I have entered my phone number with spaces separating the numbers, as is the local custom in Portugal. When the Guide is displayed, the spaces are stripped, making it potentially difficult for the reader to know which is the country code and which are the other numbers. For example, the country code for Portugal is +351. I have entered my phone (and WhatsApp) number as +351 123 455 789, but it displays as +351123456789.
I appreciate the reasons you have for not including spaces in the phone number when you use it programatically, but I suggest that you only strip them when you use the number for making a call or sending a message.
For displaying the phone number in the Guide when displaying in a web browser or in the PDF, you could still leave the spaces and display the number as it has been entered into the Guide Contact Details–with possible spaces for display.
In other words, why not allow spaces to be entered when building content but strip them internally when you use them?