Registering Minors in Spain: Guest Report Rules by Age

A family with children walks into the apartment and check-in stalls: the baby carries no document, the fifteen-year-old does, and the form wants a “relationship” field nobody ever explained.

The slips here are not harmless. Registering a ten-year-old as an adult can end in a rejection from the Ministry, and forgetting a teenager’s parentesco leaves the communication incomplete even though you believe you filed it.

Royal Decree 933/2021 sorts minors into age brackets¹, the idea being to keep the register compliant without asking the impossible of a three-year-old. Here they are, case by case.

The general rule: three age brackets

The line at 14 comes from article 4.2 of RD 933/2021, the one that sets who signs. Its wording is “toda persona mayor de catorce años”, and the question of what happens to someone who has just turned fourteen is settled by the next sentence of the same paragraph: the route where an adult supplies the data is reserved for people under fourteen². Anyone who has reached that birthday therefore signs.

The relationship does not follow that line. Annex I asks for it “en el caso de que alguno [de los viajeros] sea menor de edad”³, so it has to be declared for any guest under 18, whether they are 6 or 17. The rest, meaning which fields are asked for in each band, is how the portal and compliance software apply these rules in practice, not a per-age list the decree spells out.

Children under 14: the accompanying adult supplies their data

A widespread misunderstanding is worth undoing here: children under 14 do not drop off the record. Article 5.1 of RD 933/2021 says the opposite outright, including “los datos de las personas menores de catorce años” among the data the property must hold⁴. What the rule does not ask of them is a signature, and in practice not a document of their own either: the adult they travel with supplies their data, and they count toward the total occupancy.

The reservation holder indicates that they are travelling with them, declares the relationship linking them to each child, and the accommodation records the correct total occupancy for the night. That’s all.

Do I have to register a baby on the guest report?

Yes, in the sense that matters: the baby is on the record. Ages 0 to 13 are handled the same way throughout, so a three-month-old counts as a companion exactly like a ten-year-old, with their data supplied by the accompanying adult and no signature asked of either child.

Why are children under 14 not asked for ID or a signature?

Two solid reasons:

1. In Spain the DNI is not mandatory until 14, so asking a baby for an official document makes no sense.
2. They travel under the responsibility of an adult who is already identified, and oversight runs through that person, who supplies their data and answers for it.

Ages 14 to 17: full registration and their own signature

Teenagers aged 14 to 17 do get registered like any adult, with two differences: they are still minors in law, so the relationship (parentesco) to an accompanying adult on the same reservation must be declared, and in exchange they now sign for themselves.

The signature is what separates them from under-14s. Article 4.2 of RD 933/2021 requires the entry report to be signed by “every person over fourteen years of age” who uses the lodging services², so in this bracket the teenager signs, not the adult travelling with them.

The two ages are worth keeping apart, because they get mixed up daily: a 16-year-old guest is still a minor in law, but signs the guest report like anyone else. The signature threshold sits at 14, not at 18.

This is where most mistakes happen.

Which ID documents SES.HOSPEDAJES accepts for a minor

In Spain, the DNI is mandatory from age 14 (Royal Decree 255/2025, which replaced 1553/2005 on 2 April 2025)⁵, so the vast majority of Spanish minors in this bracket have one and register with it.

Annex I of RD 933/2021 names three document types, and only three: DNI, passport and TIE³.

• DNI, which also requires the support number, printed on the front of the card.
• TIE, the card held by foreign residents in Spain, and the one that carries the NIE.
• Passport, the usual document for foreign travellers in this age group.

There is a fourth case the decree does not name and the front desk sees daily: the national identity card of another country. It is not on the Annex list, but SES.HOSPEDAJES takes it under the type OTRO, which is where practice maps it. The full breakdown is in NIE, TIE, NIF and DNI.

If the minor has a DNI or NIE, the second surname must also be entered. And if they present it through MiDNI, the digital DNI, it carries the same validity as the physical card from April 2026.

Minor without an ID document: how to register in SES.HOSPEDAJES

Real case: a foreign 15-year-old without an individual passport, travelling with a family book or a national ID document.

Options, in order of preference:

1. Passport if they have one, even if the minor hasn’t turned 14 in their country.
2. National ID document from the country of origin, if it’s an official individual ID.
3. If no individual document exists, document the case within the reservation by linking the minor to the accompanying adult’s document and declaring the relationship. For edge cases, check with the competent authority.

The family book (libro de familia) is not a personal ID for the minor. It proves a family relationship; it doesn’t identify anyone.

What to put in the parentesco field for a minor

It’s the family or guardianship relationship between the minor and the accompanying adult. The values supported by SES.HOSPEDAJES include:

• Father / Mother
• Guardian
• Grandfather / Grandmother
• Uncle / Aunt
• Brother / Sister
• Other

The list is not closed: the Ministry itself accepts recording whatever title grounds the adult’s responsibility, giving tutor, profesor and monitor deportivo as examples⁶. The check-in form must allow one of these to be selected and linked to the specific adult acting as companion. It’s not enough to say “travelling with an adult”; you have to say which one.

A 16-year-old with their own DNI: is parentesco still required?

Yes. As long as the guest is a minor (until the day before they turn 18), declaring the relationship is mandatory. It doesn’t matter that the teenager has their own DNI and travels without their direct parents: you still indicate the relationship to the adult on the same reservation.

A minor travelling without a direct relative: trips and camps

Typical cases: school trips, summer camps, youth sports teams. The companion is usually the monitor, teacher, or group leader acting as a temporary guardian. The declared relationship is “guardian” or “other” depending on the documentation provided.

If the minor travels alone (uncommon in this age bracket but not impossible), consult the competent authority. Admission of unaccompanied minors to tourist accommodations is generally subject to explicit parental authorisation and may raise concerns from the accommodation, regardless of the registration regulations.

From age 18: standard regime

From the age of majority, registration is identical to that of any adult: full data, no relationship declared, no mandatory companion. The signature is the one thing that does not change at 18, because the guest has been signing their own report since 14.

The case of “Guest 1” (the reservation holder)

The first registered guest of each reservation is, by convention, the reservation holder: the person who contracts the accommodation and bears primary responsibility for the rest of the guests’ data being correct.

In practice, the holder is always of legal age. Minors never appear as holders.

Common mistakes when registering minors

After processing thousands of check-ins, these are the ones that come up most.

1. Registering a minor under 14 as an adult

Out of habit, some operators fill out a report for each person on the reservation, young children included. It isn’t necessary, and it can trigger rejections from the Ministry if the DNI data is invalid (because the child has none).

Fix: mark the minor as a companion and let the system count them toward total occupancy without requesting a document.

2. Forgetting parentesco for a guest under 18

This is where the underlying error costs most, because many people believe the relationship is only asked for from 14 onwards. It is not: if any guest under 18 is registered without declaring a relationship to an adult on the same reservation, the Ministry returns a validation error and the communication is not considered complete. A family with a six-year-old fails on exactly this.

Fix: the form should force the selection of a relationship whenever the guest’s date of birth is less than 18 years ago, not only in the 14-to-17 bracket.

3. Confusing DNI and support number

The support number is an additional identifier on the Spanish DNI (alphanumeric format like “AAA123456”). It’s different from the DNI number, and it’s required when the document type is DNI.

Fix: the form should ask for it explicitly, with a visual example of where it appears on the document.

4. Second surname missing on DNI/NIE

Spanish documents always have two surnames. If the form doesn’t require it and you submit with one, the Ministry’s validation fails.

Fix: the “second surname” field should be mandatory whenever the document type is DNI or NIE.

Data protection and minors

This is the part that gets overlooked most. GDPR and the Spanish LOPDGDD give minors’ data enhanced protection.

The legal basis for processing in guest registration is compliance with a legal obligation (RD 933/2021), not consent. Even so, four practices are worth keeping:

• Don’t collect more data than the Ministry requires (data minimisation).
• Delete or anonymise once the 3-year retention window the rule sets has passed.
• Restrict access to personal data to authorised accommodation staff.
• Ask for no ID and no signature below 14: that data comes from the adult accompanying the child. From 14 to 17, by contrast, the report is signed by the minor themselves, as article 4.2 of RD 933/2021 requires.

FAQ

Do children have to be registered on the guest report in Spain? Yes, children do have to be registered, and age changes the how rather than the whether. Article 5.1 of RD 933/2021 expressly includes the data of children under fourteen, so they are on the record and count toward total occupancy; what is not asked of them is a signature or a document of their own, because the adult they travel with supplies their data. From 14 to 17 the record is complete and the minor signs it themselves. The relationship to an adult on the same booking is declared for any guest under 18, whatever their age, because Annex I asks for it as soon as one of the travellers is a minor. From 18, the standard adult regime applies.

Which ID is valid for a minor aged 14 to 17? The IDs valid for a minor aged 14 to 17 are a DNI (the support number and second surname are also required), an NIE, a passport, or an official ID document from the country of origin. The family book does not work as identification: it proves a family relationship, but it does not identify the minor. And if the minor presents the DNI through MiDNI, it carries the same validity as the physical card from April 2026.

Who signs the guest report for a minor? The guest report for a minor is signed by the minor themselves from age 14, not by the adult accompanying them: article 4.2 of RD 933/2021 requires the entry report to be signed by every person over fourteen who uses the accommodation, and reserves the adult-supplied route for people under fourteen, which puts anyone who has reached that birthday on the signing side. Below 14 the minor does not sign, and their data comes from the adult they are travelling with. Be careful with the shortcut of reading “minor” as “does not sign”: a 16-year-old guest is a minor and signs their report. In both brackets it is worth keeping the practices the enhanced GDPR and LOPDGDD protection of minors’ data calls for: not collecting more data than required, restricting access to authorised staff, and deleting or anonymising after the 3-year retention window the rule sets.

Do I need parental authorisation to accommodate a minor in Spain? Parental authorisation is not something RD 933/2021 requires: it governs the guest report, not the conditions for admitting a guest. That side is governed by the minor’s legal capacity and, where applicable, by your region’s tourism rules and your own house policy. In practice, many properties ask for written authorisation signed by a parent or guardian, with a copy of their ID, when the minor is not travelling with a responsible adult. That is your decision rather than a guest-registration obligation, and it is worth putting in your booking conditions so nobody is surprised at check-in. If you are unsure about your region, confirm it against its tourism regulations.

Can a minor book and stay alone in Spain? For a minor, booking and staying alone are two separate things, worth keeping apart. For the report, a guest aged 14 to 17 is registered like any other, with complete data. For the booking, an unemancipated minor has limited capacity to contract, so the contract is normally signed by an adult. Again, that is a matter of civil law and house policy, not of RD 933/2021. If you do accept unaccompanied minors, put it in writing in your conditions and keep the authorisation on file.

What relationship do I declare on a school trip or summer camp? On a school trip or summer camp you declare the relationship of the adult acting as temporary guardian. When the minor is not travelling with a direct relative, that companion is usually the monitor, teacher, or group leader. The declared relationship is “guardian” or “other”, depending on the documentation provided, and it must be linked to the specific adult listed on the same reservation.

How RegistroViajero handles minors in the guest report

At RegistroViajero the minor registration flow comes ready out of the box:

• Automatic detection by age. The form detects whether the guest is under 14, between 14 and 17, or an adult, and adapts the required fields in real time.
• Relationship required for any guest under 18, linked to the specific accompanying adult on the reservation.
• Chained validations. If you choose DNI, it asks for the second surname and the support number. If you choose passport, it doesn’t.
• Signature by age: requested from the guest themselves from 14, skipped below that, where the companion supplies the data.
• Automatic deletion after 3 years, the period set by article 5.3 of RD 933/2021.

You can get more context in what RD 933/2021 requires, how to automate guest registration when family groups repeat, the penalties provided for by the law, and how to obtain SES.HOSPEDAJES credentials.

If you manage an accommodation with high family turnover, see how RegistroViajero works.

This article is informational. For specific cases (unaccompanied minors, judicial guardianship, emergency accommodation, etc.), consult your legal advisor or the competent authority.