Not only for vacation rental owners but also for any businesses that require data collection from their customers and website visitors, having a privacy policy in place is essential. A vacation rental website privacy policy should clarify what the business owner intends to do with the personal information collected from guests. It must detail how the data will be processed and for what purpose it will be used.
Offering your privacy policy builds trust between you and your guests, safeguarding you from costly and time-consuming legal battles. In addition, it is an essential document as it is required by law in most countries. For all of these reasons, you might find the vacation rental website privacy policy sample template a useful document.
Adjust your vacation rental or direct booking website’s privacy policy to reflect your hospitality business details, privacy considerations, legal basis, and international laws, etc. Keep it clear, accurate, and comprehensible to foster transparency among owners, employees, and guests.
Here we will briefly explain what a privacy policy is, why you need one, and what should be included in a vacation rental website privacy policy sample template to ensure you’re protected against future legal issues.
Table of Contents
What Is a Vacation Rental Privacy Policy and Why Do You Need One?
For owners of vacation rentals, serviced apartments, aparthotels, or hotels aiming for more direct bookings, fostering trust with customers or prospects is crucial. Transparency plays a key role in establishing trust in your business, ultimately impacting your revenue and net profits positively.
A vacation rental privacy policy serves as a legal document that outlines how your guests’ personal information is collected and processed by your vacation rental business. It is mandated by international laws in most regions to obtain consent before collecting and processing user data.
Guests’ personal data is considered a valuable marketing asset for future direct booking campaigns, provided that you have obtained consent from your guests. A vacation rental website privacy policy template should include the following elements:
What Should be Included in a Vacation Rental Website Privacy Policy?
1. The Personal Information You Collect
Start with clarifying the exact type of personal information you are collecting from your customers/guests. It helps to make a detailed list of these items such as names, addresses, payment information, etc.
2. The Tools You Apply
Guests have the right to know the methods you apply to collect information. There are various methods or tools, and you need to clearly explain all of them such as whether you collect their info through using filled forms, observing CCTV cameras, etc.
3. The Usage of This Information for Your Business
Make sure to be as specific as possible in listing the ways you use the information. Additionally, clarify the aim of using all those methods to make the document more organised and comprehensible. Here are some examples of how you may use the personal information:
– For advertising purposes
– To notify guests about changes or the news they might be concerned with
– To make some services possible
– For emergency cases
– For communication services
4. The Legal Basis for Data Processing
Write down specifically the legal basis for using the personal information of the guests. This helps the guests to feel they are in safe hands. Remember to state that, in necessary cases like updating the privacy policy when the law changes, the guests will be notified.
5. How Is the Information Going to Be Shared?
If you work with any third-party companies, let your guests know about them and explain the reasons for it. Simply explain how and under what circumstances such information might be handled to another party. Also check the terms of use of any of these services to figure out which clauses you have to include in your privacy policy to comply with theirs.
6. The Duration You Keep the Data
The question of how long you keep their personal information is a relevant one that needs a clear answer from the guests’ point of view.
7. Is the Information in Safe Hands?
Reassure your guests that you store their personal information in a safe environment, keeping it away from unauthorised access, destruction, and loss. Write about the security policies and protection protocols you apply.
8. What Are Guests’ Rights in Relation to Their Personal Information?
Make sure to provide your guests with the option to opt-out or unsubscribe from your database. Explain how you made it possible for them to edit or change their information in the future. The customers must be authorised to withdraw their active consent at any point.
9. How to Contact and Complain
Provide a list of various ways for your customers to contact you, such as email address, phone number, and address. Additionally, offer multiple channels to ensure accessibility.
How to Make Your Own Vacation Rental Website Privacy Policy
The aforementioned factors are considered as the very basic questions that any vacation rental website privacy policy sample template must clearly answer. However, each vacation rental business needs its own specific website privacy policy. Keep it simple and straightforward, but avoid being naive about it.
You can never be too specific when it comes to legal documents, so you’d better be as clear and detailed as you can rather than remain ambiguous and blurry. Ensure the document is easily accessible on your website or app, and guests must read and actively consent before providing any personal data.
Regularly update your website privacy policy to comply with laws and reflect evolving experience. Include this right in the privacy policy and clarify ways which you will use to notify the users about any possible changes.
Zeevou’s Vacation Rental Website Privacy Policy Sample Template and More…
Here at Zeevou, we’ve put together a document as a vacation rental website privacy policy sample template, taking into consideration everything discussed above. The best part is that you can download, make changes, and use it for free. Please be advised that you need to customise it based on your preferences and needs. Download it here for FREE, read it carefully and revise it to fit your own privacy practice.
By using Zeevou, for the first time in the hospitality industry, you are enabled to collect a GDPR-compliant database of guests’ real email addresses. It is through the Online Check-in Process’s first step that the guest is required to insert a real email address instead of OTA forwarding email addresses. This allows you to start email marketing to former guests. To learn more about how to build your customer loyalty and get returning guests every year, please check the Guest CRM feature of Zeevou. Ultimately, you can encourage potential guests to land on your direct booking website if you’re taking advantage of Zeevou’s Direct Booking Website.
