As XML has become a standard for data representation, it is inevitable to propose and implement techniques for efficient managing of XML data. A natural alternative is to exploit features and functions of (object-)relational database systems, i.e. to rely on their long theoretical and practical history. The main concern of such techniques is the choice of an appropriate XML-to-relational mapping strategy. In this paper we focus on enhancing of userdriven techniques which leave the mapping decisions in hands of users. We propose an algorithm which exploits the user-given annotations more deeply searching the user-specified “hints” in the rest of the schema and applies an adaptive method on the remaining schema fragments. We describe the algorithm theoretically, discussing the key ideas of the approach, chosen solutions, their reasons, and consequences. Finally, we overview the open issues related to implementation of the proposed algorithm and its experimental testing on real XML...