Floriana and Kristina, who sign every guest message, at the Olbia office. Photo RENTAL12.
Vikey check-in at RENTAL12: why we need your ID and a selfie, and what happens if you refuse
Every guest in every RENTAL12 apartment is identified before the door opens. This page explains the law behind it, the two minutes it takes, what happens to your data, and why there are no exceptions, for anyone.
Last reviewed and legal sources checked: 15 September 2026
The short version
The law: Italian law (art. 109 of the public security code, TULPS) obliges every host, holiday apartments included, to check each guest against a valid identity document and to report the details to the police (Questura) within 24 hours of arrival. As the Council of State confirmed on 21 November 2025, the check must show, at the moment of entry, that the person at the door is the person on the document; uploading a scan and receiving a door code is not enough.
What you do: RENTAL12 does this with Vikey: you open a link in your browser, no app, photograph your ID, take a live selfie holding it, and take one more selfie at the door when you arrive. About two minutes per guest, and every guest aged 14 or over does it; for younger children a parent enters the details.
Your data: Vikey's guest privacy policy sets the rule: the photo you upload is deleted once we confirm your identity, and your document data are kept only for the periods the law prescribes. RENTAL12 keeps no copy, only the official police receipt.
If you refuse: Without the check we may not let you in, by law, and no exception is possible for anyone. Prefer a person? Come to our office in Olbia, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00, and the same check happens there.
Why RENTAL12 uses Vikey
Quick answer: RENTAL12 runs 37 owner-operated apartments and villas in Olbia and Golfo Aranci without a reception desk. Italian law still requires us to see every guest's face against their ID before they sleep in one of them. Vikey lets you do that from your phone, at any hour, so you can land at 02:00 and walk straight in, and we can meet the law without a night porter.
Flights into Olbia Costa Smeralda land at every hour, ferries dock late, and a large share of our arrivals happen after 21:00. We chose self check-in years ago so that nobody waits at a desk for a key hand-over. What we cannot choose is the identification duty: the same rule that applies to a hotel reception applies to a holiday apartment in Olbia, and the person legally responsible is the host, not the platform you booked on.
Vikey, the check-in and smart-lock service behind the link you receive.Vikey is an Italian check-in and smart-lock service. It sends you a link, collects exactly the identity data the police require, checks a live selfie against your document, releases the door only after a second live check on arrival, and files the report with the Questura through the Polizia di Stato's Alloggiati Web portal and with the regional tourism statistics system. We use it because it does the legal part properly instead of pretending the law does not exist, and because it keeps working at three in the morning.
It is also the fairer option for you. A reception desk means fixed hours and a queue. Vikey means you do the paperwork once, before you travel, in your own time; at the door there is only the confirmation selfie, and nothing is stored on our side. Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo verify accounts for their own purposes; none of that reaches the Italian police, so it does not replace the check the host must do.
If you would rather show your document to a person, you can. Our office is at Via Georgia 2, tower 2, unit 4, 07026 Olbia (Geovillage), open Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 18:00. The identification is the same there: we look at you and at your document, take the data for the police report, and delete the copy once the receipt is in. You then enter with the Vikey link like everyone else, without the door selfie, because we have already identified you in person. Outside office hours and at weekends the Vikey link is the only way in.
What the law says, with sources
Quick answer: Art. 109 of the Italian public security code (TULPS, Royal Decree 773/1931) allows a host to lodge only people who hold a valid identity document and obliges the host to send every guest's details to the Questura within 24 hours of arrival, within six hours for stays of 24 hours or less. Since 2018 the law expressly covers rentals shorter than 30 days. On 21 November 2025 the Council of State confirmed that this check must be made face to face: in person, or through a video-link device or similar tool that the host sets up at the entrance and that shows, at the moment of entry, that the guest is the person on the document.
The rule itself
Art. 109 TULPS, first paragraph, says that hotel managers and the owners or managers of holiday houses and apartments “possono dare alloggio esclusivamente a persone munite della carta d’identità o di altro documento idoneo ad attestarne l’identità”: they may lodge only persons holding an identity card or another document that proves their identity. The third paragraph adds the reporting duty: the guests' details go to the competent Questura within 24 hours of arrival, and within six hours for stays not exceeding 24 hours, in the form set by the Interior Ministry decree of 7 January 2013 (amended in 2021), which governs the transmission through the Alloggiati Web portal.
Holiday houses and apartments have been named in art. 109 for decades, whatever the length of the stay. Any doubt about private short lets was removed in 2018: art. 19-bis of Decree-Law 113/2018 (converted by Law 132/2018) extends the same duties expressly to anyone letting a property under a contract shorter than 30 days. Either way, every RENTAL12 booking falls under the rule.
Why a selfie, and not just a scan
On 18 November 2024 the Chief of Police (Ministry of the Interior, circular prot. 38138) reminded Prefects and Questori that identification under art. 109 means checking de visu, face to face, that the guest matches the document, and that a fully automated check-in built on document copies plus door codes or key boxes risks defeating the purpose of the law. A hosts' association challenged the circular and the Lazio Regional Administrative Court annulled it on 27 May 2025 (TAR Lazio, Sez. I-ter, n. 10210/2025).
The Ministry appealed, and on 21 November 2025 the Council of State (Consiglio di Stato, Sez. III, judgment n. 9101/2025) overturned the TAR. The Court held that the circular simply restates the law: the host must verify in person that the guest is the holder of the document. It added that this check could also be carried out through video-link devices set up by the host at the entrance, or similar tools such as a digital peephole or a QR code that captures an image, provided they establish, at the moment of access, that the guest is the person on the document. What is not enough is the practice the circular targeted: collecting copies of documents and sending automatic door or key box codes without any visual check.
Nothing in that ruling names Vikey or any product; it sets the standard. A live selfie holding your document before arrival, plus a live selfie at the door that Vikey compares with the first one before it releases the lock, is how RENTAL12 meets that standard without a desk. That is the whole reason for the photos.
What the police receive
The report contains the fields fixed by the 2013 decree and nothing else: date of arrival, number of nights, surname, first name, sex, date and place of birth, citizenship, and for the document its type, number and place of issue. No home address, no card number, no booking price.
Who is liable, and why there are no exceptions
Breaking art. 109 is not a parking ticket. Under art. 17 TULPS it is a criminal contravention punished with arrest of up to three months or a fine of up to 206 EUR, and it was not decriminalised by the 2016 reform. The Questura can audit every filing in Alloggiati Web. Separate administrative fines apply to the national CIN registration code (800 to 8,000 EUR under art. 13-ter of Decree-Law 145/2023), but those concern the property, not your identity.
The person who answers to a criminal court for a missing check is the host, not the guest and not the booking platform. That is why the rule is identical for a family we have hosted five times and for a first-time guest.
The privacy side
Because the processing is imposed by law, its legal basis is art. 6(1)(c) of the GDPR: we do not need your consent, and you cannot opt out, but we may not use the data for anything else. On 29 April 2026 the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante) clarified in a formal note that hosts may not keep photocopies or images of guests' documents beyond what is needed to enter the data in Alloggiati Web: once the portal issues its receipt, copies must be deleted or destroyed, and only the receipt is kept, for five years. On our side that means no copies at all. What sits in Vikey's system is governed by Vikey's guest privacy policy, which is the rule we follow: the check-in photo is deleted once we confirm your identity, and document data may be retained only according to the deadlines stipulated by law. The selfie check at the door happens inside Vikey, our data processor, and serves only to confirm that you are the person on the document.
How to complete the Vikey check, step by step
Quick answer: You receive a Vikey link from us in the message thread of the platform you booked on, or by email if you booked directly. Open it in any browser, no app needed. Every guest enters their details, photographs their identity document and takes a live selfie holding it. Booking.com guests pay the Olbia tourist tax there by card. On arrival you take one more selfie at the door and it opens. About two minutes per guest.
- Get the linkWe send it in the message thread of the platform you booked on, or by email if you booked directly on rental12.com. One link per booking: share it with everyone travelling with you.
- Open it in your browserPhone, tablet or laptop, any browser. There is no app to install. Have your passport or identity card at hand and find good light.
- Enter your detailsName, date and place of birth, citizenship and document data: the details the police report needs.
- Photograph your documentThe photo page of your passport, or both sides of a national identity card. All four corners in the frame, no glare, no fingers over the text. A photo of a photo or a screenshot will be rejected.
- Take the live selfie holding itFace uncovered, no sunglasses, the document next to your face with the photo page towards the camera. This is the face-to-face check the law requires, done remotely. Every guest aged 14 or over completes steps 3 to 5; for children under 14 a parent enters the child's details (name, sex, date of birth) from the child's document.
- Tourist tax, Booking.com bookings onlyIf you booked through Booking.com, pay the Olbia tourist tax in Vikey by card: 3.50 EUR per person per night for the first 7 nights (2026 rate). For Airbnb, Vrbo and direct bookings it is already settled with your booking. Exemptions follow the rules of the Comune di Olbia. We take no deposit.
- Accept the termsRead and accept the house rules and terms at the end. Your check-in is now complete; we see it on our side and confirm it.
- At the door: one more selfieOn arrival, open the link again (or scan the QR code at the entrance where there is one) and take a live selfie. It is checked against your check-in selfie, and only then do the buttons that open the building and apartment doors appear. This is the “at the moment of entry” part of the law. It works 24 hours a day.
- During your stayThe same link opens the doors for the whole stay. Once you have entered with the link, you can also take the physical key from the key safe at the door and use it for the rest of your stay.
What happens if you do not complete it
Quick answer: Without a completed identity check the door does not open. That is not a house rule we can waive: art. 109 TULPS forbids a host to lodge anyone who has not shown a valid identity document, and the host, not the guest, faces the criminal penalty. The 24 hours in the law are the deadline for the report to the Questura, not a grace period for showing the document: identification comes before the door opens (art. 109, first paragraph). Check-in is held until identification is complete; what happens to the booking then follows the cancellation terms of your reservation. There are no exceptions, for anyone.
If you cannot or do not want to use a phone, the alternative is the office: Via Georgia 2, tower 2, unit 4, 07026 Olbia (Geovillage), Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00, where we check your document in person and take the same data for the report; you then enter with the Vikey link, without the door selfie. Outside those hours there is no alternative to the link.
We know this page is blunt. It is written this way because we send it to guests who ask us to make an exception, and the honest answer is that the exception does not exist: not in our house rules, and not in the law we are bound by. Every guest goes through the same check, first-time or returning, friend or stranger.
Your data: what is collected, where it goes, when it is deleted
Quick answer: We collect only what the police report requires, we process it because the law obliges us to (art. 6(1)(c) GDPR), and Vikey processes it on our behalf as our data processor under its own guest privacy policy: the photo you upload is deleted once we confirm your identity, and document data may be retained only according to the deadlines stipulated by law. RENTAL12 keeps no copy of your document or your selfie; it keeps the Alloggiati Web receipt for five years, which is the legal retention period.
The data controller is RENTAL12 (Lion Development SRL, Olbia). Vikey is our data processor under art. 28 GDPR: it runs the check-in, stores the data for as long as the process needs it, and publishes its own guest privacy policy, linked in the sources below. Apart from Vikey and the technical providers Vikey lists in that policy (hosting, photo comparison, card payments, email and SMS), the data go to two places: to the Questura through the Polizia di Stato's Alloggiati Web portal, and to the regional tourism statistics system.
Vikey's guest privacy policy is the rule we follow on retention. In its words, the photo uploaded for check-in is deleted by Vikey from the moment we confirm your identity, and some data, such as identity documents, may be retained only according to the deadlines stipulated by legal regulations. RENTAL12 keeps no copy of either. What we keep is the Alloggiati Web receipt, for five years, because the 2013 decree requires it. The data are never used for marketing and never passed to anyone for their own purposes.
One practical rule that follows from all this: we will never ask you to send a photo of your passport by WhatsApp or email, and please do not send one. The Garante specifically warns against passing identity documents through messaging apps. The Vikey link is the only channel we use, and it exists so that your document never sits in a chat history or an inbox.
Questions about your data, or a request to see what was filed: [email protected]. Our full privacy notice is at rental12.com/en/privacy.
Questions guests ask us
Twelve short answers. The one-line answer under each question is the same text we publish in the page's structured data.
Is the ID check legally required in Italy?
Is an identity document check legally required for guests of a short-term rental apartment in Italy?
Yes. Art. 109 TULPS requires every host in Italy, short-term rental hosts included, to identify each guest against a valid identity document and report the details to the Questura within 24 hours of arrival.
The rule dates from 1931 and applies to hotels, B&Bs, campsites and, since Decree-Law 113/2018, expressly to anyone renting a property for less than 30 days. The 2024 Interior Ministry circular and the Council of State ruling of 21 November 2025 confirmed that the check must be face to face: in person, or through a device the host sets up at the entrance that shows, at the moment of entry, who is walking in. It applies to every guest regardless of nationality: Italian and EU citizens are reported exactly like everyone else.
Do children need to be registered too?
Do children and babies also have to be identified and listed in the police report?
Yes. Every guest, children included, is listed in the police report: a parent enters each child's details from the child's passport or identity card, and from age 14 each guest also photographs their document and takes the selfie.
The report counts every person who sleeps in the apartment. Have a document for each child ready when you open the link; for children under 14 the parent enters name, sex and date of birth from it, and guests aged 14 or over complete the document photo and selfie themselves. Children travelling within the EU normally have their own identity card or passport already.
Which documents are accepted?
Which identity documents does the Vikey check and the Italian police report accept?
EU citizens: passport or national identity card. Non-EU citizens: passport, or a document Italy treats as its equivalent. Italian citizens can also use a driving licence. Photos of photos, screenshots and expired documents are not accepted.
Use the original document, not a copy stored on your phone. The photo page of the passport or both sides of an identity card must be fully visible, without glare. If your document has recently expired, contact us before you travel: an expired document cannot be filed.
I already verified my identity on Airbnb or Booking.com. Why again?
Why do I have to identify myself again with the host when Airbnb or Booking.com has already verified my account?
Platform verification serves the platform; Italian law puts the duty on the host, and the data must reach the Questura, which the platforms do not do.
Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo check accounts to protect their marketplaces. None of them files a report with the Italian police, and art. 109 TULPS makes the host, not the platform, responsible for that report and liable for missing it. So the two checks exist side by side, and ours is the one the law requires.
Can one person do the check for the whole group?
Can the person who made the booking complete the Vikey identification on behalf of all the other guests?
No. Each guest completes their own details, document photo and selfie, but everyone can use the same link.
The report lists every person, and the selfie is a personal check of the face against the document. Share the link in your group chat; each adult does their own two minutes, and parents do it for their children.
Do I need to download an app?
Do guests need to install an app to complete the Vikey check-in and open the door?
No. The Vikey link opens in any browser on a phone, tablet or laptop, and the same link opens the doors during your stay.
There is nothing to install. Keep the link handy on arrival; once you have entered with it, you can also take the physical key from the key safe at the door.
What is the selfie at the door for?
Why is a second selfie required at the door when I already sent one before arrival?
It proves, at the moment of entry, that the person at the door is the person on the document, which is what the Council of State ruling of 21 November 2025 requires; the door opens only after it.
The pre-arrival selfie links your face to your document. The door selfie links that face to this door, now. The two are checked against each other and the opening buttons appear only when they match. The Council of State's test is place, time and visual match between the guest and the document holder; the door selfie supplies all three. It takes a few seconds and works at any hour.
Where does my data go, and when is it deleted?
Where are the identity data and photos sent, and how long are they stored?
To the Questura through the Polizia di Stato's Alloggiati Web portal; your check-in photo is deleted once we confirm your identity, document data are retained by Vikey only for the periods the law prescribes, and RENTAL12 keeps only the police receipt, for five years.
Vikey processes the data on our behalf as data processor and applies its guest privacy policy: the photo is deleted from the moment we confirm your identity, document data may be retained only according to the deadlines stipulated by law, and RENTAL12 keeps no copy. The five-year receipt retention is set by the Interior Ministry decree of 7 January 2013; the Garante's note of 29 April 2026 confirms that hosts keep no copies of documents.
What if I arrive at night?
Can I complete the Vikey identification and enter the apartment if I arrive late at night?
Do the pre-arrival steps before you travel; the door selfie takes seconds and works 24 hours a day, so a 02:00 arrival is no problem.
This is the main reason we use Vikey instead of a desk. Finish steps 1 to 7 at home or at the airport, and at the door you only take the confirmation selfie. If something fails, WhatsApp us: a person answers, also at night, though more slowly than during the day.
Can I check in in person instead?
Is there an alternative to the Vikey link for guests who prefer to show their document in person?
Yes, at the RENTAL12 office, Via Georgia 2, tower 2, unit 4, Olbia (Geovillage), Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00; the same identity check is done there.
We look at you and your document, take the data for the police report, and delete the copy once the receipt is in. You then enter with the Vikey link like everyone else, but without the door selfie, because we have already identified you in person. There is no in-person option at weekends or outside those hours, so plan for it if you want it.
What happens if I refuse?
What happens to my booking if I refuse the identity check?
The door stays closed: by law we may not lodge an unidentified guest, and the booking is then handled under its cancellation terms.
There is no exception we can make, because the penalty for a missing check is a criminal contravention for the host (art. 17 TULPS). Whether any money is refunded depends on the cancellation terms of your reservation and is decided per booking, not automatically.
Do I pay the tourist tax in Vikey?
Is the Olbia tourist tax collected through the Vikey check-in?
Only if you booked through Booking.com: 3.50 EUR per person per night for up to 7 nights (Olbia 2026 rate); on Airbnb, Vrbo and direct bookings it is settled with the booking.
Olbia raised its tourist tax for holiday apartments to 3.50 EUR per person per night from 1 January 2026, charged for a maximum of seven consecutive nights. Booking.com guests pay it by card inside the Vikey link; everyone else has already paid it through the platform or the direct booking. RENTAL12 takes no security deposit.
Sources and references
Checked on 15 September 2026. Italian legal texts are linked in Italian; the summaries above are ours.
- Art. 109 TULPS, R.D. 18 June 1931 n. 773 (Testo unico delle leggi di pubblica sicurezza), current text on Normattiva: www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:regio.decreto:1931-06-18;773~art109
- Art. 17 TULPS, sanction: arrest up to three months or fine up to 206 euro: www.brocardi.it/testo-unico-pubblica-sicurezza/titolo-i/capo-iv/art17.html
- Art. 19-bis, Decree-Law 113/2018 converted by Law 132/2018: art. 109 applies to lettings shorter than 30 days: www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legge:2018-10-04;113~art19bis
- Interior Ministry, Department of Public Security, circular prot. 38138 of 18 November 2024 on de visu identification (text as republished by the Comune di Como): su.comune.como.it/su_news/identificazione-delle-persone-ospitate-presso-le-strutture-ricettive-circolare-ministero-dellinterno-n-38138-2024/
- TAR Lazio, Sez. I-ter, judgment n. 10210/2025 of 27 May 2025 (annulment of the circular): www.eius.it/giurisprudenza/2025/3077650
- Consiglio di Stato, Sez. III, judgment n. 9101/2025 of 21 November 2025 (circular upheld, de visu check confirmed): www.eius.it/giurisprudenza/2025/7320023
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, note of 29 April 2026 on identity documents of guests (docweb 10244289) and press release (docweb 10244195): www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/10244289
- Interior Ministry decree of 7 January 2013 (Alloggiati Web) as amended by the decree of 16 September 2021: Garante opinion, docweb 9690786: www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9690786
- Alloggiati Web, the Polizia di Stato portal for guest reports: alloggiatiweb.poliziadistato.it/
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), art. 6(1)(c) legal obligation and art. 28 processor: eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj/eng
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on data collection and sharing for short-term accommodation rentals, applicable from 20 May 2026: eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1028/oj/eng
- Italian Criminal Code, art. 497-bis (possession and fabrication of false identity documents) and art. 494 (sostituzione di persona): www.brocardi.it/codice-penale/libro-secondo/titolo-vii/capo-iv/art497bis.html
- Vikey, guest FAQ (English): vikey.it/en/faq-en/
- Vikey, guest privacy policy (English): vikey.it/wp-content/policy-vikey/PrivacyPolicy_Guest_EN.html
- Vikey, the De Visu door check after the Council of State ruling (Italian): vikey.it/self-check-in-de-visu-normativa-affitti-brevi-bnb/
- Comune di Olbia, tourist tax rates from 1 January 2026 (3.50 EUR per person per night for holiday apartments, maximum 7 nights): www.olbia.it/olbia-la-giunta-delibera-una-nuova-imposta-di-soggiorno-dal-1-gennaio-2026
Questions before you travel?
Write to us and a person answers. RENTAL12 is owner-operated since 2021: 37 apartments and villas in Olbia and Golfo Aranci, rated 4.9 from 1,550+ 5 star reviews.
RENTAL12 · Lion Development SRL · IUN F1530 / CIN IT090047B4000F1530 · Owner-operated in Olbia since 2021 · Privacy