Guest Registration and the House Book: Legal Requirements in the Czech Republic

The House Book (domovní kniha)

The House Book is the register of accommodated foreign nationals, EU citizens included (§ 100(f) and § 101 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll.). It holds the data from the registration form (§ 97) plus the start and end of the stay, and you present it to the police on request. The law does not require Czech guests to be entered in it — they belong in the Registration Book (see below). The law doesn’t expressly set the House Book’s form, but the Foreign Police state on their website that it is kept “in paper form for inspections”, so if you keep records electronically, be ready to print them. Keeping them electronically still has the practical advantage of not depending on whether front-desk staff remembered to fill in the book every time.

The Registration Book (evidenční kniha)

The Registration Book is required by the Local Fees Act (§ 3g of Act No. 565/1990 Coll.) from whoever collects the accommodation fee, i.e. the host in a municipality that has introduced the fee, for each establishment. Every guest with a paid stay goes into it, Czech and exempt guests included: the first and last day of the stay, name and surname, address of registered residence (or a comparable address abroad), date of birth, type and number of identity document, and the fee collected or the reason for the exemption. The law expressly allows it to be kept on paper or electronically. This data largely overlaps with the House Book and the UbyPort report, so with automated guest registration, a single validated submission can populate both records and the report at once.

UbyPort reporting

Accommodation providers must report a foreign guest’s stay to the Foreign Police within 3 working days after the guest is accommodated (§ 102(1) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll.); providers who accommodate as a business file the report electronically through UbyPort (§ 102(3)). The report carries the registration-form data (§ 97): name, surname, date of birth, citizenship, permanent address abroad, travel document number and visa (if one is in the document), and the start, place, expected length and purpose of the stay. This obligation doesn’t apply to Czech citizens, who go only into the Registration Book.

What’s at stake: Breaching the duties in § 100 (including not reporting a foreign guest), or keeping or retaining the House Book in breach of § 101, can be fined up to CZK 50,000 (§ 156 and § 157 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll.).

Accommodation tax (poplatek z pobytu)

Accommodation tax is legally a local fee (místní poplatek) that municipalities charge per guest, per overnight stay. The accommodation provider collects the tax from the guest and remits it to the municipality, usually on a periodic basis. The municipality sets the rate by decree (at most CZK 50 per person per day, § 3d). The statutory exemptions (§ 3b, for example guests under 18 or ZTP/P card holders and their companions) apply everywhere; a municipality may add more by decree (§ 14(3)(a)). Calculating the fee correctly therefore requires knowing the current rules for your specific location.

How long to keep records

The House Book and the Registration Book must both be kept for 6 years from the last entry (§ 101(4) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll., § 3g(4) of Act No. 565/1990 Coll.) and produced on request during an inspection. Digital, centrally kept records are, in practice, far easier to locate than paper books split across multiple properties; keep the House Book ready to print for inspections, though (see above).

Where providers most often go wrong

• Missing or late UbyPort reports — usually because a booking-channel message gets overlooked, not out of carelessness.
• Inconsistent records across properties — when the House Book is kept in separate spreadsheets or paper books at each location.
• Misconfigured or outdated accommodation tax — especially when a municipality changes its rate or exemptions partway through the year.
• Missing foreign guest’s signature — a foreign guest must personally fill in and sign the registration form, or sign a paper document carrying the same data (§ 103(b) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll.; not required for children under 15). Without a signed record, it’s hard to show during an inspection that the data came from the guest.

How to handle this without manual data entry

The most reliable way to meet all four obligations without errors is to have the guest fill in their details online before arrival, and let a system automatically verify the reservation, file the UbyPort report, enter the guest in the Registration Book (foreign guests in the House Book as well), and calculate the accommodation tax. That’s exactly what Best Guest does — see the individual feature pages for details: UbyPort reporting, House Book, and accommodation tax.

A change is also on the horizon in the form of e-Turista, a planned system meant to unify this reporting — though the law that would introduce it has not been passed yet, so today’s obligations apply unchanged. More in our e-Turista overview.