A legitimate Bogotá host may ask for your passport details so they can complete required foreign-guest registration. Before you share anything, ask what information they need, how they will submit it, and keep their written confirmation with your arrival records.
Mara had been in Bogotá for less than an hour when the host messaged through the booking app: “Please send a photo of your passport page.” She was sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing the jacket she had carried through El Dorado, with her phone cable tangled around a coffee cup from the airport.
The request felt wrong at first. Her passport had been checked at the border. Why did the person handing over her keys need it too?
A passport request can be part of the host’s arrival process
Accommodation providers may need certain details from foreign guests for registration. That can include the information on your passport’s identity page, your nationality, and the dates of your stay. The request is about recording who is staying at the property, so treat it as an arrival task with a paper trail, not as a casual favour sent over an unverified chat.
A real request should come from the host or property manager connected to your booking. They should be able to tell you what they need and why. If the message comes from a new phone number, an email address that does not match the reservation, or someone who cannot identify the property and your stay, pause before sending anything.
Mara checked the booking details again. The host’s name and apartment address matched. Still, she did not send a full passport image immediately. She asked whether the identity page was sufficient, where the information would be submitted, and whether she would receive confirmation after registration.
That short exchange gave her something useful: a written record that the request related to her stay, rather than a vague demand for sensitive documents on her first night in a new city.
Ask for the details that make the request traceable
You do not need a legal lecture at the doorstep. You do need enough information to understand what is happening with your personal data.
Ask the host for the property address as it appears in the booking, the name of the person or company handling the registration, and confirmation that your foreign-guest details have been submitted. If you are asked to use a separate form or upload portal, make sure it is clearly tied to the accommodation you booked before entering passport information.
Keep the conversation inside the booking platform when you can. If the host needs to move it elsewhere, ask them to confirm that request in the platform messages first. Avoid sending extra documents “just in case.” A passport identity page may be relevant; bank details, immigration paperwork, and unrelated identification are a different conversation.
The useful question is simple: “What do you need from my passport for the registration, and can you confirm when it is complete?”
That wording keeps the exchange calm. It also gives you a record to save.
The confirmation matters after check-in
Foreign-guest registration can feel like a small arrival errand, especially when you are trying to find dinner in Chapinero or work out which grocery store is still open. It can matter later if a landlord, school, employer, immigration process, or another official task asks you to account for where you stayed after arrival.
Mara’s worry sharpened when she remembered she had a residence-related appointment coming up. If the registration had not happened and she later needed proof of her first address, she could be left chasing a host who had already welcomed the next guest. The possible bad ending was not an awkward message. It was arriving at her next paperwork step with a gap she could not explain.
The host replied with the requested details, then sent a brief written confirmation once the registration was complete. Mara saved a screenshot, the booking confirmation, and the property address in the same Day 0 folder as her entry documents.
A few days later, she did not have to search through message threads while standing outside an appointment. The confirmation was already there, alongside the dates of her stay and the host’s contact details.
Put the record where you will actually find it
Your Day 0 records are the small set of documents and notes that make the first week abroad less fragile: entry documents, your first accommodation address, local contact details, and any confirmation connected to your stay. The goal is retrieval, especially when your battery is low and you are being asked a question you did not expect.
Save the host’s registration confirmation as a PDF or screenshot. Add the check-in and check-out dates. Write down the exact property address as shown in the booking. If a different person managed the handover, note their name and contact method too.
This is the same habit behind checking whether a housing-related registration was actually filed. Did Your Landlord Actually File Your Temporary Residence Registration? explores why a verbal “it’s done” can leave you with nothing to rely on later.
Before Mara left the apartment, she made one final note: the host had confirmed the registration, and the confirmation sat in her Day 0 folder. Then she put her passport away and went out to learn the walk from the building to the nearest coffee shop.
