Dear Sir,

In a letter dated 7 April 2016, you questioned about a collection of photocopies of personal data, without prior information, within a hotel.

As far as I know, no legal provision or legal regulation provides that consumers must show an identity document for a hotel service

However, customers may be requested to prove their identity when attending the hotel in order to check the customer identity with the owner's payment card. As the Ministry for the Economy and Finance has mentioned it on 29^th March 2007, further to a question of the Senator Philippe Adnot: " when showing such document is part of one requirement of the hotel and accepted by the customer, it consequently falls within the jurisdiction of private law contracts ".

As a general rule, showing an identity document is enough to check it and taking a copy of it is unneeded. If you want your personal data to be deleted by the company, you should write and ask for it. If you remain without any reply within two months, you can lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority (CNIL).

I wish that you will find a solution to your concerns.

Yours sincerely,