Who’s using your NTAK number? Free checker for Budapest listings

An NTAK number belongs to one accommodation. Yet in Budapest, the same number sometimes appears on several unrelated listings, and the owner only finds out when an inspection takes place. That’s why we built a free checker: enter your number and we’ll show you what we can see about it on Airbnb and Booking.

You can access the checker here:guest.guru/hu/ntak-ellenorzes

It happened to us too

In May this year, we discovered that four unrelated listings were using a former client’s NTAK number, even though it had been deregistered. They weren’t advertising their flats; they were just using their number.

On 13 May, we wrote to four bodies: the accommodation classification body, NTAK, NAV and the district clerk. Each said it was outside their remit and directed us to the clerk. The clerk’s office replied in a single sentence: the numbers had been “corrected” on the listing sites. We still don’t know whether any proceedings were started or any fine was issued.

On 24 July, we completed Booking.com’s public reporting form. Six days later, the platform removed both listings we had reported.

Three months of correspondence with the authorities, with no result. One online form, and the two listings disappeared within six days. We learnt two things from this. First, no one will spot a stolen number for you automatically. Second, if you do spot it, there is a quick way to act.

Why should you check your own number?

This isn’t an isolated case. According to a survey of our own market database, BPDB, on 1 September 2026, there were 15,125 short-term accommodation listings in Budapest, of which 4,952 were non-compliant. That’s 32.7% of listings. These figures are updated continuously. Non-compliant listings either have no NTAK number, give a number that doesn’t exist, or display someone else’s.

That last group could affect you directly. If your number appears on an unrelated listing, it looks from the outside as though your accommodation is hosting guests in a flat you know nothing about. Better to find out from us than during an inspection.

How does the checker work?

Enter your NTAK number (two letters and eight digits) and press the Check button. You’ll find the number on your accommodation’s NTAK registration certificate, and you must display it on your listings too.

We put together the answer from four sources. First, we find which Budapest Airbnb and Booking listings display the number and indicate whether each one belongs with that number, looks suspicious or is unrelated. Then we show who operates those listings and how many listings the same host manages in Budapest.

The third source is the accommodation classification body’s public search tool: whether the number appears there, its star rating and when the classification expires. The fourth is the local authority register: whether there is a district accommodation permit for the number, and how many rooms, beds and guests it covers.

For each piece of information, we show its source and flag anything that is only our own inference.

What does the result mean — and what doesn’t it mean?

A few things are worth knowing before you act on a result:

• We only have listing data for Budapest. If your accommodation is elsewhere in Hungary, “no listings found” means nothing on its own.
• The registers are snapshots. Every result shows the date of the data we used.
• We infer which operator a listing belongs to from market data. This is not official information.
• The checker is not an official ruling. If you spot a discrepancy, you can clarify it with the accommodation classification body and the district clerk.

If you find an unrelated listing using your number

Based on our own experience, we recommend the following:

1. Save the evidence: the listing link and a screenshot showing your number.
2. Report the listing using the platform’s own reporting form. That was the quick route for us.
3. At the same time, notify the district clerk so there is an official record.

If you’d rather not tackle this alone, email us athello@guest.guruand we’ll see what can be done.

Why are we doing this?

We’re not an authority, and we don’t want to play at being vigilantes. We manage more than 170 flats in Budapest, all in compliance with the rules. We don’t want operating legally to put our clients or us at a competitive disadvantage. For that, stolen NTAK numbers on non-compliant listings need to be discovered as soon as possible.

Someone whose number has been stolen is a victim, not an offender. That’s why we never publish individual hosts’ names or addresses.

The full background, including correspondence with the authorities and district figures, is available in thedossier on illegal operators.