Madeira & Azores Hosts 2026: AL Registration and AIMA Guest Reporting

CheckinSimple Team ·

Hosts in Funchal, Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo or Horta face a slightly different administrative setup from the mainland. The confusion usually comes from assuming that "regional" means "different rules for guest registration". It does not.

1. What is regional: the AL registration itself

Madeira and the Azores are autonomous regions with their own tourism directorates:

  • Madeira: AL registration is handled through the regional tourism authority, with its own registration forms and inspection regime.
  • Azores: registration goes through the regional directorate for tourism, again with island-specific procedures for classification and licensing.

Requirements such as the AL plate, minimum equipment standards, complaints book and civil liability insurance apply in both regions, with regional forms.

2. What is national: guest reporting to AIMA

The obligation to report foreign guests is set by national immigration law and applies identically in Funchal and in Lisbon:

  • Report every foreign guest via a boletim de alojamento.
  • Deadline: 3 working days after check-in.
  • Portuguese nationals and foreign residents in Portugal are exempt.
  • Each guest, including children, gets an individual record.
  • Records must be retainable and presentable on inspection.

You use the same SIBA system, the same credentials process (NIF, Chave de Acesso, Estabelecimento number) and the same email address for activation: siba@ssi.gov.pt.

3. Practical realities in the islands

  • Long stays and repeat seasonal guests: Madeira in particular has many multi-week stays. The reporting deadline still runs from arrival, not from departure — do not wait until checkout.
  • Island-hopping in the Azores: a guest moving from São Miguel to Terceira is a new check-in at a new establishment. Both properties report separately.
  • Multiple establishments: if you run units on more than one island, each needs its own establishment number in SIBA.

4. Regional tourist tax

Both regions have municipal-level tourist tax schemes in certain councils — for example a per-person, per-night charge with a night cap in some Madeira and Azorean municipalities. Rates are set locally and change; confirm with your câmara. As always, this is separate from AIMA reporting.

5. Setting up so it runs itself

The workflow that works equally well in the islands and the mainland:

  1. Guest scans a QR code at arrival on their own phone.
  2. They photograph their passport; the data is read automatically.
  3. The record is created and submitted to AIMA within the deadline, automatically.
  4. You keep an exportable record for inspections.

CheckinSimple supports multiple establishments under one account, so units across islands are handled from one dashboard — and it works in English, Portuguese, German and French so your guests fill it in their own language.

Try it free for 14 days and stop tracking deadlines by hand.