Guest register in Slovakia: what it must contain

Anyone in Slovakia who provides accommodation under an accommodation contract must keep a guest register, known in Slovak as the kniha ubytovaných. Under the law on reporting residence, it contains the guest's full name, ID card or travel document number, permanent address and length of stay. For foreign guests you add nationality and date of birth, and for tourist tax purposes also the date of birth, type of ID document and number of nights. Your municipality (obec) can add further requirements in its local bylaw (VZN, všeobecne záväzné nariadenie, a generally binding regulation), such as numbered pages or a phone number for the guest.

Three laws, one register

The rules for the guest register are not in a single piece of legislation. Three laws overlap, plus your municipality's bylaw, so it pays to keep one register that satisfies all of them at once.

Act on Reporting Residence of Citizens (zákon č. 253/1998 Z. z., § 24)

Individuals and companies that provide services under an accommodation contract must keep a guest register with the following details:

• the guest's first name and surname,
• ID card (občiansky preukaz) or travel document number,
• permanent address,
• length of stay.

On request, you must provide the data in the register to state authorities responsible for protecting the constitutional order, internal order, security and defence of the state.

Act on the Residence of Foreigners (zákon č. 404/2011 Z. z., § 113)

Under this law, a foreigner is anyone who is not a citizen of the Slovak Republic, so this includes guests from Czechia or Poland. The accommodation provider must:

• verify the identity of the foreign guest on arrival,
• also record their nationality and date of birth in the guest register,
• make sure the residence report form is completed and delivered to the police within five days,
• allow the police to enter the premises for inspection.

For this law, an accommodation provider means a legal entity or a self-employed individual (fyzická osoba – podnikateľ) providing accommodation under an accommodation contract. We explain the reporting procedure in detail in our article Reporting foreign guests.

Local Taxes Act (zákon č. 582/2004 Z. z., § 41a(2))

Whoever is liable to collect the tourist tax (daň za ubytovanie) keeps detailed records of everyone they have accommodated, on paper or electronically, in the form of a register. It contains:

• first name and surname,
• permanent address,
• date of birth,
• number and type of identity document (ID card, passport or other document),
• length of stay, i.e. the number of nights,
• any other records needed to calculate the tax correctly.

The register must be kept clearly, with entries in chronological order according to when the tax liability arose.

What municipalities add

In its bylaw on local taxes, the municipality sets out what the register must contain and how it is checked. Three real examples show how much this can vary:

• Liptovský Ján (VZN č. 2/2025, § 15): the register contains name and surname, ID card or passport number, permanent address, arrival and departure dates and the amount of tax collected. The pages must be numbered, and the register must be presented to the municipality for verification when the tax liability arises. If you issue a receipt from a cash register, you record its number and date in the register.
• Demänovská Dolina (VZN č. 4/2025, § 18 and 19): the content of the register follows the law, you present the register during inspections, and when payment goes through a cash register you record the receipt number and payment date.
• Horná Lehota (VZN č. 1/2025, § 14): the register must have numbered pages and must be taken to the municipal office (obecný úrad) for stamping within 30 days of the tax liability arising. On top of the usual details it requires the date of birth, at least one phone number for the guest and the reason for any exemption from the tax.

One combined list of fields

If you want a single register that meets the law and the bylaws of the municipalities above, record:

It is worth recording nationality for every guest: you can see straight away who needs a foreign guest residence report.

Paper or electronic register

The Local Taxes Act allows both. With an electronic register, bear in mind that some bylaws assume a paper book (numbered pages, official stamp). If your municipality has such a requirement, ask how to meet it with an electronic register.

For foreign guests, an electronic register also makes reporting to the police easier. In its electronic service "Zápis do knihy ubytovaných" (entry in the guest register), the Ministry of the Interior lets you enter foreign guests manually via a form or in bulk by importing an XML file from an electronic guest register. It also points out that you are still obliged to make sure the official form is completed, keep it for two years and present the original on request.

Recording guests in practice: from booking to departure

1. At booking, find out the number of guests and their nationality, so you know whether you will need a form for the Foreign Police (cudzinecká polícia) for anyone.
2. On arrival, ask for identity documents and record every guest, including children: name, permanent address, date of birth, type and number of document.
3. For foreign guests, add nationality and date of birth and have them sign the residence report form.
4. For exempt guests, record the reason, for example the number of a disability card (preukaz ŤZP), if your municipality's bylaw requires it.
5. When the tax is paid, issue a receipt and, depending on the bylaw, record the amount of tax or the cash register receipt number.
6. On departure, add the departure date and number of nights, which then form the basis of your report to the municipality.

If you fill in the register afterwards from your bookings, dates of birth and document numbers are easily missing. It is simpler to collect the details directly from guests on arrival, or even before.

Personal data in the register

The register contains guests' personal data, so protect it against loss and unauthorised access, and do not ask for more data than the law and your municipality's bylaw require. Do not leave a paper register lying around at reception or in a hallway, and protect an electronic register with a password.

Who can inspect the register

• The municipality, as the authority administering the tourist tax, for example during a tax inspection or on request (the bylaws of Demänovská Dolina and Horná Lehota say so explicitly).
• The police, when checking obligations under the Act on the Residence of Foreigners; the accommodation provider must let them into all areas of the accommodation.
• State authorities under § 24(2) of the Act on Reporting Residence.

How SFERIN handles it

With the guest registration add-on, a QR code hangs in your property, guests fill in their details on their own phone, and the fields for foreign guests appear only when they are actually needed. The result is a guest register with an export for the authorities, and personal data is stored encrypted on a server in the EU. We will tell you about the link with the tourist tax and the price of the add-on when we prepare your free website preview.