IPHH National Statistics Institute Portugal: Alojamento Local
For many Alojamento Local (AL) operators in Portugal, complying with INE reporting requirements particularly the IPHH (Inquérito à Permanência de Hóspedes na Hotelaria) can feel super complex and time-consuming. Whether you manage listings on Airbnb, Booking, or both, getting this right is essential for compliance in AL Portugal.
Although, it is mostly applicable to those hosts with multiple properties. INE will reach out via email with instructions if they choose your property to report monthly for their statistical summaries. Surveys conducted by the National Statistics Institute (INE) play a fundamental role in the production of official statistics that support decision-making across various areas of society.
This guide shows how to simplify IPHH submission and stay aligned with broader requirements like RNAL Portugal, comunicação SEF alojamento local (SIBA), and evolving regras para o alojamento local em 2026.
Understanding the IPHH Requirement
The IPHH is a mandatory monthly survey submitted to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE). It applies to several accommodation segments and requires:
Number of guests (by nationality)
Number of nights stayed
Occupancy rates
Other operational indicators
Revenue for the month
Number of rooms
Where Do You Submit IPHH Data?
INE provides an online portal called Webinq at webinq.ine.pt where selected properties can log in and submit their monthly accommodation data. The Login credentials are sent via mail.
The portal walks you through the required fields and provides guidance notes for each section. You will need your property's registration credentials, which are provided when INE notifies you of selection.
Once you create your account it is important to add your:
CÓDIGO IDENTIFICADOR:
01 000000000
CHAVE MESTRA:
4413-5a77-39ld-4121
This is emailed to you by the "Direção Regional de Estatística da Madeira" or similar entity
Some property management software providers (including EazyAL) can help you aggregate the data needed for your IPHH submission automatically, pulling together your booking statistics so the monthly submission takes minutes rather than hours. An Alternative is to seek help from a property manager in Madeira or Portugal.
The Challenges
Operators often rely on spreadsheets or manual exports from Airbnb and Booking dashboards, which leads to:
Data inconsistencies between Airbnb and Booking.com
Failed uploads on INE’s TAD portal
Time lost handling technical requirements
At the same time, operators must also handle:
RNAL Portugal registration and compliance
Invoices
Comunicação SEF / SIBA Portugal (guest reporting)
Local rules such as taxa turística Santa Cruz and other municipal taxes
Managing all of this manually is not easy.
Current IPHH form vs EazyAL IPHH
Open the INE form and you're dropped into four tabs (Início, Quadro 1, Quadro 2, Notas) with no indication of what's done, what's missing, or when it's due.
Every field carries an internal database code in orange — BC105, BC110, V1, VPP — identifiers that mean something to INE's backend and nothing to you. Read-only totals and editable fields both render as grey boxes, so you can't even tell where you're allowed to type. Alternatively, EazyAL IPHH form opens with a status dashboard that answers the four questions the INE form never does:
Which month you're filing (Reporte de Jun 2026),
The deadline with a live countdown ("até 10 Jul — faltam 5 dias"),
If you're in test or real submission mode,
A status badge when everything checks out. Green means done, orange means pending. You know where you stand in two seconds.
Outcome: no re-reading, no guessing, no opening the form three times just to check if you already submitted.
The country table
Quadro 1 is where IPHH form hurts most.
You type guest and overnight numbers country by country, adding each nationality through a tiny magnifying-glass icon and a separate "Adicionar" button, working from two-letter codes. Delete checkboxes sit next to each row with no confirmation one misclick and a row of data silently disappears. For a property with guests from 10–15 countries, this alone is 20–40 minutes of manual tallying and typing, every month, from your own booking records.
EazyAL Software builds that entire table for you.
Because it already holds your booking and guest data (the same data it uses for your SIBA bulletins), the country breakdown is imported automatically and shown collapsed under "Dados de hóspedes importados" there to inspect if you want, invisible if you don't.
Outcome : the most complex part of the survey goes from half an hour of counting to zero minutes. And the numbers come from actual records, not from whatever you managed to tally by hand.
Submitting: a missing button vs five labeled steps
Here's the most alarming thing we found in the official form: the banner says "finished filling in? Choose the 'Responder' option to submit" — and there is no visible Responder button on the screen. Only "Alterar resposta" and "Sair". The single most important action in the whole workflow is hidden or broken.
EazyAL Alojamento Software replaces that with an explicit, ordered action list: save draft, check for errors, preview the report, download the file, submit to INE — with a plain-language sentence telling you which order to follow. It also shows its math ("Receita total = Alojamento + Restauração") and flags mismatches before submission, instead of letting INE bounce your response after the fact.
Outcome for you: no failed submissions discovered days later, no wondering whether clicking "Sair" saved anything.
Help, language, and history
The Webinq IPHH form's guidance lives in the Notas tab which is a wall of dense legal-statistical Portuguese you have to cross-reference paragraph by paragraph against the questions. There's no English version anywhere, which is a real problem given how many AL operators in Portugal are foreign. And there's no record of past submissions.
EazyAL puts explanations next to the fields they concern, includes a working English/Portuguese switcher in the top bar, and keeps a Histórico tab with every draft, validation, and submission attempt — your audit trail if INE ever questions a filing.
Comparison Table
EazyAL | ||
|---|---|---|
Country/guest table | Typed by hand, row by row | Imported from your bookings |
Deadline tracking | None | Countdown + status badge |
Error checking | After submission | Before submission |
Submit action | Unclear ("Responder" button missing) | Five explicit, ordered steps |
Language | Portuguese only | Portuguese + English |
Submission history | None | Full Histórico tab |
Typical monthly time | 30–60 min | A few minutes to review and submit |
The IPHH survey isn't optional but spending an hour on it every month is. EazyAL already handles your SIBA guest bulletins and tourist tax; the INE monthly report comes from the same data, checked and formatted, ready to submit before the 10th. Try EazyAL free and turn next month's INE deadline into a two-minute task.
Best Practices for AL hosts in Portugal
To ensure smooth operations:
Keep your listing data consistent across Airbnb and Booking.com
Track regulatory updates (e.g., regras alojamento local 2026)
Ensure correct reporting in RNAL Portugal
Stay compliant with SEF SIBA communication requirements
Monitor local obligations like taxa turística Santa Cruz
FAQ
What is IPHH and who must submit it?
A mandatory monthly survey to INE covering guest numbers by nationality, overnight stays, and occupancy. It applies to accommodation operators notified by INE.
How does EazyAL automate IPHH?
It consolidates reservation data from your booking sources, generates INE-compliant XML (correct GUID and segment classification), validates it before submission, then submits directly.
I've been hosting for two years and never heard of IPHH. Do I need to worry?
No. If you have not received any communication from INE, your property has not been selected for the survey, and you have nothing to submit. However, larger properties and growing portfolios are more likely to be selected, so it is worth knowing how the system works before a letter arrives.
How will I know if my property has been selected?
INE will contact you directly with registration credentials and instructions for the WebInq portal. In Madeira, the contact often comes from DREM (Direção Regional de Estatística da Madeira) by email. Do not ignore this correspondence.
Example of an Email:
“solicitamos a V/ melhor colaboração no sentido de remeter a esta Direção o(s) questionário(s) para os meses 202603, o mais urgente possível.”
The emails often also mention:
Lei nº 22/2008
mandatory statistical reporting
deadlines until the 10th of the following month
WebInq portal access
I received a DREM or INE email about missing questionnaires. Is this a fine?
In most cases, no. Emails requesting missing monthly questionnaires ("solicitamos a remessa dos questionários em falta") are warnings asking you to submit overdue reports, not penalty notices. Submit the missing months as soon as possible and the matter usually ends there.
Do I have to submit a report if I had no guests that month?
Yes. This is the detail most hosts miss. Even with zero reservations, the obligation to respond remains you submit the month with no guest movement. Skipping "empty" months is one of the most common reasons hosts accumulate missing questionnaires.
What is the deadline each month?
The 10th of the following month. June's data must be submitted by July 10th, and so on, every month, for as long as your property remains in the sample.
How long will I have to keep submitting?
Once selected, the obligation is ongoing you respond every month until INE removes your property from the sample. There is no fixed end date communicated upfront.
Is the data I submit to INE confidential?
Yes. INE uses the data for statistical purposes only and does not publish individual property data. Results appear only in aggregate form in national tourism statistics.
Can I submit IPHH data for multiple properties in one submission?
Through the WebInq portal, each property submits separately. However, INE's EXMO Web Service allows a single XML file containing multiple units to be submitted in one action provided the logged-in user has permission for every unit included. For large portfolios, software that aggregates booking data makes either route much faster.
Can IPHH submission be fully automated?
Yes, via INE's EXMO Web Service and the TAD platform. But access is strictly controlled: credentials belong to the host or agency (not the software provider), each entity manages its own users on the INE portal, and submissions only work with the correct GUID and permissions. For most hosts, the practical win is automating data preparation, with the option of assisted or fully automated submission once credentials are connected.
Does Airbnb or Booking.com report this data on my behalf?
No. Like SIBA, the platforms do not submit IPHH data to INE. The responsibility sits entirely with the property owner or operator.
Does submitting SIBA mean I'm covered for IPHH?
No. They are completely separate systems run by different entities. SIBA registers individual foreign guests with AIMA within 3 working days of arrival; IPHH is a monthly aggregate report to INE. Selected hosts must do both.
What if I lost my WebInq credentials?
Contact INE or your regional statistics office (DREM in Madeira) to recover access. Credentials are tied to your entity's registration, and the identification code and master key sent to you are needed to activate the account.
Can EazyAL handle my IPHH reporting?
EazyAL keeps all guest, nationality, stay, and occupancy data aggregated and ready, so the monthly submission takes minutes instead of hours. Previous missing months still need to be submitted manually through WebInq, but once your guest data flows through EazyAL, future IPHH workflows can be automated and simplified — particularly valuable for remote hosts and multi-property operators.
Want to simplify your compliance admin? Discover EazyAL →
Final Thoughts
Running an AL business in Portugal today means managing multiple systems: booking platforms, guest reporting (SIBA), and statistical reporting (IPHH).
Instead of juggling spreadsheets and portals, tools like EazyAL allow you to centralize operations, automate compliance, and even submit IPHH directly from one place.
If you're currently switching between Airbnb or Booking.com, handling SEF SIBA, and preparing IPHH manually, it may be time to adopt a more efficient workflow.
