From next month, personal information of hotel guests in Guangdong Province will appear on police computers within three hours after they check in.

All hotels and inns in the province have been ordered to install a new security management system the first of its kind in the country given free by the police, according to a provincial regulation on management of hotels and security.

The system, which is linked to public security departments' computer network, will enable police to have easier access to hotel guests' information.

Hotels that fail to install the system before the end of August will be fined between 5,000 yuan (US$625) and 10,000 yuan (US$12,500), with heavier penalties including withdrawal of business licenses prescribed after September.

Currently, guests at hotels nationwide have to use only their identity card to register but some criminals have used forged ID cards to check in, and some hotels do not even require proof of identity.

The latest move is to "standardize the operation of hotels and maintain social order," according to a police officer in the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security yesterday.

"Police should have the right to check hotel guests' identity and personal data while investigating criminal cases," said the officer, who did not want to be named.

He said he believed the new practice would help in the capture of criminals and bring down the crime rate in the province among the highest in the country.

He promised that the police would follow a code of conduct while handling guests' personal data.

Wu Yida, a local lawyer, said it is not a violation of law for police to check hotel guests' information while handling criminal cases.

But he hoped detailed guidelines on the use of such personal data are released.

Many hotels in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, seemed unfazed by the new regulation.

A hotel manager in Tianhe District said the new rules would not affect occupancy rates.

"Hotels already require guests to show their ID cards while checking in, and most guests believe hotels would not leak their personal information randomly," said the manager, who requested anonymity.

Chen Xiaofan, a tourist from Beijing, said hotel guests "would feel safer" with the new regulation but others disagreed.

Bill Cheung, a Hong Kong businessman, is worried about intrusions on his privacy.

"In Hong Kong, people do not even have to use their real names to register in hotels," Cheung told China Daily.

Cheung travels to Guangdong on business many times a year and stays in hotels.

(China Daily August 18, 2006)