Salinas Municipal Code § 21-300 Hotels, etc.—Hotel record information

(a) For purposes of this article, hotel means any public or private space or structure, including but not limited to, any inn, hostelry, tourist home, motel, lodging house or motel rooming house offering space for sleeping or overnight accommodations in exchange for rent and for a period of less than thirty days. Hotel includes the parking lot and other common areas of the hotel. Hotel does not include living accommodations provided at any governmental or nonprofit institution in connection with the functions of that institution.

(b) The operator of any hotel, where such establishment is located within the city of Salinas, shall at all times keep and maintain therein a book or register in which shall be inscribed, with ink or indelible pencil, in legible English language written documentation of information about a guest, which includes at a minimum the following information:

(1) As provided by the guest in response to an inquiry or by other means:

(A) The name, date of birth, and address of each guest, or person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy in a hotel by reason of concession, permit, right of access, license, or other agreement;

(B) The total number of guests;

(C) The make, type, and license number of the guest's vehicle if the vehicle will be parked on hotel premises that are under the control of the operator or hotel management;

(D) Identification information as required by subsection (d)(1) of this section, as provided on a document containing the name, date of birth, description and picture of a person, issued by the federal government, the state of California, another state, a county or municipal government, including but not limited to: a motor vehicle operator's license, an identification card, or an identification card issued to a member of the Armed Forces, a passport issued by a foreign government to any of its citizens and nationals which has been approved by the city of Salinas as valid identification.

(2) The day, month, year, and time of arrival of each guest;

(3) The number, symbol, or location of the room rented or assigned to each guest;

(4) The date that each guest is scheduled to depart;

(5) The rate charged and amount collected for rental of the room assigned to each guest;

(6) The method of payment for the room; and

(7) The full name of the person (hotel employee) checking in the guest.

(A) For a guest checking in via electronic registration kiosk at the hotel, instead of the information as provided in subsections (b)(1)—(6), the hotel shall record the name, reservation information, and credit card information provided by the guest, as well as the identifying symbol of the kiosk where the guest checked in and the room number assigned to the guest.

(c) Maintenance of Hotel Record. Every person who owns or operates any hotel as defined in this section is subject to this section and shall keep a register of persons who board or lodge in such establishment. Every operator of a hotel as defined in this section shall comply with the following requirements for maintaining the hotel record. The record is a written documentation of information about a guest that may be maintained electronically, in a book, or on cards:

(1) The record shall be kept on the premises in the guest reception or guest check-in area or in an office adjacent to that area.

(2) No person shall alter, deface, or erase the record so as to make the information recorded in it illegible or unintelligible, or hinder, obstruct or interfere with any inspection of record under this section.

(3) Any record maintained in the form of a book shall be permanently bound, each page shall be sequentially numbered and the book shall be the minimum size of eight by ten inches. No page shall be removed from the book. Any record maintained in the form of cards shall be on cards that are the minimum size of two and one-half inches by four inches and numbered consecutively and used in sequence. Any card numbered within the sequence of utilized cards shall be preserved as part of the record even if it is not used for a room rental. The numbers shall be printed or otherwise indelibly affixed to the cards. If maintained electronically, the record shall be printable.

(4) Nothing in this section prevents the operator from maintaining the record for longer than ninety days in order to comply with any other provision of law, including the obligation to maintain and produce records for the purpose of paying a transient occupancy tax.

(5) Information obtained from a guest pursuant to this section shall be used only for the purposes mentioned in this article. Reasonable technical and organizational confidential and security measures shall be implemented to protect against accidental or unlawful alteration or loss, or from unauthorized use, disclosure or access of information provided by a guest and maintained as a hotel record pursuant to this section. At the end of the retention period required by this article, records required by this section and containing personal information shall be subject to disposal in such a manner that the record cannot be used or accessed and cannot be read or deciphered through any means.

(d) Renting of Hotel Rooms. The operator of a hotel shall not rent a room except in compliance with the following conditions:

(1) The operator shall require the guest who is registering to verify his or her identification through production of a driver's license, passport, government-issued identification card or other acceptable proof of identification as described in subsection (b)(1)(D). The hotel register shall record that identification was verified in accordance with this requirement and note the type of documentation which was provided by the guest to verify the guest's identification. Allowing a guest to register without verifying the guest's identification as required by this subsection is unlawful and is a violation of this section.

(2) The number and expiration date of the identification document obtained under subsection (d)(1) shall be recorded and maintained by the operator in the record for at least ninety days.

(e) Training of Employees. The owner or proprietor of a hotel business shall take all reasonable steps, including but not limited to, providing training regarding this section to ensure that the person who checks a person into the hotel complies with the provisions of this section. A person who has not been trained shall not be assigned to check persons into the hotel.

(Ord. No. 2540 (NCS), § 3, 6-11-2013)

(a) It is unlawful and a violation of this section for a person to give any assumed, false, or fictitious name, or any other name other than his or her true name when checking into a hotel.

(b) It is unlawful and a violation of this section for a person to present to any hotel identification that is in any way false, altered, or counterfeit, or belongs to another person.

(c) This section shall not apply to law enforcement personnel engaged in an investigation.

(Ord. No. 2540 (NCS), § 3, 6-11-2013)

Each sleeping room shall be numbered in a plain, conspicuous manner. Such numbers shall be placed and maintained on the outside of the outer door of each sleeping or living room unit, and no two sleeping or living room units shall bear the same number.

(Ord. No. 2540 (NCS), § 3, 6-11-2013)

It shall be unlawful for two or more persons to rent or occupy any room in any hotel, lodging house, rooming house or hotel whatsoever in the city, as defined in this article, for immoral purposes, or for the proprietor, manager or other person in charge of any such lodging house, rooming house or hotel as defined in this article to rent, assign to, or permit two or more persons to occupy any such room with the knowledge that they intend to use it for immoral purposes, and in every instance such room is rented or assigned to two or more persons jointly, the book or register shall indicate the relationship of the parties as claimed by them.

(Ord. No. 2540 (NCS), § 3, 6-11-2013)

(a) The chief of police and any police officer or officers specifically so designated by the chief, shall have access at all times to all rooming houses, lodging houses and hotels (except the private room of a guest, unless so authorized by other laws or ordinances) for the purpose of investigating any complaint or enforcing any law, ordinance or regulation relating to gaming, prostitution, fornication, lewdness, lasciviousness or immoral conduct.

(b) Absent a warrant granting the immediate inspection thereof or an exception to the warrant requirement, including exigent circumstances warranting the immediate inspection thereof, the hotel record shall be made available to any law enforcement officer for inspection upon request and at the operator's discretion.

(Ord. No. 2540 (NCS), § 3, 6-11-2013; Ord. No. 2580 (NCS), § 1, 11-29-2016)

Any person violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person who violates any provision of this article may also be subject to administrative citations and [as] provided by the Salinas City Code, which is in addition to all other legal remedies, criminal or civil, which may be pursued by the city to address any violations of this Code.

(Ord. No. 2540 (NCS), § 3, 6-11-2013)