Website Privacy Policy

[Arks]

I got this email today from my website charge card processor:

While reviewing your website, in line with card network policies, we had difficulty locating your website’s privacy policy.

This statement of policy is especially important to reduce the risk of disputes and customer confusion. We encourage you to read our guide of best practices for your website and to add this missing element that your customers may be expecting to find on your website.

The "guide to best practices" they mention doesn't give a clue about what the privacy policy should include. Does anybody have a privacy policy they'd share, and tell me where on the website to put it! Thanks!

 

[Arks]

So several hours and 16 views later, no response. This tells me it's something new to us, to have to post a privacy policy on the website. But it's pretty common with all hotel websites, so I guess we should follow along and do it. Not that hard. I did a Google search and came up with one to post farirly easily. Wonder what's next. Sigh.

 

[Arks]

Here's what I posted on my website. I gave it its own page, accessible from the "Info" menu.
_________________________________________________________________________

Your information privacy and security is very important to us.

This Privacy Policy covers information collected and used by the us in the course of business.


INFORMATION WE COLLECT:

We collect information from you when you make a booking through our reservation system, including your name, email address, address, phone number, and charge card information. Of course, we also record which room(s) you select, and for what dates.

In some cases, we may receive this information from a third party, such as when you book through Air BnB.

INFORMATION WE GET FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE.

We also receive some information from you when you browse our website, such as your country information, internet protocol (“IP”) address, and the type web browser you use. This information may be collected for functional purposes as well as to improve your experience when using these services.

HOW WE USE THIS INFORMATION:

We use the information collected from you primarily to fulfill your reservation. Prior to your stay, this may include sending you pre-stay communications, directions to find your room, etc. Following your stay, we will email a receipt showing charges and payments made.

WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH:

We don’t share your information with anybody.


HOW WE SECURE YOUR INFORMATION

We are committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of the information that you provide to us. To do this, technical, physical and organizational security measures are put in place to protect against any unauthorized access, disclosure, damage or loss of your information. The collection, transmission and storage of information can never be guaranteed to be completely secure, however, we take steps to ensure that appropriate security safeguards are in place to protect your information.

CHILDREN

Our website is not intended for children and we do not intentionally solicit or collect personal information from individuals under the age of 18. If we are notified or otherwise discover that a minor’s personal information has been improperly collected, we will take all commercially reasonable steps to delete that information.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

In some instances, we may have to change, modify or amend this Privacy Policy in order to comply with the evolving regulatory environment or the needs of our business. We reserve the right, at any time and without notice, to add to, change, update or modify this Privacy Policy, subject to any applicable legal requirements.

 

[JimBoone]

Here's what I posted on my website. I gave it its own page, accessible from the "Info" menu.
_________________________________________________________________________

Arks sorry you didn't get a reply from anyone, for me my computer time is early morning coffee time, I'm not likely to see anything beyond my morning play time till the next morning. I think I was asked for the same when starting with my current processor and asked them for a guide which has been added too over time. Policies should be easy to find, but wonder how many actually stop to read them.

I expect we all layout our websites differently, for me, I have a menu item called:
ROOMS & BOOKING (under that main heading is a dropdown)
VIEW ROOMS (pictures and descriptions of room on this page
POLICIES ( rate info, reservation info, office hours, smoking, pets, lost and found, PRIVACY, accessibility statement, contact)
CHECK AVAILABILITY & BOOK (where one can put in dates and reserve, can't say they couldn't find our policies)
GOING FURTHER (page where I list other properties my guests might enjoy, happy to have any of you listed)

 

[elmsofcamden]

thanks for sharing

 

[VegMapper]

Arks, I look at this site every once in a while and noticed your inquiry. I have a B&B, but have leaned more into my website business due to the B&B being temporarily closed from COVID. Generally, the Privacy Policy for a website appears in the footer along with the accessibility statement and the Terms and Conditions. Also, the Privacy Policy includes a statement on cookies (cookie policy). Cookies are the data gathering scripts that are placed on a page when a person visits the site. In addition, a cookie notice is placed on the page (a pop up at the bottom or middle of the page), which the visitor clicks approval for when they visit the site. As far as the law, in the United States, only the Privacy Policy is needed. To be GDPR compliant, the Privacy Policy must also include the cookie policy and notice that gives an opt-out. An accessibility statement is also good, but the need here is for the site to be ADA compliant to WCAG 2.1-AA (not an easy thing to get to). If you are using WordPress the new version (WP 5.6) coming in December 2020 will apparently be natively ADA compliant to WCAG 2.1-AAA. Some sites with eCommerce will also have a disclaimer for an affiliate relationship or other interests involved. Note on the legal part, I am not a lawyer, but this is what I have read and heard from other webmasters.

In doing the Privacy Policy, WordPress if you are using it, includes a stock Privacy Policy and there are also a number of good privacy policy plugins that include the other statements as well. Good luck with the policies and let me know if you have questions.

 

[Arks]

Also, the Privacy Policy includes a statement on cookies (cookie policy). Cookies are the data gathering scripts that are placed on a page when a person visits the site.

I built my website with Wordpress. Does Wordpress gather cookies if I didn't tell it to? If my site gathers cookies, they must be quite stale by now since I've never found them!

 

[VegMapper]

Arks, WordPress puts the cookies on the browsers of your visitors, but it does not gather the cookies. These cookies are snippets of data that make it easier to load the site if the visitor goes to your site again and they also gather data on-site usage aka Google Analytics. The social medias (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and others) also have a similar system. Your cellphone does this too (yes, they are all watching and gathering data). You can actually find cookies of sites you have visited from your browser. Wikihow has a tutorial on how to do it--https://www.wikihow.com/View-Cookies. An explanation of cookies can be found on this site about cookie law--https://www.cookielawinfo.com/does-my-website-use-cookies/. Note this explanation was written in 2015, and I forget to state in my previous response, there is a law in California now very similar to GDPR in Europe called CCPA. As before, let me know if you have any questions. I tend to be a night owl and tend to look at emails in the evenings and at night.