[hiker1]

Some motels and hotels require me to produce my drivers license to be scanned before I can register. I have questioned them about this, and usually they say it's so they can be sure it's me when I enter the establishment, and especially if I lose my room key/card. There is some merit in this explanation, but I still have a hard time allowing them to scan the license. They usually also say they destroy the records after a certain time. No way to verify this. It did occur to me that I could carry a photo of myself and give that to the hotel. But the photo wouldn't have my name on it, unless I wrote my name. Or I could cover parts of the card before it was scanned, but that might invalidate the entire card from being scanned. They also require my credit card to pay the bill. With the info on these 2 cards they have, or can access, almost every detail of me. They also have my email address. In reading up on this issue, I found a Consumers Reports article which included this statement:

[Seventy2002]

Driver licenses in Washington are covered by RCW 46.20. I don't see anything there addressing your question. Hotels are required, by RCW 19.48.020, to "keep a record of the arrival and departure of its guests in such a manner that the record will be a permanent one for at least one year from the date of departure" but the law doesn't specify what information must be recorded.

[Randito]

A drivers license has a bunch essential identity information that would go a long ways toward identity theft. Name, birthday and home address. After that an ID thief just needs SSN to cause havoc. Some CC have the option of a photo of you on the card, I wonder if that would satisfy the desk clerk at the hotels in question. A US passport card is another form of ID and only contains name and birthdate, plus it can be used for travel to Canada.

[Redwic]

I agree with the passport suggestion. I have never had a problem showing my passport instead of my driver's license, to check into a hotel. A U.S. passport is considered an official type of identification. With that said, I have *never* had my driver's license or passport scanned at a hotel. As a former victim of identity theft, I would not be comfortable with that. Plus, haven't you seen what happened to the people who did that in the "Hostel" movies???

[Seventy2002]

[Schroder]

I stay at a lot of hotels and have never had my license or passport scanned. I usually book online and when I arrive at the hotel they just ask for the same credit card I used online. I've only had my credit card ripped off once in a hotel and that was in Hong Kong. Are these major chains you're going to?

[Schenk]

A super creepy clerk at the Thunderbird Motel in Mountain Home, Idaho made my hair stand on end less than a month ago...he insisted that I hand him my DL and CC so he could verify what I wrote down on the reservation slip. He took them away from me (literally grabbed them out of my hand) then wrote down each and every piece of info on them again in a separate log book. I questioned him and he gave me some excuse to the effect that the State of Idaho required him to record that info. I thought that was a bunch of BS but I didn't want to jump the counter and grab my ID because then he would have cause to accuse me of something. Then...he follows me out to my vehicle and stood there watching me while I unloaded my luggage. I was using a company card so the billing info won't match my info and he is out of luck there but it gave me the creeps I should have been more defensive...I shrugged it off at the time to him just being old and creepy. I wish I would have grabbed my ID back from him and kept driving after reading this.

[hiker1]

Thanks for the replies. I usually stay at low end motels, like Bellingham Lodge. They always ask for CC and DL scan. Once I stayed at the Skagit Motel. Never again. Should put that in the thread for stores etc. that you will never go back to ever again. Here's a link to what the barcodes have on you in WA drivers licenses and Enhanced DLs. Couldn't find a link for federal cards.

[Redwic]

Perhaps try a B&B or hostel, if you don't want the Ritz Carlton type of lodging. Thanks for the tip regarding the Skagit Motel.

[tigermn]

[sarbar]

I'm going to hedge that the low-end hotel/motels are doing that for a reason: unsavory clientele. While I have been asked for my ID at every place I can think of that I have stayed at, most are just to compare face to name to CC name. I notice as the place goes lower in quality then they care about your vehicle and its plates. Upper scale? Couldn't care - or rather they don't want to set a customer off who is buying "an experience". So when I stay at Marriot properties or similar, I get the full on Ma'am treatment where they intrude as little as they can. But oh lord, stay a night at a dumpy motel in Forks and you'd think they needed a retina scan. Ironically, the same $$ is often spent at either place ;-)

[hiker1]