What Happens To My Information If I Make A Hotel Booking Online: An Analysis Of On-Line Privacy Policy Use, Content And Compliance By The International Hotel Companies | Peter O’ Connor

Consumer privacy concerns are thought to be stalling the growth of e-commerce. Although regulatory philosophies differ between Europe and the US, internationally there is a general agreement on certain global privacy protection principles, namely notice, choice, onward transfer, access, security, integrity and enforcement. A content analysis of the privacy policies of the 30 largest international hotel brands revealed that 25% fully complied with these guidelines, 69% partially complied and only 7% failed to include a policy of any kind. Omissions most often occurred in terms of Choice, Security and Integrity, indicating an unsophisticated approach to the management of consumer information on the part of some hotel companies. However, follow up research revealed that those hotel companies that actually displayed a policy in general complied with the promises made in their privacy disclosures.