Data Security and Privacy in Hospitality – Who’s Paying the Bill? – By Robert Braun, Co-Chair, JMBM Cybersecurity and Privacy Group; Senior Member, JMBM Global Hospitality Group
One of the most valuable assets of a hotel brand is information – detailed personal information about guests at their hotels, participants in their loyalty programs, and visitors to their websites. This information allows hotel brands to focus on creating guest loyalty, acquiring potential guests, engaging in effective marketing, expanding market share, and creating properties and services that entice and satisfy hotel guests. Because of this, hotel brands have long contended that they “own” hotel guest data and have unencumbered rights to use it, without respect to the interests of hotel owners and even the guests themselves.
