Comment by chatmasta
2 years ago
Interesting. That didn't happen to me when I stayed a month in an Airbnb in Serbia, although the host did ask me for a copy of my passport. (Not that I'd expect it from an Airbnb host even if hotels were doing it... just an additional data point).
For renting a vehicle (or more likely, something like a bike or moped), I can understand why they take your ID as a form of collateral in exchange for the material goods they're lending you. But for a hotel there's no real reason to hold onto it.
Out of curiosity, did you acquiesce and leave your passport with them?