How Can I Get a Copy of an Old Hotel Booking or Reservation?

To get a copy of an old hotel booking or reservation, start with the company that originally handled the booking. Search your email, hotel loyalty account, hotel app, booking-platform account and travel-agent records. If you cannot find the document, use Flightika to generate a past hotel booking. Click here to generate past hotel booking.

Before searching, decide what you actually need. An old hotel booking confirmation, receipt, invoice and hotel folio are different documents and can answer different questions.

Old hotel booking, receipt, invoice or folio: what is the difference?

People often say old hotel reservation when they may actually be looking for one of several different documents.

• Booking confirmation — usually shows the hotel, guest, check-in and check-out dates, room or rate information and confirmation number.
• Hotel receipt — records payment or charges associated with the reservation or stay.
• Hotel folio or final bill — is normally produced by the hotel and can contain the itemized room, tax and additional charges recorded during the stay.
• Invoice — may be needed for company accounting, reimbursement or tax records and can differ from the basic booking confirmation.
• Historical hotel itinerary summary — records the hotel, guest, location and historical dates in itinerary form but is not an original hotel-issued receipt or proof of a completed stay.

Step 1: Search your email and downloaded files

Email is usually the fastest place to recover an old hotel reservation because hotels and booking platforms commonly send confirmation messages when a booking is created.

Search every email address that may have been used for the trip, including personal, business and family accounts.

Useful search terms include:

• The hotel name.
• The hotel chain.
• The destination city.
• The booking website or travel-agent name.
• “Hotel confirmation.”
• “Reservation confirmation.”
• “Your stay.”
• “Hotel receipt.”
• “Invoice” or “folio.”
• The approximate month and year of the stay.
• The confirmation number, if you remember it.

Also search your Downloads, Documents, cloud storage and messaging apps. You may have saved the confirmation as a PDF, forwarded it to another traveler or taken a screenshot before the trip.

Step 2: Check your hotel account or loyalty app

If the stay was booked directly with a hotel group, sign in to the hotel website or app using the account associated with the reservation.

Look for sections such as:

• Past stays.
• Stay history.
• Previous reservations.
• Activity.
• Receipts.
• Bills or folios.

Major hotel groups provide this type of functionality. Hilton, for example, provides a past-stay receipt process through the Hilton Honors account or app and directs guests to contact the hotel if the receipt cannot be found online.

See Hilton's official guide on getting a copy of a past-stay receipt.

Marriott also allows eligible members to look through past stays and retrieve hotel bills where available.

See Marriott's official guidance on accessing a hotel bill.

Step 3: Check the booking website or travel agent

If you booked through an online travel agency, travel agent, employer, tour operator or company travel desk, the hotel account may not contain the original reservation record.

Sign in to the account used to book the hotel and look for:

• Past trips.
• Completed bookings.
• Reservation history.
• Invoices or receipts.
• Cancelled or archived reservations.

Search the email account associated with that platform as well. Even if the booking no longer appears in the account, the original confirmation email may still contain the hotel, dates and booking reference.

Step 4: Contact the hotel directly

If you cannot retrieve the record online, contact the property where you stayed.

Explain exactly what you need:

• A duplicate booking confirmation.
• A copy of the final hotel bill.
• A folio.
• A payment receipt.
• An invoice.
• A record confirming a previous stay.

The hotel may ask you to verify the guest name, stay dates, email address or other information before releasing past reservation or billing details.

If you need the document for reimbursement, tax, insurance, employer or administrative purposes, tell the hotel why. That makes it easier for the staff to identify whether you need a folio, invoice, receipt or another record.

Can a hotel find an old booking without the confirmation number?

Sometimes. Losing the reservation or confirmation number does not necessarily mean the old booking is unrecoverable.

Give the hotel or booking provider as much genuine information as you still remember:

• The guest's full name.
• The approximate check-in date.
• The approximate check-out date.
• The hotel name and city.
• The email address used for the reservation.
• The telephone number used for the booking.
• The hotel loyalty number, if applicable.
• The booking platform or travel agent.
• The names of other guests on the reservation.

If the hotel asks about the payment method, do not send a full credit-card number over ordinary email or an insecure messaging channel.

Does an old hotel booking prove that I stayed at the hotel?

Not by itself. A hotel booking confirmation normally proves that a reservation was made or planned. It does not independently prove that the guest arrived, checked in or completed the stay.

If somebody specifically asks for proof that you stayed at the hotel, ask what evidence they accept.

More useful records may include:

• A final hotel folio.
• A final hotel bill.
• A hotel-issued invoice.
• A receipt created after the stay.
• A loyalty-account stay record.
• A hotel-issued confirmation of the completed stay, where the property offers one.

What if the original old hotel reservation is no longer available?

Very old reservations can eventually disappear from booking websites, accounts and hotel self-service systems.

If the original record is unavailable, first ask whether the organization requesting the document requires an official hotel-issued record.

If it does, continue working with the hotel or original booking provider. A newly prepared historical itinerary cannot replace an official folio, invoice or proof-of-stay record when one of those is specifically required.

If you only need a historical accommodation itinerary for organization, travel-history reconstruction or internal records, a clearly labelled historical hotel itinerary can summarize:

• The hotel.
• The city and location.
• The guest.
• The historical check-in date.
• The historical check-out date.
• The number of nights.

Flightika provides past itinerary generation for travelers who need to organize historical flight and hotel information. Read our guide to past travel itineraries for more information.

What if I also need my old flight itinerary?

People reconstructing older travel records often need both the accommodation and flight documents from the same journey.

For the airline side, read our companion guide: How Can I Get a Copy of an Old Flight Ticket or Itinerary?.

Try to keep the dates consistent when reconstructing a historical trip. The hotel should normally fall within the period between the arrival and departure flights unless the itinerary includes multiple destinations.

Checklist before requesting an old hotel record

• Decide whether you need the booking confirmation, receipt, invoice, folio or proof of the completed stay.
• Search your email, downloads, cloud storage and messaging apps.
• Check the hotel website, app and loyalty account.
• Check the original booking website, travel agent or company travel desk.
• Write down the hotel name, city, guest and approximate stay dates.
• Contact the hotel directly if you cannot recover the record online.
• Explain why you need the document so the hotel can identify the correct record.
• Do not send complete payment-card information through an insecure channel.
• If you need proof that you actually stayed, do not rely only on a booking confirmation.
• If the original is unavailable and only a historical itinerary is needed, clearly label the replacement as a historical summary.

Frequently asked questions

How can I get a copy of an old hotel booking?

Search the email and account used for the reservation, then check the hotel website or app and the original booking platform. If the record is unavailable, contact the hotel directly.

Can a hotel retrieve an old reservation without the confirmation number?

Sometimes. Give the hotel your full guest name, approximate stay dates, email address, telephone number, loyalty number and any other information connected with the reservation.

How do I get a receipt from an old hotel stay?

Check your hotel account or app for a previous-stay receipt or hotel bill. If it is no longer available online, contact the hotel and ask for the final receipt or folio.

Is a hotel receipt the same as a booking confirmation?

No. A booking confirmation documents the reservation. A receipt records a payment or charge. A final hotel folio can contain itemized charges from the completed stay.

Does an old hotel reservation prove that I stayed there?

No. A reservation shows that accommodation was booked, but it does not independently prove that the guest checked in or completed the stay.

What should I ask for if I need proof of my hotel stay?

Ask the hotel whether it can provide a final folio, hotel bill, invoice, receipt or other hotel-issued record confirming the completed stay.

What if I booked through a travel website or travel agent?

Start with the account or company that originally made the reservation. It may be able to reproduce the confirmation or invoice. For the hotel's final folio, you may still need to contact the property itself.

What if the original hotel booking is no longer available?

If an official hotel-issued record is required, continue working with the hotel or original booking provider. If you only need an accommodation timeline for organization or internal records, a clearly described historical itinerary summary can be used for that purpose.