Form B: the digital guest register every Indian hotel must keep

The C-Form gets all the attention because foreign guests and big fines are involved. But there's a second, quieter obligation that applies to every guest you host — Indian or foreign — and it's the one a visiting police officer is most likely to ask for: the guest register, often called Form B.

What Form B is

Form B is a running register of everyone who stays at your property. Where the C-Form goes to the FRRO and only covers foreign nationals, the guest register stays with you and covers all guests. It's the record local authorities inspect to verify who has been on the premises.

What it must contain

Requirements vary slightly by state, but a guest register generally records:

• Guest name and an ID reference (passport for foreigners, a government ID for Indians)
• Address / contact details
• Date and time of arrival
• Date and time of departure
• Room assigned, and number of people in the party
• For foreign guests, a link to the C-Form filing

Who can ask to see it

Local police and, for foreign-guest entries, FRRO officials can ask to inspect your register. It needs to be current and available on demand — "I'll dig it out later" is not a great answer during a compliance visit.

Paper registers are a liability

A physical bound register is still common, but it's fragile: handwriting that can't be read, pages that go missing, no backup, and no quick way to pull "who stayed last March" when asked. A digital register solves all of that and can be exported to PDF or CSV in seconds.

One check-in, both obligations