Guest Registration in Catalonia & the Basque Country

Managing across several Spanish regions runs smoothly until one of the properties sits in Barcelona or Bilbao. At that point the setup you built to comply with Royal Decree 933/2021 stops working, and not because you configured anything wrong: that property’s guest report does not go where the rest of your portfolio’s reports go.

It isn’t an administrative oversight. It’s how public-safety competences are distributed in Spain, which in these two autonomous communities puts the regional police force where the Ministry would otherwise be.

Here’s what that changes day to day: who you report to, with which credentials, and what to do if you manage properties across several regions.

Why Catalonia and the Basque Country are different

The duty to report guest data to the authorities predates RD 933/2021. It falls under public safety, an area where some autonomous communities hold their own competences.

The carve-out is not tacit: Orden INT/1922/2003, which governed guest registers and entry forms before RD 933/2021, states in its sole additional provision that what it lays down applies without prejudice to the competences recognised to the autonomous communities for the protection of persons and property and the maintenance of public safety¹. Each of the two communities has legislated through that open door.

In Catalonia it is Orden IRP/418/2010, which requires every accommodation establishment located in Catalonia to report guest data to the Dirección General de la Policía electronically, through the Mossos d’Esquadra website².

In the Basque Country it is the Order of 25 November 2022 of the Regional Minister for Security, in force since 2 January 2023, which applies to every accommodation activity carried out in Euskadi whatever its modality or organisational model, and channels registration and reporting to the Ertzaintza³. The competence behind it sits in the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country (Ley Orgánica 3/1979, the ‘Statute of Gernika’), which assigns the community the regime of its own police force⁴.

So the substantive obligation (collecting guest data and reporting it) is essentially the same as in the rest of Spain. What changes is the technical channel. SES.HOSPEDAJES doesn’t work here. Each region runs its own system and procedure.

Galicia is another example of a regional channel layered on top of the national one: the Xunta requires quarterly occupancy reports through TURESPAZO in parallel with SES. We cover it in TURESPAZO in Galicia.

SES.HOSPEDAJES vs Mossos d’Esquadra: what actually differs

A quick summary for anyone trying to get their bearings:

Do I need to register guests with Mossos and SES.HOSPEDAJES?

You do not need to register guests with the Mossos and SES.HOSPEDAJES. Reporting to the regional force replaces the national channel in Catalan territory, and the same holds for the Ertzaintza in the Basque Country. There is no double submission.

The location of the property decides the channel. A flat in Barcelona reports to the Mossos, a flat in Bilbao to the Ertzaintza, a flat in Valencia to SES.HOSPEDAJES.

Catalonia guest registration: Mossos d’Esquadra requirements

If your accommodation is in Catalonia, reporting is done electronically, through the Mossos d’Esquadra website, under the option “Registro de viajeros de establecimientos de hospedaje”. To get in you need a username and password specific to that system; the instructions for obtaining them are on the same site². We walk through the procedure itself (registering the establishment, the form’s fields, the daily workflow) in the Mossos registre de viatgers.

Things to keep in mind:

1. Your substantive obligation does not go away, but the fields are not identical. What gets reported is annex 2 of the Order: document number and type, date of issue, first name, surnames, sex, date of birth, nationality and date of arrival, plus the establishment’s own details. That is a slightly shorter list than RD 933/2021’s, because it includes neither contact details nor the relationship to the accompanying adult when minors travel⁵.
2. The deadline is twenty-four hours from the start of each person’s stay, under article 6 of the Order⁶. The safe practice is still to report at check-in.
3. A non-electronic route exists, but it is exceptional. Article 4 opens it only where, for duly justified special reasons, you cannot use electronic means: you then hand in two copies of the document at Mossos premises, in person or by post, or fax it to the relevant police station⁷. It is not an alternative channel to pick from.
4. The penalty regime is national. Fines for non-compliance still come from Ley Orgánica 4/2015 on Public Safety⁸, just as in the rest of Spain. We break the brackets down in Penalties for non-compliance with RD 933/2021.
5. Operationally still called “hojas de viajeros”. The Catalan workflow uses that term (“traveller sheets”) for what the national rule calls a guest report. Same concept, regional vocabulary.

Basque Country: how the Ertzaintza guest report works

In the Basque Country the applicable rule is the Order of 25 November 2022 of the Vicelehendakari Primero y Consejero de Seguridad, which sets out how to discharge the registration and reporting duties owed to the Ertzaintza. It has been in force since 2 January 2023 and repealed the Order of 18 May 2012 that governed before it³.

The circuit has two steps, not one:

1. Prior registration. Before starting the activity, the operator registers and enrols the establishment on the Basque Government’s electronic office (sede electrónica), with the identifying data listed in the Order’s annex. The practical entry point is the “Servicio de comunicaciones para establecimientos hoteleros” block on the Ertzaintza website, under activities relevant to public safety, which holds the establishment enrolment form⁹. Any change to those details triggers a fresh communication¹⁰.
2. Reporting each stay. Guest and transaction data go to the Ertzaintza immediately and, in any case, within 24 hours of the booking or the signing of the contract (or its cancellation) and of the start of the contracted services¹⁰.

Three details worth holding on to:

• Reporting is electronic. The exception is for anyone carrying out accommodation activity non-professionally, who may report by non-electronic means¹⁰.
• The information is kept for three years, available to the Ertzaintza. A non-professional operator is exempt from the computerised register and from retention, and answers only for the reporting³.
• The fields are close to RD 933/2021’s. The annex asks for name and surnames, sex, document number and type (DNI, pasaporte, TIE), the document’s support number, nationality, date of birth, habitual residence, contact details, number of guests and the relationship between them where one is a minor, plus contract, property and payment data³.

Penalties follow the national framework of Ley Orgánica 4/2015, and you do not additionally send anything to SES.HOSPEDAJES.

What if I manage properties across multiple regions?

This is the reality for many agencies: one property in Madrid, another in Barcelona, another in Bilbao. Operationally that means maintaining three parallel procedures:

• Madrid (and the rest of Spain): reporting to SES.HOSPEDAJES.
• Barcelona (Catalonia): reporting to the Mossos d’Esquadra.
• Bilbao (Basque Country): reporting to the Ertzaintza.

The data you collect from the guest is essentially the same across all three: the RD 933/2021 fields are the baseline. What differs is the submission channel and technical format.

In practice that forces you to:

• Configure separate credentials for each system. SES.HOSPEDAJES credentials don’t work for the Mossos or for the Ertzaintza.
• Learn each procedure’s deadlines and quirks.
• In digital workflows, ensure your tool can route submissions to the right system based on the property’s location.

What does RegistroViajero cover today?

As of today, RegistroViajero only submits guest reports to SES.HOSPEDAJES (Ministry of the Interior). That means:

• If all your properties are in territories that use SES.HOSPEDAJES (Madrid, Andalusia, Valencia, Galicia, Castilla y León, etc.), you’re our ideal use case.
• If you have any property in Catalonia or the Basque Country, today we can’t be your only solution. You’ll need to complement RegistroViajero with the specific tool or procedure for those regions.
• Integration with the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Ertzaintza is on our roadmap, but we can’t yet commit to a public release date. We’ll post updates on this blog.

This honesty is deliberate. We’d rather you know where the limits are before you try us, not after. If most of your portfolio is in Catalonia or the Basque Country, any tool that claims to cover “all of Spain” today should be able to demonstrate both integrations, not just SES.HOSPEDAJES.

Interim strategy: one check-in, submissions split by region

If your portfolio is mixed (part SES.HOSPEDAJES territory, part Catalonia or Basque Country), the cleanest operational pattern while you wait for unified integrations is:

1. Centralise digital check-in in a single tool. Guests always fill in their data through the same form, regardless of the region. That cuts friction and keeps the data consistent.
2. Split the submission by property: those in SES.HOSPEDAJES territory go automatically; those in Catalonia or the Basque Country are exported or entered into the relevant regional system.
3. Document the process for your team: who reports to which system and with which credentials.

It’s not ideal, but it’s what works while the technical ecosystem catches up, and it keeps administrative duplication to a minimum.

Which channel applies when the OTA does not name the region

Another common doubt: if an OTA marks the accommodation as “Spain” without specifying the region, what happens?

Nothing. The OTA plays no part in this decision, and neither regional order’s scope depends on it: the Catalan one applies to establishments “located in Catalonia”² and the Basque one to accommodation activities “carried out within the Autonomous Community of Euskadi”³. It is the property’s address, not the portal’s listing, that fixes the channel.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use SES.HOSPEDAJES in Catalonia or the Basque Country? SES.HOSPEDAJES is not the valid system in Catalonia or the Basque Country. In Catalonia the report goes to the Mossos d’Esquadra through the force’s website, and in the Basque Country to the Ertzaintza through the Basque Government’s electronic office. Your SES credentials do not work in either.

Do I have to send the guest report twice if the property is in Catalonia? You do not have to send the guest report twice: reporting to the regional force replaces the national channel rather than adding to it. The same holds for the Basque Country with the Ertzaintza.

What is the reporting deadline in Catalonia and the Basque Country? The deadline is 24 hours in both territories, although it is counted differently. In Catalonia it is twenty-four hours from the start of each person’s stay. In the Basque Country the report is immediate and, in any case, within 24 hours of the booking or the signing of the contract and of the start of the contracted services.

Who imposes the penalty if I fail to report? The penalty is imposed under Ley Orgánica 4/2015 on the protection of public safety, which is national law and applies identically across all three jurisdictions. The reporting channel changes; the penalty regime does not.

What if I let non-professionally in the Basque Country? If you let non-professionally in the Basque Country you are exempt from the computerised register and from retaining the information, but not from reporting the data, and you may report by non-electronic means. The duty to report stands.

Next steps

• If your business is in SES.HOSPEDAJES territory and you want to automate compliance, we explain how to automate guest registration end to end.
• For the full regulatory context, read what RD 933/2021 requires.
• For penalty amounts (which apply equally across all three jurisdictions), see the penalties for non-compliance.

This article is informational and does not replace legal advice. Procedures for the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Ertzaintza can change. Always cross-check with the official portals of the Department of Interior of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Department of Security of the Basque Government.