TRA and SIRE: How to Register Your Hotel Guests in Colombia Without a Front-Desk Queue

Two reports, two agencies

The Tarjeta de Registro de Alojamiento (TRA) comes from Law 2068 of 2020: tourist lodging providers must keep their guest register in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism system. SIRE is Migración Colombia's official tool for reporting foreigners, and hotels are among those who must use it. According to Aloha's guide, for foreign guests you report in both tools: one does not replace the other.

When to report

For SIRE, an industry guide says the report is made within 24 hours after each foreign guest checks in, not monthly. The Ventanilla Única Empresarial describes the TRA as the tool where lodging providers register the information of national and foreign guests. Deadlines and penalties can change: always check the official pages or your advisor before fixing your procedure. This is not legal advice.

Why it becomes a queue at reception

When registration happens on arrival, a tired guest waits while reception types name, document, nationality and origin. Typing errors and reports forgotten on a busy weekend are the real risk. The way out is to move the data before arrival.

A simple online check-in flow

Whatever tool you use, the orderly flow is:

1. Before arrival, ask on WhatsApp for the ID document and details of the guest and each companion.
2. Validate the data against the booking in your PMS.
3. File the TRA and, if there are foreigners, SIRE on check-in day.
4. Keep an internal record of who reported and when.

According to xcale.app, xcale's Reception agent sends online check-in over WhatsApp before arrival, validates the data against the booking and registers guests with the migration authority (SIRE in Colombia). It collects the balance and tells your team the arrival time.

Next step

To see what online check-in and registration would look like at your hotel, book a demo with xcale.