passports

C

capital

Banned
We are looking at booking a serviced apartment and the company is asking us to send them a copy of our passport and passport #. I am very uncomfortable with this. It seems like a reputable place, but how do I really know as everything i know of it is from the internet. is these a normal practise to give a copy of your passport in hong kong? It is called the gold coast hotel. Anyone heard of it before?
 
Hi,
Yes this is quite normal practise in Hong Kong if you don't have a Hong Kong ID card. Once you have an ID card they then ask for this all the time. When we first arrived in Hong Kong we were asked for our passport for lots of things, including buying a mobile phone, as well as at the hotel.

I hope that helps

Jools
 
Sorry re-read your question, (early mornings and sleepless nights to blame)you are right I think it's odd to send your passport number. Try asking them why? And if your not satisfied then maybe look elsewhere. There are lots of serviced apartments in Hong Kong.

Jools
 
We've been asked for our ID card number or passport number on occasion for places we wanted to look as well, and I also come from a school of thought where in this day and age of fraud, identity theft, etc, I'm very leary of providing said information.

My husband and I have managed to skirt around the requests by saying we didn't bring passport with us or don't have an ID card yet (which was always the truth in any scenario we were in). If you show geniune interest in places, we found that most people won't push it if you don't provide the information.

If you feel uneasy about giving this info over internet and/or phone, follow your instinct, let them know that you would rather wait until you are in HK and are truely interested in the place before you give them such personal information.

Also, giving a Id number is one thing, but I would be very leary of giving anyone a copy of my passport in any situation...
 
the gold coast is a huge hotel complex in tuen mun. i can't see there being any problem with them...
(but agree about the ID vs. passport #)
 
It's quite usual to be asked for your passport number, I get it all the time in hotels all around the world, it's a garantee for them if you trash the place or default on payment. And if you want internet with netvigator in your serviced appartment, and don't have a HKID, you'll be asked to provide your passport number instead.
Don't worry about it, it's standard pratice.
 
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