What is the parte de viajeros (and what has replaced it)?
The parte de viajeros was the traditional guest-registration form every Spanish hospedaje had to fill in and send to the Policía Nacional or Guardia Civil. It was the regime under Orden INT/1922/2003. It has been replaced by SES.Hospedajes (Real Decreto 933/2021, operational from 2 October 2024) — the name is still used out of habit, but the system itself no longer exists in its old form.
The parte de viajeros stems from the obligation, historically regulated by Orden INT/1922/2003, that any natural or legal person carrying out hospedaje activity must keep a libro-registro of travellers. Every guest over 16 signed a form with their data (name, surnames, DNI/passport, nationality, date of birth, sex, address, date of entry). The forms were transmitted to the police forces competent on public-security matters — in many regions on paper, and from 2018 increasingly through online systems.
The system had multiple limitations: each autonomous community ran its own portal (Hospederías for Policía Nacional, Webpol in Catalonia, etc.), the fields were not fully harmonised, and data entry was manual or by bulk-upload. What stayed stable was the logic: the host reported within 24 hours the identity of each guest to the security forces, as a public-order measure.
All of this changes with Real Decreto 933/2021, which sets up a single regime, replaces the parte de viajeros with electronic transmission to SES.Hospedajes (Sistema de Entrada de Sedes de Hospedajes, run by the Dirección General de la Policía), harmonises the fields across Spain, and extends the subjective scope (also covers vehicle rental). It came into force for hospedaje on 2 October 2024 after several deferrals. From that date the "parte de viajeros" as such is no longer filed — replaced by the SES.Hospedajes report (and, in Catalonia, the preserved Ordre IRP/418/2010 keeps an additional report to the Mossos d'Esquadra).
Operationally, what used to be called "parte de viajeros" is today: collecting guest data before arrival (what the sector calls pre-check-in), sending it to SES.Hospedajes through the XML/JSON API or the MIR web portal within 24 hours of check-in, and retaining the information for 3 years per RD 933/2021. The list of fields has grown compared to the classic parte — it now includes número de soporte of the DNI/NIE, kinship for minors, home address, phone, email, and payment data where applicable.
Why it matters
If you have inherited pre-2024 material or procedures (handbook from a previous gestor, legacy hotel software, regional tourism guide), it likely still mentions "parte de viajeros", "libro-registro de viajeros" or "Hospederías". That terminology no longer reflects the current system — what you now have to do is report to SES.Hospedajes. If your gestor still talks about "parte de viajeros" without nuance, that is a sign that their procedure may be out of date — worth verifying the data really lands in the right system.