Originally Posted by crystak

Is the sole purpose of the passport check nowadays to ensure that the person on the booking/ paying for the room is the one checking in, or is there a further security issue?

In the US for example there are the Hyatt check in kiosks so you can bypass this procedure, but this is not the case in Europe/ Asia, etc. (at least from my experience in Hyatts). Is this because there is an EU law forbidding automatic check-ins without confirmation of the person's identity? Or simply because the hotels dislike them?

If anyone knows what the reasoning is or can direct me to another website it would be greatly appreciated. I'm inquiring about this in relation to a university project.

Thanks