Why Do Hotels Abroad

[fruitsalad]

take your passport off you and keep it for a day or two?

[sandyRoe]

Maybe the local police want to check the ID of the guests?

[Bluestone]

Isn't it to just keep a record of your details? I think this is a legal requirement in most countries.

[237SJ]

So you can`t leave the country if you don`t pay your bill I suppose.
I was in a queue to check in at a hotel in Ko Samui once. The staff wanted our passports as surety against losing the room key. I flatly refused to give it to them. I`m pretty sure that no unofficial place such as a hotel has the right to withold your passport. I reminded them of that fact and they relented. I don`t think they liked me very much because everyone else in the queue then refused to hand theirs over.

[Old_Geezer]

They copy them and flog the copies to local gangsters.

[237SJ]

Most places (China for example) that need your passport for ID accept a photocopy.

[fruitsalad]

thanks SR loving the avatar by the way

[Bazile]

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=894597

[atalanta]

I always travel with several photocopies of the most important pages of my passport. If there is a local regulation saying that the police must come round every day to inspect all pasports, you will have to hand over the original passport but you can confirm with the receptionist (and insist ) that you will collect it the next day. For all other purposes the hotel can manage with a photocopy. Also, if your passport gets stolen, you can take a photocopy to the British Consulate ( not Embassy) and they can stamp it with an official stamp to make it into a temporary travel document which will get you back to the UK

[fruitsalad]

thanks guys and bazile for the link I cant understand the bit about leaving the hotel without paying though as package holidays the hotels already been paid for

[237SJ]

You can rack up other charges (like when you raid the mini-bar at four o clock in the morning)

[abstibus]

It's a good idea to scan your passport and visa(s) and e-mail them to yourself. Then you can access them anywhere if you need to.

[ichkeria]

It isn't to stop you leaving without paying (!). It's unlikely also to be anything to do with the police. It's usually simply so that they can photocopy them in order to have the details for later - for example for tourist information purposes. It depends on the country.
If you want to know the reason it might help to ask them.