Tourist apartment management in Barcelona: automatic check-in and HUTB compliance

Managing tourist apartments in Barcelona means operating in a premium, high-demand market under the strictest short-term-rental rules in Spain. Every tourist apartment needs a HUTB licence (Habitatge d'Ús Turístic) and its number must appear in every Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo listing.

On top of that, Barcelona has frozen new licences and plans to phase out tourist apartments in the city by 2028, while guest registration must reach both the national and the Catalan systems. With margins under pressure, the only way to run several units profitably is automation: online check-in, automatic guest registration, tourist-tax charging and keyless entry.

Why managing in Barcelona is more demanding

A property manager in Barcelona has to keep several things under control at once:

• HUTB number: in the format HUTB-XXXXXX, it must be displayed in every listing on Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo.
• Licence freeze (PEUAT): no new HUT licences are issued in the city, and existing ones are due to be phased out — making impeccable compliance essential.
• Dual guest registration: the guest form must reach the national SES.Hospedajes system and, in Catalonia, the Mossos d'Esquadra traveller registry.
• Tourist tax: Catalonia's IEET plus Barcelona's municipal surcharge — among the highest in Spain — must be collected per guest and night.
• High turnover: many check-ins, in several languages and at any hour.

With tight oversight and a high tax to pass on, automating check-in, registration and tax collection isn't a luxury — it's the only way to manage several units without mistakes or missed deadlines.

Automatic check-in in Barcelona, step by step

Automatic check-in means the guest completes the whole arrival process online, from their phone, before reaching the property. Here's how it works with Gotocheck in a Barcelona apartment:

Guest registration in Barcelona: SES.Hospedajes and Mossos d'Esquadra

Since December 2024, Royal Decree 933/2021 requires every accommodation in Spain to report the guest registration form to the national SES.Hospedajes system of the Ministry of the Interior. In Catalonia, traveller data must additionally be filed with the Mossos d'Esquadra, the regional police. In practice, a Barcelona apartment has to comply with two registries for the same guest.

Doing it by hand for both systems — asking the guest for the document, copying the data and submitting on time, twice — is tedious and error-prone. With digital check-in, the data is captured once and sent automatically to both within the legal deadline.

Virtual keys and self check-in

In a city with as much turnover as Barcelona, handing over keys in person to every guest is unworkable. Virtual keys and smart locks enable autonomous entry:

• Unique access codes per booking that expire at the end of the stay.
• The code is delivered only when check-in is complete and verified.
• No trips, no waiting and no risk of lost key copies.

What Gotocheck automates in your Barcelona apartments

Tourist tax in Barcelona

Unlike Madrid, Barcelona does charge a tourist tax, and one of the highest in Spain. It combines Catalonia's IEET (tax on tourist stays) with an additional municipal surcharge set by Barcelona City Council, which has been rising in recent years. It is charged per guest and per night and the host is responsible for collecting and remitting it.

Collecting it manually at check-in is a hassle and easy to get wrong. Gotocheck calculates the exact amount for each booking and charges it automatically during the online check-in, so you remit the right figure without doing the maths.

Frequently asked questions about tourist management in Barcelona