Privacy campaign aims to protect hotel guests' data
Hotel staff should not photocopy customers' passports when checking them in or use their personal data for unsolicited marketing, industry professionals will be taught over the next three months.
Privacy Commissioner Roderick Woo Bun yesterday launched a hotel privacy campaign with the Hong Kong Hotels Association in a bid to train workers in handling the large amount of personal data to which they have access. While telemarketers calling several times a day to offer VIP memberships are not the immediate targets of the drive, Mr Woo said the issue would also be covered as an 'ancillary point'.
'[Hotels] should only use data for the purpose for which they were collected,' he said. 'But this is an ancillary point as this kind of marketing transcends the hotel sector.'
Mr Woo said the campaign was not the result of excessive complaints against the industry but rather an attempt to 'fortify data protection and provide staff with practical guidance'. Mr Woo said the commission would reach out to other sectors as well.
Representatives of almost 50 hotels were at yesterday's launch, he added. 'Customer service is at the heart of the hotel business and ensuring customer data is adequately protected is critical to maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.'
Staff will be taught how to deal with sensitive material such as passports, identity cards and credit cards, and guests' other personal information.
If such data fell into the wrong hands it could be used for identity theft. Making copies of such important documents was not necessary for operational reasons.
Shirley Lung Suet-ying, corporate communications manager for the commission, said many sales staff did not know they were required to offer an opt-out option to people they call to offer hotel membership cards. 'These are the basic rights of the consumer, but a lot of them do not know this,' she said.
Mr Woo also said the report into the leak of complainants' personal data by the Independent Police Complaints Council was due shortly. He said he was studying the final draft of the report into the leak, which resulted in the names, addresses and ID card numbers of 20,000 complainants being made available on the internet.
