Starting next month, hotels in Guangdong Province will be required to forward customers' personal information to police within 3 hours of check-in.

Guangdong authorities hope the new hotel regulation will help police trace criminal suspects, the New Express newspaper reported yesterday. The province announced the regulation on Tuesday, it said.

Police designed the software for hotels and require them to install it in a computer that links with local police stations.

The hotels scan the ID card of a customer into a computer and feed the personal information to the police computer network within 3 hours of check-in, the report said.

A small number of hotels in the provincial capital Guangzhou piloted the system, the report said.

For those hotels that haven't installed the software, they must turn over customers' personal information in written form within one day after check-in.

Hotels face a fine between 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan if they don't install the software by an unspecified deadline.

The regulation bans hotels leaking the customers' personal information to parties other than police.

However, the regulation doesn't apply to saunas, which often serve as hostels, the report said.

Editor: Wing