Agreements used for legal purposes by websites, e-commerce platforms, and social networking services that define, for instance, what an OTA or brand can do with personal data when a user books a room online. “Part of what I do is write those agreements,” says Mike Bennett, partner at the Edwards Wildman law firm. “If you were to print it up with normal spacing on paper and on a readable-size font, it would be 10 to 20 pages long.”
In essence, these terms of use agreements say the companies running these sites can use the data you give them however they want and that you agree to this arrangement by using the site and giving the company your information. “Then there’s an agreement between the OTA, the property, and probably the chain that owns the property that’s going to say something about using the information that gets passed along,” Bennett says. “A lot of the companies are going to say the initial transition is all you get. After that, if I happen to collect more information, that’s mine. I don’t owe you anything for that.”
So, in the end, while hotel owners may be restricted on the guest data that comes from OTAs and brands, they have access to the guests themselves. As long as hotel owners don’t infringe on guest privacy, they can use all the data they collect from guests the minute they step through the
lobby doors.
