188 Moscow Region Hotels Now Accept Digital ID for Check-In

Hotels across the Moscow Region have begun checking in guests using a digital ID - an electronic passport stored on a phone that replaces paper documents. According to the regional government's press service, 188 hotels have adopted the system.

Under the new process, guests simply open the national messenger "Max" on their smartphone. The old routine of administrators manually copying passport details and guests signing stacks of paperwork is gone. Information from the government services portal is transmitted directly to the hotel's database, eliminating manual entry and the mechanical errors staff previously made when typing surnames and details.

The technology also handles group trips: minors can be registered with a digital identifier provided their birth certificate data is already linked to a parent's account.

Maria Bayukh, deputy minister of culture and tourism for the Moscow Region, confirmed the convenience of the change, noting that guests can now check in even if they have forgotten their paper passport or their child's documents. She said the service cuts check-in time in half.

The region had previously recorded a case of a real estate transaction completed using biometric data. In this case, an enhanced qualified electronic signature gives the documents legal force.