Guest registration in the Basque Country: complying with the Ertzaintza
In the Basque Country, the traveller report does not go to SES Hospedajes: it is filed with the Ertzaintza registry. Who must report, how it works, the penalties, and how BookCheckin covers the Basque Country: digital check-in, and the Ertzaintza file prepared for you to upload.
Start freeIn brief
In brief: in the Basque Country the traveller report is not sent to SES Hospedajes but to the Ertzaintza (the Basque Country’s autonomous police force) electronic registry. The deadline is 24 hours from the guest’s arrival and the register is kept for three years, as in the rest of Spain (RD 933/2021). Penalties follow Organic Law 4/2015: €100 to €600 for minor infringements and €601 to €30,000 for serious ones. BookCheckin supports accommodation in the Basque Country: add the establishment code the Ertzaintza issued you on the property’s Legal tab and switch it on, and the check-in link, the ID scan and the signature work end to end. BookCheckin then prepares the file in the XML format of the Ertzaintza’s Registro Hostelero, and you download it and upload it in their portal with your own login. BookCheckin never signs in to that portal and holds no Ertzaintza credential.
The Basque Country does not report to SES Hospedajes
SES Hospedajes is the state platform of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, but in the Basque Country authority over guest registration lies with the Ertzaintza. Basque accommodations report their guests’ data to the regional police’s electronic registry.
Just as in Catalonia with the Mossos d’Esquadra, this is not an extra duty but a different recipient: the reporting obligation of Royal Decree 933/2021 is discharged in the Basque Country before the Ertzaintza. A report for a Bilbao flat sent to SES Hospedajes does not fulfil the obligation.
Official sources
- ertzaintza.euskadi.eus— Official Ertzaintza portal (Basque Government) — guest registration
- BOE-A-2021-17461 — Royal Decree 933/2021— The state regulation behind the registration duty
Who must report in the Basque Country
The obligation covers every accommodation activity located in the Basque Country, whatever its size:
- ✓Hotels, hostels and guest houses.
- ✓Homes and rooms for tourist use and their managers.
- ✓Agrotourism properties and rural houses.
- ✓Campsites and motorhome areas.
- ✓Managers and platforms intermediating the rental of these accommodations.
How registration with the Ertzaintza works
The channel is electronic: the Ertzaintza runs its own guest-registration service where the establishment enrols and reports guest arrivals. Enrolment and instructions are handled through the Basque Government’s official channels.
The deadline matches the state rule: data is reported within 24 hours of arrival, and the guest register must be kept for three years, available for inspection.
The fields follow the traveller-report logic: guest identification, document, date of birth, nationality and stay details. Always copy them exactly as printed on the document — manual transcription is the most common source of defective records.
Penalties: what is at stake
The sanctioning regime is Organic Law 4/2015 on the protection of public safety: irregularities in completing the registers are a minor infringement, fined €100 to €600, and failing to meet the documentary-registration obligations can be a serious infringement, fined €601 to €30,000.
No intent is required: one late report or one unreported guest is enough. In high season, every week without a system compounds the risk.
Official sources
- BOE-A-2015-3442 — Organic Law 4/2015— Public-safety law (sanctioning regime)
The Basque Country and SES Hospedajes: two systems, one duty
If you manage properties inside and outside the Basque Country, two recipients coexist: Basque properties report to the Ertzaintza; properties in regions without their own police registry report to SES Hospedajes. Catalonia, with the Mossos d’Esquadra, is the other regional-registry case.
The data the report requires is the same across Spain: guest identification, document, date of birth, nationality and stay details. What changes by region is which registry each report is filed with.
Can I use BookCheckin for a property in the Basque Country?
Yes. On the property’s Legal tab, add the establishment code the Ertzaintza issued you and switch it on. It is a one-time step, the Basque equivalent of saving your SES credentials elsewhere in Spain: until that code is on file the property cannot create check-in links; once it is, check-in works end to end. If you cannot find your code, write to us and we will look at it with you.
From there the journey is the usual one: you send the guest the link, they fill in their details, scan their document and sign on their phone. BookCheckin takes that data and prepares the XML file for the Ertzaintza’s Registro Hostelero, ready to submit, and you download it whenever you like.
The final step is yours, and that is by design. BookCheckin never signs in to the Ertzaintza portal, never sends anything on your behalf and holds no credential for it. You sign in to the Registro Hostelero with your own login and upload the file under “Envío fichero” within 24 hours.
The Ertzaintza’s Registro Hostelero is the most recent route we have opened. If their portal rejects a file, tell us from the contact page — or from Support inside your dashboard — with the error message, and we will fix it.
If your portfolio includes properties outside the Basque Country and Catalonia, those file themselves: BookCheckin has more than 9,000 accepted reports on SES Hospedajes. In Catalonia and the Basque Country, by contrast, BookCheckin prepares the file and you upload it.
Here is what a Basque stay looks like day to day:
- ✓Once: you add and confirm the Ertzaintza establishment code on the property’s Legal tab.
- ✓For every booking: you create the check-in link, and the guest fills in their details, scans their document and signs on their phone.
- ✓BookCheckin prepares the XML file for the Registro Hostelero with the guests who are ready, and downloads it for you.
- ✓You upload it under “Envío fichero” within 24 hours and mark it as uploaded in BookCheckin.
Related resources
- Mossos and Ertzaintza vs SES Hospedajes — blog article— The two regional regimes compared in 5 minutes
- Traveller report template (PDF & Word)— Free model with the Annex I fields for collecting the data
- The traveller report — complete guide— The general obligation, explained
- Contact page— If the portal rejects a file, tell us with the error message
Frequently asked questions
My property is in Bilbao or San Sebastián — do I enrol it in SES Hospedajes?+
No. Accommodations located in the Basque Country report their guests to the Ertzaintza registry, not to SES Hospedajes. The state platform is for establishments in the rest of Spain, except Catalonia, which reports to the Mossos d’Esquadra.
What is the deadline for reporting to the Ertzaintza?+
In the Basque Country, 24 hours from the guest’s arrival to report to the Ertzaintza — the same deadline as in the rest of Spain. The guest register must also be kept for three years.
What happens if I do not report guests in the Basque Country?+
Non-compliance is sanctioned under Organic Law 4/2015: €100 to €600 for minor infringements and €601 to €30,000 where it qualifies as serious.
Does BookCheckin file the reports with the Ertzaintza?+
That upload is yours to make, and that is by design. What BookCheckin does is everything before it — check-in, document scan, signature — and prepare the XML file for the Ertzaintza’s Registro Hostelero, which you download and upload yourself in their portal with your own login. BookCheckin never signs in to the Ertzaintza portal, never sends anything on your behalf and holds no credential for it. For your properties outside Catalonia and the Basque Country, filing with SES Hospedajes is automatic.
What do I need to start using BookCheckin in the Basque Country?+
The establishment code the Ertzaintza issued you. You add it on the property’s Legal tab and switch it on: until then the property cannot create check-in links, and from that point on check-in, document scanning and signature work normally and BookCheckin leaves the XML file ready for you to upload.
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Property in the Basque Country? Automate its check-in
Add the Ertzaintza establishment code and you are set: verified data, scanned documents, digital signatures and the Ertzaintza XML file prepared for you to upload to their portal. Everywhere else in Spain the SES Hospedajes submission is automatic.
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