Please Leave Profile at Front Desk : Hotels: Your preferences in room location, price and other particulars increasingly are being noted by big chains--which promise to keep them confidential.

Mr. Smith likes a room on a low floor. Ms. Davis prefers a room near the elevators. Mr. Jones wants a room with a double bed. Ms. Samuels needs a kennel for her dog.

These preferences represent the type of information that increasingly is being stored by hotels in computerized guest profiles. The information also includes the name, address and phone number of the guest, the amount paid on previous visits, whether a discount was used, as well as the type of credit card and the card number.

“The more information we have, the easier it is to meet the expectations of guests and to speed their reservation for their next stay at any of our hotels,” said Jeff Diskin, director of business programs at Hilton Hotels. “The entire hotel industry, using constantly improving computer capabilities, is moving toward maintaining more information about guests. The advantage to the consumer is better service, and we’re in a service industry.”

Radisson Hotels recently updated its computer services to include a chain-wide guest profile program. And a spokesman for Ramada International said the hotel group was close to implementing a guest profile program that could also be used throughout the chain, not just by individual hotels.

“Previously, maintenance of a guest profile was left up to individual hotels, which can still maintain their own separate guest profiles,” said Scott Heintzeman, vice president of worldwide reservations at Radisson.

Providing material for these mini-dossiers kept by various hotels, either on an individual or chain-wide basis, is voluntary, and guests can choose not to give out any specific piece of information. Both individual hotels and hotel chains periodically update their files, and guests can request that their profiles be deleted as well as amended to cover such items as an expired credit card.

Collecting and maintaining such personal information sometimes raises questions of privacy. Hotels say the guest profiles are kept strictly confidential.

“We’re very sensitive on the issue of confidentiality,” said Hilton’s Diskin. “We don’t, for example, provide a list of smokers or nonsmokers to any organization. We don’t peddle names to others for mailing list purposes.”

“With growing computer sophistication, more and more focus is being given by hotels to keeping guest profiles,” said Ken Hine, president and chief operating officer of the American Hotel & Motel Assn., based in Washington, D.C. “But I’ve never heard of any information being released or sold to other organizations. These profiles are kept confidential by the hotels.”

Marriott Hotels has been maintaining a confidential guest profile list for approximately four years, according to Laurence Murphy, vice president of service development. Guests can have a profile started after staying just one night at a Marriott hotel.

“We check with people quarterly or biannually to see if there is an update and whether we should maintain the profile, “ Murphy said.

Most hotels and hotel chains began building guest profiles for their frequent business travelers.

“Our program now covers members of our frequent guest program, who are primarily business travelers. But we’re working on a program to include non-members in the profile system,” said Kim McCoulou, manager of marketing programs at Westin Hotels. “In January, we began using a guest profile program for frequent leisure travelers who stay in certain room categories at our resort properties.”

While Hilton maintains guest profiles on both business and leisure travelers, only those travelers who are members of Hilton’s frequent guest program are profiled. The program now numbers about 2.5 million people. “If a guest is not a member of our frequent guest program, we would just maintain a history (i.e., the normal records),” Diskin said. “But anyone can join the frequent guest program after just one stay, or even without staying at one of our hotels.”

Computerized profiles can be accessed by both the individual property and at corporate headquarters. Hilton keeps its information up to date by sending out a letter to its frequent guest members every two years, asking about changes for their profiles.

“Only those who have stayed at one of our hotels in the last six months get the notice, so that’s around half a million with any one mailing,” Diskin added. “While the guest can’t get a printout at an individual property, they can always ask what the information is at the front desk and update it that way.”

Members of the frequent guest program also receive surveys on what sort of perks or prizes they would like to get for the points they accumulate in stays. “These responses are also integrated into the guest profile,” Diskin also said. “Some of the responses range from the more practical to such desires as dinner with Mike Jordan and for an opportunity to be a monk for a week. It all goes into the profile.”

Radisson’s system calls for guests to be asked if they want to have a profile kept when they make a reservation, which can be with a first-time booking.

“Our reservations agents have prompts on the screen on what questions to ask, but guests don’t have to answer a question if they don’t want to,” Heintzeman said. “They can also ask to have information deleted. There haven’t been any qualms on providing information, such as on credit card numbers, and all information is kept strictly confidential.” Thus far, during its first month of operation, about 10% of Radisson’s guests have opted to have a guest profile started, Heintzeman added. “Some people feel the information is private, and others simply are not frequent travelers. It has more appeal for business travelers. Based on our first month, when we started with several thousand profiles, we ex pect to add 5,000 to 10,000 profiles a month.”