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

The House Book (domovní kniha)

The House Book is a register of every guest who stays at the property, including arrival and departure dates. The law doesn’t require it to be kept on paper — a digital record satisfies the requirement as long as it’s complete, accurate, and can be produced on request during an inspection by the trade licensing office or another authority. A digital record also has the practical advantage of not depending on whether front-desk staff remembered to fill it in every time.

The Registration Book (evidenční kniha)

The Registration Book differs from the House Book in that it focuses on identity-document details — mainly for foreign guests. It records document type and number, nationality, and stay dates. This data largely overlaps with what’s submitted to UbyPort, so with automated guest registration, a single validated submission can populate both records and the report at once.

UbyPort reporting

Accommodation providers must report foreign guests to the Czech Foreign Police through the UbyPort system, typically within 3 working days of the start of their stay. The report includes name, date of birth, nationality, document number, and stay dates. This specific obligation doesn’t apply to Czech citizens, who are still recorded in the House Book and Registration Book but not reported through UbyPort.

What’s at stake: Failing to report a guest, or reporting incomplete or incorrect data, can result in a fine of up to 50,000 CZK per violation. Because the fine applies per case, even a handful of missed reports over a year can add up to a meaningful amount.

Accommodation tax (poplatek z pobytu)

Accommodation tax is a local tax 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. Both the rate and any exemptions (for example for children or certain disabilities) vary by municipality, so calculating it correctly requires knowing the current rules for your specific location.

How long to keep records

House Book and Registration Book records need to be retained for the period set by law (6 years) and produced on request during an inspection. Digital, centrally kept records with timestamps are, in practice, far easier to locate and produce than paper books split across multiple properties.

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 proof of guest consent — without a signed record, it’s hard to demonstrate during an inspection that the guest submitted the data themselves and consented to its use.

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, record the entry in the House Book and Registration Book, 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 enabling legislation hasn’t been finalized yet, so today’s obligations apply unchanged. More in our e-Turista overview.