Originally Posted by
ajax
Does the law really require all non-British guests to give their passport details to hotel receptionists? I have stayed at many hotels in this country and have never been asked for them before.
This is a subject of which I have some knowledge because of an incident I was involved in some years ago...
The short answer is, yes, such a law exists (if you want full chapter and verse i can look it up for you when I'm next at home - the law dates back to something like the 1920s IIRC).
However (not relevant to this situation, but worth noting) this law is now incompatible with other more recent laws which require EU nationals to be the treated the same as British citizens, so if a hotel were to refuse to check in a citizen of another EU country because that person does not have their passport on them the hotel would be breaking those more recent laws. Some hotels have now amended their form to say "visitors from outside the EU".