In the last few years I have stayed at many apartments and small hotels that have never asked for ID, certainly not online and not even in person. I booked through Booking.com. I don’t use AirBNB because I dislike their lack of transparency in pricing, the forced KYC and their woke culture.

In two occasions, the apartments I booked (on Booking) demanded that I send them a scan of my passport online. Luckily I was able to cancel the reservation both times and find a different place. I have decided to not send ID online as a matter of principle, for two reasons: 1. To avoid hacks/leaks, and 2. Because I don’t want to enable a police state where it becomes normalized to get asked for government ID for every transaction in the course of daily life.

Again, the vast majority of apartments don’t require ID. Granted, in some European countries they will demand ID because they are legally forced to send it to the police. And, sure, large/corporate hotels do require ID at check-in, but never online.