For the first time, a housing technology solution will be employed at the Democratic National Convention. Passkey, based in Quincy, Mass., will provide an online hotel reservation system that should make life easier, for the planners of the event as well as the 35,000 delegates, media, and guests.

“It's a complex housing process that puts the technology through the paces it was developed to do,” says Passkey CEO Greg Pesik. “We're honored to be providing the infrastructure.”

All of the rooms contracted with the DNC will be managed by the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau using Passkey's system. Attendees are staying at 63 different hotels (and three universities), using 17,500 hotel rooms for a total of 109,000 room nights, Pesik notes. He says Passkey's technology allows the conventioneers to book rooms online through a secure, customized, Web-based portal. Delegations can access their entire room list through the system, which makes it easier to manage room blocks and reduce attrition. It also allows guests to make changes immediately, 24 hours a day.

At the 2000 DNC in Los Angeles, reservations were made the old-fashioned way — using paper and fax machines.