Guest registration for homestays and rental units: deadlines, process, fines

From 1 July 2026, Article 30 of the Law on Residence is amended by Law No. 118/2025/QH15. Guest registration (residence notification) is now done entirely online, through the VNeID app or the guest registration portal of the Ministry of Public Security. For operators of homestays, serviced apartments and rental units, the obligation is not new, but the deadlines and fines are now clearer.

Who must register guests

Under the amended rules, the representative of the following establishments must register guests who stay overnight:

• Tourist accommodation establishments: hotels, guesthouses, homestays, tourist villas, tourist apartments.
• Serviced apartments, dormitories and other establishments with an accommodation function.

If a guest stays in a private home while the owner is away, the guest must register themselves. This does not apply to apartments run as a business: the party renting out the unit remains responsible.

Deadlines

• Guest arrives before 23:00: register before 23:00 the same day.
• Guest arrives after 23:00: register before 8:00 the next morning.

The deadline runs from the time the guest actually begins the stay, not the time of booking. With self check-in, the operator needs to know exactly when the guest entered the unit.

Information to declare

For each occupant, including companions:

• Full name and date of birth.
• Personal identification number (citizen ID) or passport number.
• Purpose and duration of the stay.
• Address of the place of stay.

Foreign guests are declared for temporary residence under separate rules on the entry, exit and residence of foreigners. The process differs from that for Vietnamese guests and needs separate preparation.

Fines

Decree 282/2025/NĐ-CP, as amended by Decree 347/2026/NĐ-CP (effective from 15 September 2026), fines accommodation businesses that fail to register guests according to the number of guests missed:

Unregistered guests	Fine
1 - 3 people	2 - 4 million VND
4 - 8 people	4 - 8 million VND
9 people or more	8 - 12 million VND

Declaring false information or forging residence documents is fined in the 8 - 12 million VND bracket.

One point often overlooked: guests bringing extra people without notice. The party renting out the unit is still treated as having failed to register those people.

How to do it without an on-site front desk

The hardest part of guest registration with self check-in is that nobody meets the guest to see their documents. A workable process:

1. Collect documents before sending the door code. When confirming the booking, ask the guest to send photos of the citizen ID card or passport of every occupant. Record the number of people in the stay.
2. Send the door code only when the documents are complete. The door code is the only leverage you have to get the guest to finish the formalities. If you send the code first and ask for documents later, you often will not get them.
3. Track the actual check-in time to meet the deadline. The first door opening with the stay’s code is the time the guest begins the stay. The remote front desk registers the guest right after that, without waiting until the end of the day.
4. Have someone on duty until 23:00 and early in the morning. The two deadlines fall at the end of the day and at 8:00, so the remote front desk shifts need to cover both windows.
5. Keep the evidence. Documents, registration time and check-in time should sit in one place with the stay, so you can cross-check immediately during an inspection.

What TingStay covers

With the Guest registration add-on, TingStay registers guests from the stay data itself: guest details, documents and the actual check-in time, including for foreign guests. How the connection works depends on the infrastructure and rules of each locality.

Even without this add-on, TingStay helps the front desk register guests quickly and on time:

• Each stay holds the guest details, companions and document photos uploaded by the front desk.
• Door codes are generated per stay. The operator decides when to send the code to the guest, for example after all documents are in.
• The lock records the first door opening. That is the actual check-in time the front desk uses to meet the 23:00 deadline.
• Alerts when a unit is occupied or a door opens with no stay booked. This is often a sign that someone is staying without being registered.

Further reading: Running many rental units without an on-site front desk and Choosing smart door locks for homestays and rental units.