With a special circular, which it sent to the prefects of the country, the Italian Ministry of the Interior effectively banned “remote check-in” in short-term rental properties for tourists.

This is a practice based on which, essentially, until now tourists sent a photo of their passport or identity card to the owner of the apartment and – then – when they arrived at their destination, they used a special code given to them to open a small box, usually on the outside of the apartment building, in which the keys to the rented apartment were located.

However, the Ministry of the Interior, with its circular, underlined that this procedure does not respect the need to directly verify the identity of tourists, which is required, mainly, for reasons related to public security.

This initiative by the Italian authorities is based on a law already in force and the need to strengthen the various controls, in view of the Holy Year of the Catholics, the beginning of which is set, with a special ceremony in the Vatican, on Christmas Eve.

The Italian media report, however, that this circular does not explicitly prohibit the placement of the special key box outside the apartment buildings, but makes it absolutely clear that the identity of the tourists should be personally confirmed by the owner of the rental house or by one of his associates .