With the cancellation of the circular of the Interior Ministry, the use of the Keybox for B&B and apartments for rent short rented is legitimate. Thousands of small entrepreneurs of tourist receptivity exult. 66 billion sector driven by flexibility
He wins the self check-in, loses the bureaucratic narrow. A few weeks after the street of the summer tourist season, The Lazio Tar canceled the circular of the Ministry of the Interior of November 2024 which imposed the obligation of physical recognition of guests in short rents, thus preventing B&B and apartments for rent for the use of keyboxes (the combination safety boxes used to leave and take the keys) and the remote registration of tourists’s documents. The Tar decision gives full operation to thousands of small entrepreneurs who without self-in-in complained of expenses and organizational problems. And the Tar decision once again underlines the regulatory weight of administrative justice, that of the Lazio Tar, which increasingly called the line.
The Lazio Tar cancels the end of the Interior Ministry: legitimate self-check-in for short rents
The TAR accepted the appeal presented by the Federation of Associations of ExtraLberghier Reception (doing), judging the measure of the disproportionate Interior Ministry, not supported by concrete data and in contrast with the 2011 reform, which had the aim of simplifying the operations of tourist accommodation. The sentence clearly reads that the identification “de visu” (physical therefore) does not guarantee in itself greater public safety and that the absence of solid motivations made the circular ineffective and harmful of the principles of legality and equal treatment. In essence, the judges considered unjustified to impose to a small tenant of organizational charges typical of large hotel chains. Hence the green light on the return of the Keybox.
Short rents: 66 billion sector, driven by small owners
For the managers of B&B and short apartments for rent, often small entrepreneurs without a structure behind them, the ruling is a turning point. The sector represents a crucial slice of Italian tourism, in particular in the cities of art and in the less beaten villages, where self check-in allows flexibility and access also at times not covered by staff. A useful mode for both managers and tourists. According to the Italian Association of short rent managers (AIGAB), In 2024 short rents generated an economic impact of 66 billion euros: 13 billion of direct reservations, 52 billion in induced and 1 billion in renovations and furnishings. In Italy there are about 9.6 million second unused houses, of which 496 thousand are present on online platforms, directly involving around 500 thousand families. The vast majority of these homes (96%) is owned by private individuals. Now Aigab thinks about the next step: to dialogue with the government to officially recognize the remote identification technologies already adopted on a large scale. “For our regulations, nothing changes, we continue to go on,” commented Sara Funaro, the mayor of Florence, who even before the ministerial circular had banned the keybox throughout the city. But the TAR ruling could also question local measures. For now the last word is that of administrative justice, which has brought the self check-in back to life a few weeks after the start of tourist summer in Italy.
