An International Comparison Of Approaches To Online Privacy Protection: Implications For The Hotel Sector | Peter O?Connor

Today?s technology provides unprecedented opportunities to gather highly detailed data about website visitors for use in personalizing content in subsequent interactions. However, such personalization comes at a price ? a threat to privacy. Two diametrically opposed philosophies to privacy protection exist – the selfregulation approach epitomized by the United States, or the legislative approach mandated by the European Union. These are contrasted, and an analysis of international practices highlights how the latter approach has been adopted as the de-facto worldwide standard. Compliance with this standard by the major international hotel companies is then assessed by critically analyzing the websites of the top 50 hotel companies. Findings indicate that while hotel websites frequently include statements outlining what data is being collected and how it is being used, few give consumers any option as to the secondary use of their data, nor the right to modify or remove data from databases. Tests were also carried out to establish whether companies subsequently delivered their promises. With few exceptions, most behaved ethically, indicating a degree of maturity in terms of customer data use absent from other sectors.