This article reflects the state of our research and is not legal or tax advice. What applies to your property depends on the zone, the municipality, the house rules and your contract; only the competent authority gives binding information.
Key facts
- In the canton of Zurich ALL guests must be registered, not only foreign ones.
- The error has a root: the duty for foreign guests is anchored in federal law and is therefore better known.
- The duty lies with the host and cannot be transferred. Airbnb sends no registration to the canton.
- Record at check-in rather than collecting everything at month end — and guest data is personal data, to be deleted once the period expires.
The most widespread misunderstanding
Almost every host we discuss this with assumes that only foreign guests have to be registered. That is wrong. In the canton of Zurich all guests must be registered, regardless of nationality.
The misunderstanding has an understandable root: the duty to report foreign guests is anchored in federal law and is therefore better known. The cantonal registration duty goes beyond it and is frequently passed over in guides.
In practice that means: the business traveller from Bern and the family from St. Gallen belong in the register too. Anyone recording only foreign guests is keeping an incomplete register — and that is the same as no register when an inspection comes.
What has to be recorded
The canton provides its own procedure for the report. The details to be recorded and the channels of transmission are set out by the cantonal office; they can change, which is why consulting the official page is preferable to consulting a guide.
What does not change: the duty lies with the host, not with the platform. Airbnb transmits no registration to the canton. Anyone assuming otherwise has delegated a duty that cannot be delegated.
Your figures, not our examples
The calculator takes the number of rooms, the neighbourhood and the fit-out and shows you a range — with the arithmetic beside it, not as a single figure you have to take on trust.
Estimate the returnHow to handle it day to day
The mistake we see most often is collecting everything at the end of the month. It works as long as nothing intervenes, and collapses as soon as a booking is cancelled or extended — then details are missing that nobody can reconstruct.
Better is recording at check-in, as part of the routine. Anyone who needs the details for the key handover anyway can capture them in the same step. That costs two minutes per booking instead of half an evening at the end of the month.
A second, related point: guest data is personal data. It does not belong in a spreadsheet on the desktop but in a place with access protection, and it has to be deleted once the retention period expires. The revised Data Protection Act applies to hosts with a single flat as well.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In the canton of Zurich all guests must be registered, not only foreign ones. This is the point most frequently misunderstood, because the federal duty to report foreign guests is better known. The guest from Bern belongs in the register too. The duty lies with the host; Airbnb transmits nothing to the canton. The procedure and the details to be recorded are set out by the cantonal hotel inspectorate (Hotelkontrolle) — looking there is more reliable than any guide, because procedures change.
No. Airbnb collects data for its own platform, not for cantonal registration. The duty lies with the host and cannot be delegated — not even to a management company that takes it on in practice: responsibility remains with whoever lets the property. Anyone assuming the platform handles it is keeping no register. Registration rests with the host and is not transferable — not to a management company either. We do not take it on.
The retention period follows the cantonal requirements; check with the responsible office. More important is the other direction, which is frequently overlooked: once the period expires, the data has to be deleted. Guest data is personal data, and the revised Data Protection Act applies to hosts with a single flat as well. A spreadsheet with four years of names and identity-document numbers on a private computer is not diligence but a risk.
And for your property?
Sources
State of our research: 6 July 2026. Official rules change — check the current position with the competent authority.
