IHGOA Website Privacy Policy

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 4, 2023

IHG Owners Association (IHGOA, the “Association” or “We”) is a hospitality industry membership organization of IHG® brand hotel owners and principal correspondents with its primary office at Three Ravinia Drive, Suite 100 Atlanta, GA 30346 USA. IHGOA is affiliated with IHG. More information about IHG is available at www.IHG.com. This information may be updated from time-to-time at IHG’s sole discretion.

This website is owned by the IHG Owners Association. IHGOA is committed to being transparent about your privacy and security on its websites, www.owners.org and https://center.owners.org. We want you to understand how we collect, use, process and share user information, and we have created this Privacy Policy to serve as a guide.

Topics

  • What Personal Information we collect and process about you
  • The Purposes for which we use and process Personal Information about you
  • How we share Personal Information about you
  • Email Communications
  • Internet cookies
  • Your California privacy rights
  • Other websites and social media
  • LinkedIn and job-search Websites
  • Internet blogs/forums
  • Children
  • Security of Personal Information
  • Notice to Persons in the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland
  • EU/EEA/UK/Swiss/Definitions
  • EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Data Protection Principles
  • EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Rights regarding Personal Data including under the GDPR
  • How Long IHGOA Keeps EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Personal Data
  • Transferring Personal Data to other countries
  • EU-US, UK and Swiss-US Data Privacy Frameworks
  • Accessing and Correcting Personal Information/Data About You
  • Applicable law
  • Changes to this Privacy Policy
  • How to contact us

What Personal Information We Collect and Process About You

The types of Personal Information we collect includes your name, mailing address, phone numbers (including mobile phone numbers), email addresses, payment details, date of birth and signature. We may also ask for Personal Information related to your employment for membership purposes.

We may automatically receive Personal Information about you when you visit and use this website, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, Device ID, cookie information, browser information and other technology tags like the date and time you visited this website and which website you visited just before this one. This type of Personal Information is collected by “cookies”. More information about Internet cookies we use and how to opt-out of cookies is below. We also automatically receive Personal Information about you when you visit, access or use our pages on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

The Purposes for Which We Use and Process Personal Information About You

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the Personal Information we collect from you is relevant and reliable for our processing and use, accurate, complete and current as necessary for our uses. We will not process Personal Information about you in a way that is inconsistent with the purposes for which we have collected it or for which you have given us your consent.

In general, we use and process Personal Information about you to process your orders and requests including:

  • Managing your membership account and dues payments.
  • Processing your orders and payments such as registration for conferences, meetings and events.
  • Participating in committees, councils, task forces or specialty groups; and member benefits programs.
  • To market our products and services to you such as through online advertisements and email.
  • If you consent, to email you about other products and services you may be interested in and other products and services you may be interested in from our affiliate IHG and IHGOA’s Allied Members.
  • For protection of our data security and to prevent fraud.
  • To communicate with you when you participate in IHGOA’s Global Text Messaging Communications Program; and when you voluntarily complete member surveys, submit a question, provide feedback to us or submit a comment, review, testimonial, or blog.
  • To provide you customer service and technical support.
  • To allow you to log in to our website and/or online community forum and/or contact us through our website contact page.

We use Personal Information collected from our website and for our business purposes to:

  • Protect the safety, security and legal rights of our association, website, members, customers, affiliates, business partners and service providers
  • Improve our products and services
  • Conduct research and analysis to improve the operation of our website
  • If you consent, track your use on our websites and personalize your visits to our website for marketing purposes

Specifically regarding IHGOA members, we process Personal Information to provide services to our members including:

  • Advocacy for IHG hoteliers.
  • Educational opportunities, including webinars, information guides and members-only access to tools and resources.
  • Marketing and IHGOA brand information, best practices and member news through OWNER magazine, e-newsletters, hospitality industry news and legislative alerts.
  • Volunteer committees, councils and task forces which provide advice and counsel to IHG on brand standards and business programs.
  • Regional members' meetings and events.
  • Global Text Messaging Communications Program to share members’ opinions with one another and gain insight into what other owners and operators are saying about IHG initiatives, as well as their individual businesses.
  • Specialty groups, such as the Emerging Leaders Network, which encourages and cultivates critical skill development for leaders and executives.
  • Member benefit programs such as IHGOA’s Free Night Program, a complimentary Platinum upgrade in IHG One Rewards; discounts and offers from IHGOA’s Allied Member Program
  • Fundraising opportunities, such as to support Give Kids The World, IHGOA’s selected charity.

IHGOA also uses Personal Information about members for research and to analyze data, to develop new services based on user trends and to enhance and improve our website by providing more useful features based on member user patterns.

How We Share Personal Information About You

Any time sharing of Personal Information may be necessary, we will carefully consider all options and will strive to share as little as possible.

We share Personal Information about you:

  • If you consent, with our affiliate IHG and/or our Allied Members so that they can offer you their products and services.
  • With service providers, consultants and contractors who help us with: development, maintenance and support of our website. marketing research and analysis; communications and customer service. We do not authorize these service providers to use or disclose Personal Information except as necessary to perform tasks we have asked them to do for us or to comply with legal requirements.
  • To comply with laws or to cooperate with a legal investigation or a request from a government authority.
  • To protect our legal rights and legitimate interests, and those of our members, business partners and service providers.
  • To protect the legal rights, safety and security of users of our website.
  • To prevent fraud.
  • As a business asset in connection with a sale, merger or other transaction of IHGOA.
  • In form that does not personally identify you such as statistics.
  • With your consent.

We will not share Personal Information for marketing purposes with companies outside of IHGOA, IHG and IHGOA’s Allied Members.

In processing your membership application, membership renewal or other order you place with us, we may send information about you to credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies and use information from those agencies.

Email Communications

IHGOA communicates with members, people interested in the Association, and its affiliates and business partners, through email. IHGOA protects its email address lists, data and other Personal Information used in email correspondence with the same reasonable practices it uses to protect Personal Information collected though this website. If you receive an email from IHGOA you are someone who has either:

  1. Expressly provided your email address to us so that we can send you information about products, services or membership (“opt-in”) or
  2. Provided your email address to us through an existing relationship, including but not limited to membership, advertising, advocacy and volunteer programs.

Our emails are sent with an automatic unsubscribe option if you would like to stop receiving emails from us. However, if you have an account with us, we retain the right to contact you via email regarding the status of your account.

When we send emails, IHGOA sometimes tracks who has opened or clicked through the email contents. We track this information to measure interest in a subject, monitor an email campaign’s performance or better understand user trends so we can improve your IHGOA experience.

We do not share, sell or disclose Personal Information about you to Third Parties for promotional use without your prior consent.

We would like to send you information about products and services of ours and our affiliates and business partners that you may be interested in. If you have consented to receive marketing messages from us, our affiliates or business partners, you may opt-out at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe button on the bottom of our email.

If you no longer want to be contacted by us about our other products and services, please visit the IHGOA Communication Preferences webpage by logging into the Member Center, navigating to the Preferences tab of the main menu, and selecting Email Preferences.

If you no longer want to be contacted by our affiliates or business partners about their products and services, please visit the IHGOA Communication Preferences webpage by logging into the Member Center, navigating to the Preferences tab of the main menu, and selecting Email Preferences.

Because we plan our communications in advance, it may take several weeks for your opt-out request to take effect. If you continue to receive marketing messages from us or our affiliates or business partners after you opt-out, please let us know so that we can investigate the situation.

Internet Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer by websites to collect standard log information and visitor behavior information. Our service providers and we use cookies on our websites. Information from cookies is used to track your use on our websites and to make statistical reports on activity on our website. For more information about cookies visit www.aboutcookies.org.

For more information about the specific cookies we use when you visit our website, their purpose, information they collect when you visit our website and third-party sites, how to opt out and a link to a website where you can withdraw consent to being tracked by third parties, please visit our More Cookie Information page here.

You can set your browser to reject cookies, and www.aboutcookies.org tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. In a few cases, some of our website features may not work when your browser does not accept cookies.

We use Google Analytics and Bing Analytics, to help us measure visitors and trends for our websites. For more information about how Google collects, uses and shares your information, please visit the Google Privacy Policy-Partners website at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. For more information about how Bing collects, uses and shares your information, please visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement website at https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/.

Opt-out of Google Analytics

To prevent Personal Information about your from being used by Google Analytics, click here for instructions.

Some of our web pages use “Frames” to serve content to/from our business partners while preserving the look and feel of our website. A Frame is a part of a web page or browser window which displays content independent of its container, with the ability to load content independently. Please be aware that you are providing Personal Information to these Third Parties and not IHGOA.

If you want to opt-out of targeted interest-based advertising, please visit Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) Consumer Opt-Out website at https://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp, or if you are located in the European Union/European Economic Area, please visit European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) Your Online Choices website at https://www.youronlinechoices.eu/. Please note you will continue to receive generic ads.

Your California Privacy Rights

If you live in California, California law allows you to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed your Personal Information (if any, and as defined under California law) for the third party’s direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of your Personal Information disclosed to those parties. If you live in California and would like to request this information, please send your request in an email to privacy@ihgowners.org.

Other Websites and Social Media

Our website contains links to other websites. This Privacy Policy only applies to IHGOA’s website, so when you visit or use other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

Our website and communications may contain links to social media websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. and social media features, such as the Facebook “Like” and “Share” buttons. Social media sites and features may collect and use Personal Information from you. We have no control over and are not responsible for the privacy practices, policies or content of any Social Media websites or features, even if you link to them from, or use them on, IHGOA’s website. Please review Facebook’s privacy policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update. Please review LinkedIn’s privacy policy at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. Please review Twitter’s privacy policy at https://twitter.com/privacy. Please review Instagram’s privacy policy at https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy.

We are not responsible for information, content and/or the privacy practices of Third Parties operating websites that may link to this website. The inclusion of a link on this website does not imply endorsement of the linked site by us or by our affiliates or business partners.

LinkedIn and Job-Search Websites

You can apply for a job at IHGOA using LinkedIn and other job-search websites. Those websites will verify your identity, give you the option to share Personal Information (such as your name and email address) with us and auto-fill our job application signup form.

Internet Blogs/Forums

Our website offers public blogs and/or one or more community forums. Any information, including Personal Information, you share or post on those blogs or in those forums may be public. We are not responsible for the results of your blog or forum postings.

Children

The website is not intended for use by children under the age of 16, and there is no assumption that children will be using these website services at any time. If we become aware that a child has submitted Personal Information on the website, we will immediately delete the information from our records.

Security of Personal Information

We use physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards designed to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, use, alternation or disclosure. We store all Personal Information you provide to us behind firewalls on servers employing security protection. We encrypt any payment transactions using SSL technology.

The safety and security of Personal Information about you also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website(s), you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We also urge you to take care when providing information in the public areas of our website(s) like message boards, which other users and visitors may be able to view.

While IHG Owners Association is diligent about user security on our website, the transmission of information via the internet nor any data security technique is 100% secure, so IHGOA cannot guarantee that Personal Information will never be accessed, used or disclosed. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on our websites. If you have questions about our internet, data or information policies, please contact us.

“Phishing" is a scam designed to steal Personal Information. If you receive an e-mail that looks like it is from us asking you for Personal Information about you, please contact us at privacy@ihgowners.org.

Notice to Persons in the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland

If you are located in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), UK or Switzerland, please see also the EU-US, UK and Swiss-US Data Privacy Frameworks section below about how to make complaints regarding data collected in the EU/EEA, UK, or Switzerland and transferred to the U.S. under the Data Privacy Frameworks.

If IHG or an IHGOA Allied Member is using IHGOA’s products or services to process Personal Data about you, you may contact IHG or the applicable IHGOA Allied Member to object, restrict, access, correct, delete or transfer (portability) Personal Data about you. If you need help finding contact information for an IHG or an IHGOA Allied Member’s privacy office, please contact us at:

IHGOA Privacy Officer

privacy@ihgowners.org

Three Ravinia Drive, Suite 100 Atlanta, GA 30346 USA

1.770.604.5555

EU/EEA Definitions

  • 'Consent’ or ‘Agree’ means your freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous expression of your wishes through a statement or other clear affirmative action such as checking a box which indicates your agreement to our processing of Personal Data relating to you.
  • 'Personal Data' means any information relating to you from which you can be identified, directly or indirectly, including your name, identification number, location, online identifier such as your IP address or device ID or one or more factors specific to your physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. It includes any Personal Information whether it is held in paper, electronic or any other format.
  • 'Processing' or ‘process’ means any operation or set of operations performed on Personal Data or on sets of Personal Data, including by automatic methods, such as collecting, recording, organizing, structuring, storing, adapting or altering, retrieving, consulting, using, disclosing, transmitting, sharing or otherwise making available, aligning or combining, restricting, erasing or destroying it.
  • 'Third Party' means our business partners and service providers who we authorize to process Personal Data about you to help us with: development, maintenance and support of our website, marketing research and analysis, communications and customer service. It also includes government bodies and public agencies and authorities.

EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Data Protection Principles

IHGOA Processes EU/EEA, UK, and Swiss Personal Data in accordance with the following data protection principles:

  • IHGOA Processes Personal Data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner consistent with applicable law.
  • IHGOA collects Personal Data only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes consistent with applicable law.
  • IHGOA Processes Personal Data only where it is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of Processing consistent with applicable law.
  • IHGOA keeps accurate Personal Data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate Personal Data is rectified or deleted without delay consistent applicable law.
  • IHGOA keeps Personal Data only for the period necessary for Processing consistent applicable law.
  • IHGOA adopts appropriate measures to make sure that Personal Data is secure and protected against unauthorized or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage.

IHGOA tells individuals located in the EU/EEA, UK or Switzerland, the reasons for Processing Personal Data about them, how it uses Personal Data and the legal basis for Processing by providing them this Privacy Policy/Notice and related notices, disclosures and consent forms. IHGOA will not process Personal Data regarding persons in the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland for other reasons.

EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Rights Regarding Personal Data including under the GDPR

You have rights regarding the Personal Data we have about you.

You may object to or restrict our collection, use, sharing, transfer and/or storage of Personal Data regarding you. You may also request a copy of the Personal Data that we have about you. You may also ask us to transfer (portability), correct or remove Personal Data you think is incorrect.

If you have a registered account in our system, you may object, restrict, access, correct or request transfer (portability), deletion or a copy of some or all Personal Data about you by logging in to your account or by contacting us at privacy@ihgowners.org.

If you do not have a registered account in our system and you would like to object, restrict, access, correct, delete or request transfer (portability) or a copy of some or all Personal Data about you, please email or write or call us at the following address:

IHGOA Privacy Officer

privacy@ihgowners.org

Three Ravinia Drive, Suite 100 Atlanta, GA 30346 USA

1.770.604.5555

IHGOA may need to ask for proof of identification before a request can be processed, and we will inform the requestor if IHGOA needs to verify his/her identity and the documents IHGOA requires.

IHGOA will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date a request is received. In some cases, such as where IHGOA Processes large amounts of the individual’s data, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received. IHGOA will write to the requestor within one month of receiving the original request to tell him/her if more time is needed to complete the response to their request.

If you are located in the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland and want to opt-out of targeted interest-based advertising, please visit the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) Your Online Choices website at https://www.youronlinechoices.eu/. Please note you will continue to receive generic ads.

If you are in the UK, you may also make a privacy and/or data use complaint about IHGOA to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at http://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by calling the UK ICO helpline at +44-0303-123-1113. Individuals in Switzerland can also make a complaint to the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner here. Individuals in the EU/EEA may also make a complaint to the Data Protection Authority in the EU/EEA Member State where you live or work by visiting the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner list of Data Protection Authorities here.

How Long IHGOA Keeps EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Personal Data

IHGOA will keep Personal Data about you for as long as necessary for us to provide you services.

We will also keep and use Personal Data about you to comply with laws including tax laws, employment laws, social security and other applicable laws.

We will also keep Personal Data as necessary for backup, archiving, audit, preventing fraud, resolving disputes and troubleshooting problems.

Transferring EU/EEA/UK/Swiss Personal Data to Other Countries

Our website is provided from within the United States and is subject to state and federal laws of the United States. If you are located outside the United States, Personal Data about you is being transferred to, stored, used, processed, and shared in the United States. The privacy laws of the United States may or may not be as comprehensive as the privacy laws of the country where you are located. By submitting Personal Data to us or engaging with our websites, you consent to this transfer, storing, use, processing and/or sharing.

Personal Data is also transferred by IHGOA to countries outside the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland for IHGOA’s legitimate interests in processing Personal Data where necessary to perform its obligations to its members and to exercise its rights and fulfill its duties under law. IHGOA transfers Personal Data outside the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland to the U.S. in compliance with the Data Privacy Frameworks.

EU-US, UK, and Swiss-US Data Privacy Frameworks

IHGOA complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework program (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework program (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. IHGOA has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. IHGOA has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework program Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

With respect to Personal Information/Data received or transferred pursuant to the Data Privacy Frameworks, IHGOA is subject to the regulatory enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Pursuant to the Data Privacy Frameworks, EU/EEA, UK, and Swiss individuals have the right to obtain IHGOA’s confirmation of whether we maintain Personal Information/Data relating to you in the United States. Upon request, we will provide you with access to the Personal Information/Data that we hold about you. You may also correct, amend or delete the Personal Information/Data we hold about you. An individual who seeks access or who seeks to correct, amend or delete inaccurate Personal Information/Data transferred to the United States under the DPF should direct their query to privacy@ihgowners.org. If requested to remove Personal Information/Data, we will respond within a reasonable time frame.

IHGOA will provide an individual opt-out or opt-in choice before we share Personal Information/Data about you with third parties other than our agents or before we use it for a purpose other than which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized. To request to limit the use and disclosure of Personal Information/Data, please submit a written request to privacy@ihgowners.org.

IHGOA’s accountability for Personal Information/Data that it receives in the United States under the DPF and subsequently transfers to a third party is described in the DPF Principles. In particular, IHGOA remains responsible and liable under the DPF Principles if third-party agents that it engages to process the Personal Information/Data on its behalf do so in a manner inconsistent with the DPF Principles, unless IHGOA proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

As stipulated in the Data Privacy Frameworks IHGOA is obliged to inform EU/EEA, UK, and Swiss individuals that we may be forced to release Personal Information/Data in response to lawful requests from public authorities, including to meet national security and law enforcement requirements.

In compliance with the EU-US Data Privacy Framework Principles, IHGOA commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information transferred to the United States pursuant to the DPF Principles. European Union, Swiss and United Kingdom individuals with DPF inquiries or complaints should first contact IHGOA:

  • by email at privacy@ihgowners.org
  • write to us at: Three Ravinia Drive, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30346 USA
  • or call us at +1.770.604.5555

IHGOA has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the DPF Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, Data Privacy Framework Services, operated by BBB National Programs. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://bbbprograms.org/programs/all-programs/dpf-consumers/ProcessForConsumers for more information and to file a complaint. This service is provided free of charge to you.

If your DPF complaint cannot be resolved through the above channels, under certain conditions, you may invoke binding arbitration for some residual claims not resolved by other redress mechanisms. See https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/article/G-Arbitration-Procedures-dpf?tabset-35584=2

Accessing and Correcting Personal Information/Data About You

You can access, review and change Personal Information/Data about you by logging into this website and visiting your account profile.

You may also send us an email at privacy@ihgowners.org to request access to, correct, or delete Personal Information/Data that you have provided to us. We cannot delete Personal Information/Data about you except by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change or delete information if we believe the change or deletion would violate any law or legal requirement or negatively impact the information’s accuracy.

Applicable Law

This website is created and controlled by IHG Owners Association in the State of Georgia, USA. As such, the laws of the State of Georgia will govern these disclaimers, terms and conditions, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws. We reserve the right to make changes to our website, this Privacy Policy and these disclaimers, terms and conditions at any time.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review, and if we have your email address, we will email you when we make changes in the future. We will also place any updates on our websites. This privacy policy was last updated on August 4, 2023.

How to Contact Us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we have about you.

IHGOA Privacy Officer

privacy@ihgowners.org

Three Ravinia Drive, Suite 100 Atlanta, GA 30346 USA

1.770.604.5555