Traveller report or booking report: which one you have to send
SES Hospedajes has two distinct communication types, and the most repeated doubt is which of the two applies. We compare them field by field, with the text of Royal Decree 933/2021 and the Ministry of the Interior’s technical specification in front of us.
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They are not two names for the same thing: in SES Hospedajes the traveller report (parte de viajeros) and the booking report (reserva de hospedaje) are two distinct communication types, chosen from a drop-down before anything is sent. Article 6.3 of Royal Decree 933/2021 opens two deadlines —immediate and, at most, 24 hours, «respectivamente» (“respectively”)— from two different moments: when the booking is made or the contract is formalised, or cancelled, and when the contracted services begin. The booking report (RH) corresponds to the first moment and the traveller report (PV) to the second, and the decree contains no clause saying that one replaces the other. The practical difference lies in the data: the booking revolves around the contract holder and allows you not yet to know anyone’s date of birth or home address; the traveller report requires both for every person staying.
Are the traveller report and the booking report the same thing?
No. In SES Hospedajes they are two distinct communication types, and the system tells them apart with a two-letter code that travels in the header of every submission: PV for the traveller report (parte de viajeros) and RH for the booking report (reserva de hospedaje). The Ministry of the Interior’s technical specification accepts exactly four values —PV, RH, AV (vehicle rental) and RV (vehicle booking)— and returns an error if any other arrives.
Both come from the same article of Royal Decree 933/2021, article 6.3, which requires the travellers’ data and the transaction data to be transmitted at two different moments of a stay’s life cycle. The booking report covers the first; the traveller report, the second.
One detail trips up a lot of people: those two names do not come from the decree. Royal Decree 933/2021 speaks of «partes de entrada» (entry reports) in its article 4 and, in article 6, defines the communications by the moment at which they have to be made, without naming them. “Parte de viajeros” and “reserva de hospedaje” are the platform’s names: they are literally the two options of the «Seleccione un tipo de comunicación» drop-down shown in the Ministry’s visual guide. Searching the BOE for those terms and not finding them does not mean they do not exist.
That is why the question “which of the two do I send?” rarely has a single answer. For an accommodation that takes bookings, the usual answer is “both, at different moments”, and the doubt that remains is what data each one carries and who files it.
Official sources
- BOE-A-2021-17461 — Royal Decree 933/2021 of 26 October— Consolidated text in the BOE; article 6 sets the communication obligations
- hospedajes.ses.mir.es— Official Ministry of the Interior portal for the communications
- Procedure page on the Ministry of the Interior’s electronic office— The platform’s visual guide and the official FAQ hang from here
When is each one sent?
The deadline is the same in both cases —immediate and at most 24 hours— but it counts from different moments. That is exactly what prevents one communication from being swapped for the other: a booking formalised three months in advance has its own clock, which starts on the day it is signed, not on the day the guest walks through the door.
Article 6.3 puts cancellation in the same bag: if a booking that was already communicated is cancelled, the cancellation is another of the moments that open the deadline. The Ministry’s web service has a cancellation operation for that —operation type «B»— valid for all four communication types.
It is worth not confusing these two deadlines with the prior communication of article 6.1, which is something else: the lessor company’s (arrendador’s) and the establishment’s data are communicated once, before the activity starts, and are only communicated again if they change.
| Communication | Moment from which the deadline runs | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Booking report (RH) | When the booking is made or the contract is formalised or, where applicable, cancelled | Immediately and, in any case, no later than 24 hours |
| Traveller report (PV) | When the contracted services begin | Immediately and, in any case, no later than 24 hours |
Translation of article 6.3 of Royal Decree 933/2021, consolidated text in the BOE. Original: «Esta comunicación se realizará de manera inmediata, y en todo caso en un plazo no superior a 24 horas, respectivamente, a partir de los siguientes momentos: a) Al realizar la reserva o la formalización del contrato o, en su caso, su anulación. b) Al inicio de los servicios contratados.»
Booking report and traveller report, field by field
The table explains why the two communications exist separately. At the moment of booking you almost never know who is going to sleep there: you know who has contracted, which dates and how it is paid. The booking schema is built for that —it revolves around the contract holder and leaves date of birth and home address optional— whereas the traveller report’s schema requires those two data for every person staying and adds the document support number and the relationship of any minors.
There is one more asymmetry that trips up a lot of people. In the traveller report the establishment code goes once, at the top of the file, and all the communications in that submission belong to that establishment. In the booking report the establishment goes inside each communication, and it can go with the property’s details instead of the code: the specification reserves that option for entities that are not accommodation companies, because an accommodation company is required to state the code of one of its establishments.
The data each communication asks for is not something the platform invents: it comes from annex I of RD 933/2021, whose item 3 covers the travellers’ data and whose item 4 covers the transaction data, the contract, the property and the payment.
| Data | Booking report (RH) | Traveller report (PV) |
|---|---|---|
| Establishment | Its code or, if you do not have it, the property’s details | Establishment code, mandatory |
| Contract reference and date | Mandatory | Mandatory |
| Check-in and check-out | Mandatory; if the time is unknown, it is sent as 00:00:00 | Mandatory |
| Number of people | People on the booking | People staying |
| Payment details | Mandatory | Mandatory |
| Role of each person | Contract holder and travellers | Always traveller |
| First name and first surname | Mandatory | Mandatory |
| Identity document | Optional | Mandatory if the person is an adult |
| Document support number | The field does not exist | Mandatory if the document is a DNI or NIE |
| Date of birth | Optional | Mandatory |
| Home address | Optional | Mandatory |
| Phone or email | At least one | At least one |
| Relationship to a minor | The field does not exist | Mandatory if any traveller is a minor |
Source: MIR-HOSPE-DSI-WS — Servicio de Hospedajes, Comunicaciones v3.1.3 (schemas altaReservaHospedaje.xsd, altaParteHospedaje.xsd and tiposGenerales.xsd).
Which one is yours?
It depends on who holds the contract with the guest and where the accommodation is. These are the four cases that cover almost all real doubts:
- ✓Bookings through your own website, by phone or by email: the contract is yours, so both communications fall to you — the booking report when the contract is formalised and the traveller report when the stay begins.
- ✓Bookings through a platform (Airbnb, Booking and similar): RD 933/2021 also treats digital platforms that intermediate over the internet as obliged parties, whether or not they provide the underlying service. The Ministry’s official FAQ adds the tie-breaker: when several intermediary entities take part in the commercial relationship, the party obliged to communicate is «aquel que mantiene una relación contractual directa y final con el cliente» (the one that keeps a direct and final contractual relationship with the customer). Even so, confirm it rather than take it for granted. What never changes is the traveller report: it goes out from your establishment, with your credentials, and it is your responsibility.
- ✓Check-in without a prior booking: the formalisation of the contract and the start of the service happen almost at the same time, but article 6.3 still names them separately and makes no exception because they coincide in time.
- ✓Accommodation in Catalonia or the Basque Country: you do not communicate to SES Hospedajes, but to the Mossos d’Esquadra register or the Ertzaintza’s, which work with their own forms and formats. The distinction between the PV and RH types belongs to SES Hospedajes.
Related resources
- Royal Decree 933/2021 explained— Who is an obliged party, what deadlines apply and what penalties it provides for
- Traveller registration in Catalonia and the Basque Country— Why those two regions do not use SES Hospedajes
What happens if you send the wrong communication?
There are two answers, and the important one is the second.
The first is mechanical, and narrower than it looks: the system validates the type you declare, not whether it was the one that applied. The header of every submission carries the type, and the service returns error 10122 —«Tipo de comunicación no válido. Valores aceptados: PV, RH, AV, RV» (invalid communication type)— when the value is not one of those four, and error 10119 —«El arrendador no puede realizar ese tipo de comunicaciones» (the arrendador cannot make that type of communication)— when the arrendador does not have that type enabled in its registration. That second error is not fixed by touching the guest’s data: it is a problem with how the arrendador was registered. What the system will not tell you is that you sent a booking report where a traveller report was due, because both are perfectly valid communications.
The second is legal, and here it pays to be exact. Article 6.3 imposes the communication «respectivamente» from two moments, and nowhere in the decree is there a substitution clause: nothing says that sending one covers the other. Nor have we found a Ministry statement that resolves the question explicitly, so the honest thing is to stay with what the text says and not go further.
What is written down are the consequences of not communicating. Article 8 of the same royal decree classifies the omission of the mandatory communications as a serious infringement, in relation to article 36.20 of Organic Law 4/2015, and making the mandatory communications after the deadline as a minor infringement, in relation to article 37.9. The amounts are set by article 39.1 of that organic law: from €100 to €600 for minor ones and from €601 to €30,000 for serious ones. Neither category defines “getting the type wrong”: what is penalised is omitting a mandatory communication or filing it late.
If you have already sent something wrongly, the web service has the cancellation operation mentioned above. Use it with care: cancelling a batch that has already been filed cannot be undone, so first make sure the resubmission is going to work.
Related resources
- When a submission to SES Hospedajes fails— How to read the Ministry’s rejection and resubmit within the deadline
- Late traveller report— What happens if you exceed 24 hours: minor or serious infringement
- RD 933/2021 fines— Where the penalties come from and how they are graded
How BookCheckin handles it
The traveller report is automatic. As soon as the property has its Ministry credentials configured, BookCheckin collects each guest’s data through the check-in link —document, date of birth, home address, contact details and relationship when minors are present— and files the traveller report with SES Hospedajes.
The booking report is a separate feature, which comes switched off and is enabled property by property. When it is active, the booking is filed when the check-in link is created, and it needs two things: the guest’s phone or email —SES rejects a booking with no contact detail at all— and the check-in and check-out dates. If either is missing, BookCheckin blocks the submission and says so, instead of sending invented dates to a security register.
In both cases the Ministry resolves the submission asynchronously: the immediate response only returns a batch (lote) code, and the real verdict arrives later. BookCheckin checks the batch status until it has it and, if the Ministry rejects a booking, offers the resubmission again on the link’s detail page.
In Catalonia the flow is different and it is worth saying so clearly: BookCheckin prepares the travellers file in the official Mossos d’Esquadra format —once you have saved in the property the establishment identifier you were given when you registered— and you upload it to the portal yourself. We never send anything to the Mossos portal. With the Ertzaintza, in the Basque Country, it is the same: once you have saved the establishment code the Ertzaintza issued you on the property, BookCheckin prepares the XML file for its Registro Hostelero and you upload it to their portal yourself. Nor do we ever send anything to the Ertzaintza portal.
Related resources
- Traveller registration in Catalonia— What BookCheckin covers in Catalonia and what the host still does
To go further
If what you were looking for was the procedure and not the comparison, these guides tell it step by step:
Related resources
- What is SES Hospedajes— Registering the arrendador and the establishment, the data and the 24-hour deadline
- The traveller report: what it is and how to do it— The day-to-day obligation, from start to finish
- SES Hospedajes registration step by step— Every screen of the process, with the data it asks for
- SES Hospedajes not working: common errors and fixes— The errors SES returns and what they mean
- Traveller report template— The annex I fields as a PDF and Word file
How to communicate the booking report and the traveller report for the same stay
The five steps of a booked stay, from the moment the contract is formalised until you keep the traveller report’s receipt.
- 1
Register the arrendador and the establishment
In the Ministry of the Interior’s electronic office, register the holder company or individual and each property. That gives you the arrendador code and the establishment code that identify all your submissions. This is the prior communication of article 6.1 and it is done only once.
- 2
Communicate the booking when the contract is formalised
Article 6.3.a opens the first deadline when the booking is made or the contract is formalised. The booking report (RH) communication carries the establishment, the contract and payment details and the contract holder with their phone or email.
- 3
Collect each traveller’s data before arrival
The traveller report requires, for each person staying, first name, first surname, date of birth and home address, and the document with its support number when it is a DNI or NIE and the person is an adult. Collecting them with an online check-in avoids asking for them at the desk.
- 4
Send the traveller report when the stay begins
Article 6.3.b opens the second deadline when the contracted services begin. The traveller report (PV) communication carries all the people staying, always with the traveller role, and is sent immediately and in any case within 24 hours.
- 5
Keep the batch code and the record
Every submission returns a batch (lote) code that identifies the communication and serves as a receipt. Article 5.3 requires keeping the electronic record for three years from the end of the contracted service.
Frequently asked questions
What do I choose to add someone who is staying: traveller report or booking report?+
The traveller report. It is the communication that identifies the people staying, and its deadline starts when the contracted services begin. The booking report communicates something else —the contract— and its deadline starts when it is formalised. If the stay came from a booking, both communications exist, but the one that “adds” the person who sleeps there is the traveller report.
What is the difference between the traveller report and the booking report?+
The moment and the data. The booking report (type RH) is communicated when the contract is formalised or cancelled and revolves around the contract holder; the traveller report (type PV) is communicated when the stay begins and revolves around each person staying. In the Ministry’s schema, the booking leaves date of birth and home address optional and has no relationship field or document support number field; the traveller report requires date of birth and home address, and asks for the relationship when a minor is travelling.
What do PV and RH mean in SES Hospedajes?+
They are the communication type codes that travel in the header of every submission: PV is the traveller report (parte de viajeros) and RH the booking report (reserva de hospedaje). The Ministry’s technical specification accepts four, and the other two belong to vehicle rental: AV (vehicle rental) and RV (vehicle booking). Any other value is rejected with error 10122.
Do I have to send both communications for the same stay?+
Article 6.3 of RD 933/2021 opens two distinct deadlines, and says so with one word: «respectivamente». One starts when the booking is made or the contract is formalised —or cancelled— and the other when the contracted services begin. They are two moments, not one to choose from, and the decree contains no clause saying that complying at one covers the other; nor have we found a Ministry statement that resolves it explicitly, so this is what the text says, not a closed interpretation. Who files each communication is a separate question, and it depends on who keeps the direct and final contractual relationship with the customer.
If I take bookings through Airbnb or Booking, do I have to send the booking report myself?+
RD 933/2021 also treats digital platforms that intermediate over the internet as obliged parties, whether or not they provide the underlying service, so communicating the booking may fall to the platform when it is the one that keeps the contractual relationship with the guest. Do not take it for granted without confirming it. The traveller report, on the other hand, always goes out from your establishment and with your credentials.
If the guest books and checks in the same day, are there still two communications?+
The text makes no exception because the two moments coincide: article 6.3 still names the formalisation of the contract and the start of the service separately. But no official document we have found —neither the decree, nor the Ministry’s FAQ, nor the platform’s guide— expressly addresses check-in without a prior booking. If that is your case, ask your gestoría (the administrative agent that handles your paperwork) or the Ministry itself before you stop sending one of the two.
Does the booking report need the traveller’s identity document?+
It does not require it. In the booking schema, the document type and number are optional, as are date of birth and home address. What is mandatory is at least one contact detail —phone, second phone or email— and that one of the people goes with the contract holder role. Documents are required in the traveller report, and there, yes, for every adult.
Do I also have to communicate the cancellation of a booking?+
Article 6.3.a expressly names the cancellation of the contract as one of the moments that open the 24-hour deadline, and the Ministry’s web service has a cancellation operation —operation type «B»— valid for all four communication types. Bear in mind that cancelling a batch that has already been filed cannot be undone, so it is wise to make sure the resubmission is going to work before cancelling anything.
What happens if I send the wrong communication type?+
It depends on what you mean by wrong. If the type value is not one of the four the system accepts, the submission is rejected with error 10122; and if your arrendador does not have that type enabled, with 10119, «El arrendador no puede realizar ese tipo de comunicaciones» —a problem with the arrendador’s registration, not with the guest’s data—. But if you send a valid booking where a traveller report was due, the system accepts it, because both are valid communications. And what is penalised is not getting the type wrong, which no rule defines, but omitting a mandatory communication —a serious infringement under article 8 of RD 933/2021 in relation to article 36.20 of Organic Law 4/2015— or filing it late, which is minor in relation to article 37.9.
Do minors appear in the booking report?+
The booking schema has no relationship field, so the relationship to the accompanying adult is not communicated there. It is communicated in the traveller report, which requires it when any of the travellers is a minor. Article 4.2 of RD 933/2021 adds two more rules: the data of children under fourteen is supplied by the adult they accompany, and the signature is only asked for from fourteen onwards.
And if my accommodation is in Catalonia or the Basque Country?+
Then the distinction does not apply to you: the reports go to the Mossos d’Esquadra register or the Ertzaintza’s, not to SES Hospedajes, and the PV and RH types belong to SES Hospedajes. BookCheckin covers the Catalan case by preparing the travellers file in the official format for you to upload to the Mossos portal yourself; we never send anything ourselves. With the Ertzaintza, in the Basque Country, it is the same: once you have saved the establishment code the Ertzaintza issued you on the property, BookCheckin prepares the XML file for its Registro Hostelero and you upload it to their portal yourself; nor do we send anything ourselves there.
Does BookCheckin send both communications?+
The traveller report, yes, as long as the property has its Ministry credentials configured: the data is collected through the check-in link and the report goes out by itself. The booking report is a separate feature that comes switched off and is enabled per property; when it is active, the booking is filed when the check-in link is created and it needs the guest’s phone or email and the check-in and check-out dates. In both cases the Ministry resolves asynchronously and BookCheckin checks the batch status until it has the verdict.
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