with bunting and towels on balconies, a suited official with a corded dossier knocks at a door fitted with a key lockbox; two neighbours watch from a doorway and a cat rests on the cobbles

Legal updates

Spanish holiday rental inspections: daily fines in the Balearics

Spain's regions have stopped waiting for the slow penalty file: the Balearics fine per day of illegal advertising and Navarra's anonymous mailbox feeds half its inspections. What is happening this summer and how a legal rental sails through it.

July 18, 2026

Newsletter

New guides and rule changes, straight to your inbox

We write when a new guide goes out or the guest-registration rules change in Spain. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

You are subscribed

You are on the list. We will write when there is something worth your time.