What rights do you have as a guest in a hotel or hostal in Peru?

Which rules apply

Hotels, apart-hotels, hostales, albergues and other lodging establishments are governed by the Reglamento de Establecimientos de Hospedaje (Lodging Establishments Regulation), approved by Decreto Supremo N.º 001-2015-MINCETUR and amended in 2021 by D.S. N.º 005-2021-MINCETUR.

Your contract with the hotel starts at registration: the regulation defines it as the legal relationship between guest and establishment that arises «por la sola inscripción» (by the mere entry) in the guest register (art. 4.1(g)).

If you rent an apartment from a private individual through a platform, the situation is different: see short-term rentals and Airbnb.

Rates and check-out time: on display

Article 25 is short and it’s the one you’ll use most. The establishment must display «en forma visible tanto en la recepción como en las habitaciones» (visibly, both at reception and in the rooms) three things:

• the rates;
• «la hora de inicio y el término del día hotelero» (the start and end time of the hotel day);
• the «demás condiciones del contrato de hospedaje» (other terms of the lodging contract).

For the general duty to display prices in hotels and other businesses, see mandatory price display.

The hotel day and check-out

The regulation defines the día hotelero (hotel day) as a «período de veinticuatro (24) horas dentro del cual el huésped podrá permanecer en uso de la habitación» (a 24-hour period during which the guest may use the room), with «la hora límite de salida fijada por el establecimiento de hospedaje» (the check-out deadline set by the establishment, art. 4.1(h)).

Two consequences:

• No check-out time is set by law. Noon is a custom, not a rule. Each hotel sets its own.
• Whatever it sets must be posted. If you’re charged an extra night for leaving at a time that wasn’t shown at reception or in your room, your complaint rests on article 25. Our reading is that a charge based on a time you weren’t told is hard to defend, but the regulation does not expressly regulate late check-out charges.

The guest register

Registering is mandatory. It is «requisito indispensable para ocupar las habitaciones» (a prerequisite for occupying the rooms, art. 26.1, as worded by D.S. 005-2021-MINCETUR). The register is kept «en fichas, libros o medios digitales» (on cards, in books or digitally) and records details such as your name, nationality, identity document, arrival and departure dates, room and rate (art. 4.1(u)).

Recording your details is not the same as handing over your document. They can ask to see it. If it is your DNI, the law expressly forbids them to keep it. For the carné de extranjería we found no equivalent general written ban; that they cannot keep it either is our reading. The detail, with the exact rules, is in can they keep your DNI?.

Minors: what changed in 2021

D.S. 005-2021-MINCETUR rewrote article 26 and tightened check-in for minors:

• Their details are registered. «En dicho registro también se inscriben los datos correspondientes a los menores de edad» (minors’ details are also entered in that register) when they arrive with whoever accompanies them (art. 26.2). There is an exception for over-16s who gained legal capacity through marriage or an official title.
• Documents are required (art. 26.3), depending on who is with the child and whether they are domiciled in Peru:

• The hotel must require them. Article 27.2 obliges it to require that children and teenagers enter the rooms accompanied and to ask for the article 26 documents.
• If in doubt, it notifies the authorities. «En caso de duda sobre la documentación referida en el artículo 26» (if in doubt about the article 26 documents), or if they are missing, the establishment must «dar aviso al Ministerio Público, a la Policía Nacional del Perú» (notify the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the National Police) or the local government (art. 27.2(c)). The text does not say in those words that it must refuse the room.
• Poster against child sexual exploitation. The establishment must sign the code of conduct against the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (ESNNA) and «colocar en un lugar visible del establecimiento de hospedaje un afiche u otro documento similar» (place a poster or similar document somewhere visible, art. 27.2(g)).

This table sums up what we read for domiciled minors. For the parents’ own documents and the non-domiciled cases, check the decree’s text before you travel.

Luggage storage and valuables

The regulation makes luggage storage a mandatory service in several cases:

• For establishments operating without a class or category: «Brindar el servicio de custodia de equipaje» (provide luggage storage, art. 8.1.3(b)).
• Per the annex requirement tables: in 1- to 5-star hotels, 1- to 3-star hostales and 3- to 5-star apart-hotels.

For valuables, the annexes require safekeeping (in the room or a shared safe) in 3- to 5-star hotels and apart-hotels, and a safe at reception in 3-star hostales.

The regulation doesn’t say how long they must keep your bag or whether they may charge. Ask first and get a ticket.

If something is lost or stolen

The lodging regulation does not set the hotel’s liability for your things. It sends it elsewhere: «El ingreso de objetos, bienes de propiedad del huésped al establecimiento de hospedaje, así como su custodia, se rige por las disposiciones del Código Civil» (the entry of the guest’s belongings into the establishment, and their safekeeping, are governed by the Civil Code; Fifth Final Complementary Provision).

We explain the Civil Code’s lodging and safekeeping rules in belongings stolen or damaged at a restaurant, because that same Code extends the lodging rules to restaurants. Either way: tell the hotel as soon as you notice and put it in writing.

How to complain

1. The hotel’s libro de reclamaciones. Describe what happened and what you want. The hotel has 15 business days to answer: complaints book response deadline.
2. Indecopi. If it doesn’t answer or doesn’t fix it, you can file a claim on Reclama Virtual or a formal complaint.

What this page does not cover

We don’t cover sanctions under the tourism regime, the classification and categorisation of establishments, or rentals between private individuals. We have not confirmed whether D.S. 001-2015-MINCETUR was amended after D.S. 005-2021-MINCETUR.