Which documents SES Hospedajes accepts for foreign guests —passport, NIE and an EU national ID—, when to send the support number, how to avoid the nationality rejection, and what the Spanish DPA says about copying the document.
Which documents SES Hospedajes accepts
With a foreign guest, the first question is which document is valid. SES Hospedajes works with a closed catalogue of document types, and choosing the right one is what makes the rest of the fields validate. In short:
| Traveller profile | Document | Has a support number? |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish national | DNI (NIF) | Yes |
| Foreigner resident in Spain | NIE / TIE | Yes |
| EU / EEA citizen | National identity document of their country | No |
| Any nationality | Passport | No |
A passport is valid for any foreign traveller; an EU citizen may also identify with their national identity document. The support number is only sent with a DNI and a NIE.
The support number: only for DNI and NIE
The support number is the most common source of confusion with foreign guests. It is a value found only on the DNI card and the NIE/TIE card — not on a passport or another country’s identity document. It identifies the physical copy of the card and changes each time the card is renewed.
Its formats are fixed: on the DNI it is three letters followed by six digits (for example, BMP123456); on the NIE/TIE it is an "E" followed by eight digits (for example, E12345678). A mistake that gets the submission rejected is trying to send a support number with a passport: since the passport does not have one, the system returns the communication. The rule is simple: support number only with DNI and NIE; never with a passport or an EU ID document.
Nationality: pick it from the list, do not type it
Nationality is another classic rejection with foreigners. The system expects a country code from the official list; if it is typed by hand ("Germany", "Alemania", "DE"…), the value can easily fail to match a recognised code and the communication bounces.
The fix is always to select the country from the list rather than typing it. That way the code that travels is correct and does not depend on how the front-desk clerk or the guest spelled it. It is a purely mechanical error: it does not require asking the traveller anything, just choosing well.
Copying the document: what the Spanish DPA says
It is worth being precise here, because there is a lot of confusion. Since June 2025, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has clarified that it is not permitted to keep a copy of the guest’s DNI or passport — no photocopy, no scan, no phone photo that is retained. What the law requires you to collect is the Annex I data, not an image of the document.
This fits how a good check-in should work: the goal is to capture the correct data, not to accumulate images of documents. Verifying identity and transferring the required fields is enough; keeping a photograph of the passport is exactly what the AEPD advises against.
How BookCheckin solves it
BookCheckin is built precisely for this scenario. The guest scans their own document with the phone camera and the system extracts the data via OCR — text reading — with no biometric verification and no facial recognition. It selects the correct document type (DNI, NIE, passport or other), sends the support number only when it applies, and takes nationality as a valid country code, avoiding the rejection caused by typing it by hand.
And in line with the AEPD criterion, we do not store the document image: we use it to read the data and do not keep it. That way the report is filed complete and correct for any nationality, without keeping copies you should not hold. You can start with a single property, no minimums.
Related resources
- SES Hospedajes guide— What it is, who must comply and what data the traveller report requires
- Traveller report template— The mandatory fields for each traveller, so you collect them without errors
- SES Hospedajes registration step by step— How to register and file your first report