The three ways to register your guests
You can do it yourself on the government website, use software that submits for you, or hand the whole job to a managed service. All three satisfy the law equally. The right one depends on how many bookings you take, whether you have a Windows or Mac computer, and how much of your own time you want this to occupy.
Worth saying plainly. This website is published by Villa Check In, which offers the third of the three options below. We have tried to describe all three fairly, including where the first one is the sensible choice and where paying for anything at all would be a waste of your money. Judge the page on whether it reads that way.
The law does not care how the information reaches the Ministry, only that it does, accurately and on time. That leaves you three genuine choices.
1. Do it yourself on the government website
You register on SES.Hospedajes, and you type in each booking and each guest.
What you need
- A digital certificate, or Cl@ve
- AutoFirma, the signing program — Windows, Mac or Linux only
- A laptop or desktop computer. This cannot be done from a phone or tablet
- Some patience with a website that is only in Spanish
What it costs. Nothing beyond obtaining the certificate.
What it is like. Manual. You enter the booking when it is made, then the guests when they arrive, watching two separate deadlines. If something is rejected, you find out by looking. There is no telephone helpline, and email support is in Spanish.
It genuinely suits you if you have one property, take a handful of bookings a year, own a laptop, and would rather spend an hour a month than any money at all.
2. Software that submits for you
Self-service platforms connect to your booking calendar, collect the guests' details, and send everything to the government for you. You still run the process; the software does the typing and the filing.
The best known for Spanish holiday lets is GuestAdmin, which is web-based, connects to most of the common booking systems and channels by calendar feed or direct link, keeps your guest records archived, and works out at roughly a euro a week per property. There is a free trial.
What you need. A booking calendar it can read, and your certificate registered with it.
Worth knowing: because these platforms are web-based, they sidestep the AutoFirma problem entirely. If you have no Windows or Mac computer, this is the cheapest route that works for you.
What you still do. Chase guests who have not filled the form in. Check that what they typed is right. Notice when something is rejected. The software removes the typing and the deadline-watching. It does not remove the chasing, and the chasing is most of the work.
It genuinely suits you if you have a few properties, you are comfortable running your own process, you want the cost kept down, and you do not mind being the person who messages a guest at nine in the evening.
3. A fully managed service
You add the booking. Somebody else does everything after that — sends the guest their form, chases them if they do not respond, checks what they submitted, corrects it if it is wrong, and files it on time.
This is what Villa Check In does, and it is why this website exists.
What you need. Nothing technical. No certificate of your own is required, no software, and it does not matter what device you use.
What you still do. Enter the booking. That is genuinely the extent of it.
What you are paying for. Not the submission — software does that for a euro a week. You are paying for the part software cannot do: somebody noticing that a guest has not replied, that a passport number has a digit missing, or that a submission bounced. And somebody being there on a Saturday evening in August when you are not.
It genuinely suits you if you have a portfolio, or you live abroad, or you have staff whose time is worth more than this, or you simply do not want to think about it again.
If you manage property for other people, there is a further question underneath this one — who is legally responsible, the owner or the agent — and the answer is not the one most arrangements assume.
Side by side
| Yourself | Software | Managed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | About €1 a week per property | Per booking or per property |
| Needs a laptop or desktop | Yes | No | No |
| Needs your own certificate | Yes | Yes | No |
| Typing | You | Automatic | Automatic |
| Chasing guests | You | You | Them |
| Checking for errors | You | You | Them |
| Cover when you are away | None | None | Yes |
Choosing honestly
Three questions get most people to the right answer.
Do you own a Windows, Mac or Linux computer? If not, option 1 is closed to you. It is not a matter of skill or patience — the signing software does not exist for phones and tablets.
How many bookings a year? Under about ten, doing it yourself is entirely reasonable. Beyond thirty or so, the admin becomes a real and recurring commitment.
Who covers you when you are not there? This is the question people answer last and should answer first. Guests arrive when they arrive. Deadlines run through weekends and August. If the honest answer is "nobody", that is what you are actually deciding about — not the typing.