Choice, whose properties include Clarion Hotels, Comfort Inn, Econo Lodge, Quality Inn, Rodeway Inn and others, is in the midst of moving to Version 6.1 of Initiate Identity Hub software, from Initiate Software Inc. of Chicago.

Identity Hub, which Choice first began using in mid-2004, helps the hotel chain match the 100,000 new guest bookings it receives daily from its nearly 6,000 properties to those in its existing customer database, said Choice CIO Gary Thompson.

With Version 6.1 and a new services-oriented property management system that its franchisees are deploying, Choice wants hotel guests to be linked to records in its Informix data warehouse as soon as they check in.

"We need to be able to do on-the-fly identification of our guests," said Thompson, a 15-year veteran of Choice.

That would allow Choice, which can now provide personalized offers and perks in real-time only to guests who check in with their loyalty program membership numbers, to tailor its marketing efforts better and help create what Thompson described as a yield management system equal in sophistication to what major airlines use today.