I don't remember being asked for my passport in Santorini last year either.

We handed our passports over, but they were returned immediately.

Same as Helen. We stayed in zakynthos and had to hand over our passports during check-in but we were given them back almost immediately.

we handed ours in this year. last year we didnt at a hotel round the corner

We were never asked for them in corfu (sidari) this year- first time ever- we have not had to hand them in!

(Just a thought do you think it has anything to do with your p.p.i (personal passport information- ) you have to provide ?)

Belly

Belly, we didnt do the API thing as we were going to Cyprus and it was not required. We didnt hand ours over neither, lady on the desk only required one, wrote my number down and gave it straight back.

I've never been asked for my passport when arriving at any hotel in Tunisia but just have to fill in a form at the desk.

A lot of places in Greece do this, they give various reasons but it's most common in the 18-30 type resorts, I guess in that instance it's to get a good set of info on who's staying for just in case there's any damage etc, but other than it's always been a mystery why some do it and some don't!

As I understand it from my Greek hotel owner friend it is a legal requirement to record the passport or ID number of one member of each party checking in. I am uncertain whether this applies to ALL categories of accommodation, but it certainly does to Hotels & hotel apartments.
This info is gathered in several ways, some ask for your passport, record the number, then return it to you, others will just ask you to complete a registration form, on which one of the spaces is for your passport number which you provide yourself.
Some smaller places that don't have many staff & maybe quite a few checking in at the same time may ask you to leave your passport with them until they have recorded the details. This you can refuse to do, say you'll come back & give them the details later, although a couple of hours without it is not so bad. They certainly shouldn't keep your passport for the duration as another law in Greece says you should carry ID at all times, not to mention that you need it to change money! Whether you carry it around with you or not is rarely checked, unless you hire a car, in which case the driver legally should have their ID with them when driving. This applies to all drivers in Greece, Greek citizens/car owners have to comply too.
I did find a link about a year ago that explained all this far better than I can, but damned if I can find it now! I do wonder if the API has made a difference though & the TOs provide the info en masse to the accommodation for some packages?

Yes i agree, we have travelled extensively around Greece, and each hotel seems to have it's own system, some take the passport [but you can ask for it back after a few hrs] some give you a form to fill,some photo copy it, and others just take the number and write it on the booking sheet,When out and about [and using credit/debit cards] you should be [though not many do] be asked for photo ID i have found my UK photo licence [and other half uses's her photo bus pass] both have always been accepted

wizard

athensfan, i don't think API has anything to do with the accomodation, i think it's more a security thing that relates to who's entering certain countries etc,or so i understand it anyway.

API [air passenger information] is only relevant to entry to and departure from a country [passport and immigration control] nothing to do with the hotels, [some countries will let you in but want to know where you are]

wiz

As far as I'm aware, it's a legal requirement to take the details from at least one of the booking group, regardless of the type of accommodation, whether it be a hotel, apartment, boat or a tent, and under article 45 of the Schengen laws (which were absorbed into European Union law) providers of accomodation are legally obliged to register passport details, and it was applicable way before API was brought in.

Under the Schengen Agreement, the relevant authorities of any Schengen state have the right to conduct passport controls at any time in any place, and the European law (EU regulation 562/2006 - the Schengen Borders Code) gives member states the right to do this, to fight illegal immigration in their territory.
This is how the whole schengen zone operates by giving the police the powers to stop anyone and ask for ID "¦...hence the reason why you must carry ID in these countries.

Article 45
1. The Contracting Parties undertake to take the measures required to guarantee that. :
a. the managers of establishments providing lodging or their employees ensure that aliens accommodated therein, including nationals of the other Contracting Parties as well as those of other Member States of the European Communities, with the exception of accompanying spouses or minors or members of travel groups, personally complete and sign declaration forms and confirm their identity by the production of a valid identity document;
b. the declaration forms thus completed will be kept for the competent authorities or forwarded to them where such authorities deem this necessary for the prevention of threats, for criminal proceedings or to ascertain what has happened to persons who have disappeared or who have been the victim of an accident, save where national law provides otherwise.
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply by analogy to persons staying in any accommodation provided by professional lessors, in particular tents, caravans and boats.

http://www.personvern.uio.no/pvpn/regler/schengen_e.html

Sanji