Privacy Policy
Hyatt.com Internet Privacy Policy
At Hyatt, we have always been committed to providing our customers with the utmost in customer service. Hyatt.com now offers you the opportunity to create a customized online experience as you explore the exciting world of Hyatt, guided by the interests and preferences you choose to share. As described in this Internet Privacy Policy ("policy"), we are committed to properly using and safeguarding the privacy of all personally identifiable information ("personal information") that is collected from you when you visit and use hyatt.com and when you link through hyatt.com to Hyattvacationclub.com and the web pages or web sites for individual Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Vacation Club Resorts worldwide (sometimes collectively referred to herein as "our web sites"). In particular, the policy identifies the personal information that may be collected from you through our web sites, how it is used and with whom it may be shared, the choices available to you regarding its collection, use and distribution, the security procedures in place on our web sites and how you can change or correct inaccuracies in the personal information you provide on our web sites.
As Hyatt values your privacy, you can obtain a list of disclosures of personal information for third parties' commercial marketing purposes by sending an email request to privacyombudsman@hyatt.com, or by writing to us at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Attn: Consumer Affairs, 9805 Q Street, Omaha, NE 68127. In your request please be sure to specify an email or postal address to which we may respond.
The policy may be summarized as follows:
By visiting our web sites, you are accepting the practices described in this policy.
Your visit to our web sites and any dispute over privacy is subject to this policy and our Terms and Conditions ("conditions"), including limitations on damages and application of the law of the State of Illinois. Just as our business changes constantly, this policy and the conditions may also change. As our policy is dated, please check our web site frequently to see recent changes. If we decide to materially change the way we use personal information gathered on our web sites or otherwise change the policy in a material way, we may notify you by e-mail sent to the address you have provided to us or by pop-up screen at least thirty (30) days before putting the change into effect. If a change is unacceptable to you, you may remove personal information associated with your hyatt.com user profile as provided in the policy.
If you have any questions or concerns about privacy on our web sites, please send us a detailed e-mail to privacyombudsman@corphq.hyatt.com, and we will try to resolve it.
The preceding language summarizes Internet data collection procedures on our web sites. Additional detail about our policy is also available because we want you to make an informed decision about the extent of your use of our web sites and the personal information you choose to provide while online. The remainder of the policy describes in detail our practices regarding the handling of personal information on our web sites.
Hyatt Gold Passport
Enrollment
Visitors to this web site can enroll in the Gold Passport® program online. In order to enroll online, you will need to:
Account Information
As a Gold Passport® member, you can update the information that you submitted during the enrollment process and access your recent account activity online through this web site or by calling a toll free (in the United States) telephone number for Gold Passport® Customer Service or the telephone number of the nearest Hyatt Worldwide Reservations Center. In order to access your account online, you will need to key in your Gold Passport® account number or Username and password. If you don't have your password, you can request one online or by writing or calling Gold Passport® Customer Service. Once you have logged in with your account number or username and password, you will also have the opportunity to provide additional information for your account profile including additional communications preferences, travel preferences (e.g., weekend or senior rates, special interests, top destinations, preferred Hyatt Hotels), and room preferences (e.g., smoking or non-smoking room, bed size, location of the room within the hotel and special needs) and preferred language for communications purposes, all of which will assist us in better serving you.
Hyatt Gold Passport ExclusivesTM
Members of Hyatt Gold Passport® have the ability to redeem their Hyatt Gold Passport® points periodically through online auctions conducted on goldpassport.com. The auction will feature a collection of unique experiences upon which members may bid using their Hyatt Gold Passport® points.
Points to Miles Requests
Members of Gold Passport® have the ability to exchange Gold Passport® points or eligible award certificates for participating airline partner miles via this web site. In order to request conversion of your Gold Passport® points to miles, you will need to indicate the airline, your frequent flyer account number with that airline and the award or number of points to convert.
Customer Service Requests
Members of Gold Passport® have the ability to request a new membership card, password or credit for a stay from Gold Passport® Customer Service via this web site. Our Gold Passport® Customer Service representatives will then access your Customer Service Request via a secured connection to the Gold Passport® database in order to fulfill your request.
Send a Question or Comment
Gold Passport® Members can request brochures and send a question or comment concerning the Gold Passport® Program or a particular Hyatt Hotel or Resort online. After selecting the appropriate option from a drop down menu, the member is required to identify the subject of his question, comment or request, to provide his or her name and to state the nature of the question, comment or request in a free text field. The member will also be given the opportunity to provide his mailing address and e-mail address, if they would like a reply.
When You Visit Our Web Sites
You can always visit our web sites without revealing who you are or providing any personal information. When you visit our web sites, we do collect usage information, but it is anonymous and is not linked to you as an individual. As discussed below, one way in which we collect such usage information is through the use of cookie technology. We use this information to improve our site content and ease of use, learning among other things how our web sites are navigated, the number of visitors arriving at specific pages, the length and frequency of stays at our site and the Internet Protocol address ("IP Address") from which a visitor connects to our web sites. Of course, when you create a user profile on hyatt.com or request a transaction on our web sites, personal information gathered on our web sites is no longer anonymous, all as detailed in the policy.
Web Host
Hyatt.com is hosted by AT&T Corp. ("AT&T") on servers located in Lisle, Illinois and managed by Critical Mass ("Critical Mass") of Calgary, Alberta, for the benefit of all Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. AT&T also hosts, and Critical Mass also manages, the individual web sites for all Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, Hyattvacationclub.com and the individual web sites for all Hyatt Vacation Club Resorts worldwide. Individual web sites for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located outside the United States, Canada and the Caribbean are hosted by UUNET ("UUNET") on servers located in New York, New York, and managed by OpenWorld Ltd. of Bath, England ("OpenWorld").
IP Address
An IP Address is a number automatically assigned to a user's computer each time the user browses the Internet. When you visit our web sites, the applicable server used by our Web Hosts make a record of your IP Address, together with the date and time of your visit, the type of Internet browser you use and the URL of any other web site that referred you to our web sites. The same is true when you are transferred from our web sites to other web sites in the manner described elsewhere in this statement. We use that information in order to evaluate and improve the design and functionality of our websites.
Cookies
Cookies are sets of data that a web site transmits to a user's computer, enabling web sites to recognize your computer and to "remember" your entries as you move from page to page, or even when you revisit the site from time to time using the same computer. Cookies are not programs that will corrupt or damage your computer or computer files. Each time you visit our web sites, we use "persistent" cookies that remain on your computer's hard drive after you leave our web sites so we can track how users navigate through the sites and to track any referring web site that may have linked you to a page on our web sites. This tracking allows us to evaluate and improve the functionality of our web sites. In addition, persistent cookies are used to remember you, including the interests and preferences you provide as part of your user profile, and to customize your hyatt.com experience accordingly, should you check the "remember me" box while creating your user profile as detailed below. When you choose to transact business on our web sites, "session" cookies are used to allow our systems and the systems of our service providers to temporarily remember information you provide while you are in the process of completing the transaction. Your session cookies are deleted as soon as you close your browser. For example, while you are in the process of making a reservation online, our web sites use session cookies to temporarily remember your travel dates and preferences. As another example, to make your online job application process more convenient, Recruitsoft uses session cookies to temporarily remember the data you input while in the process of applying for a job online. If you do not want to accept cookies, you can block them by adjusting the settings on your Internet browser. If you do so, however, you won't be able to benefit from the convenience afforded through the use of cookies and you will not be able to use all of the features of our web sites, including the customization features associated with creating a user profile.
When You Create a User Profile Visitors to hyatt.com can create a user profile to, among other things, facilitate the online transactions available on our web sites and customize our web sites each time you return according to the travel and leisure interests you indicate. If you choose to share this personal information with us, we may also use it to record your travel preferences in reservations you may make, to tailor your experience at our web sites and your stays at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to your interests and to make more appropriate travel recommendations to you. For example, personal information contained in a user profile may be used to pre-populate various required or requested information fields needed to process an online transaction without the need for you to enter the information each time you use our web sites. Also, if you indicate a preference for a certain type of vacation experience, such as a spa or golf vacation, special spa or golf packages may be highlighted when you return to our web sites. You may still use our web sites to search for and purchase services even if you choose not to create a user profile.
If you elect to create a user profile, you will be asked to furnish your name, an e-mail address that will serve as your user name and a password to use each time you log-in. You will also be asked to provide contact information, including your address, telephone and fax numbers. You will be asked to identify your interests (e.g. special rates, spa or golf packages). If you are a member of Hyatt Gold Passport, Hyatt's frequent traveler program, you may log-in using your Gold Passport Number and PIN number and personal information contained in your Gold Passport profile will be used to pre-populate corresponding information fields of your hyatt.com user profile. If you are a meeting planner, you will be asked to provide your company name and title. If you are a travel professional, you will be asked to provide your IATA number.
When we create a user profile at your request, we may add your session data to your user profile. We may also use the information you provide or update in your user profile to populate or update other databases maintained by us and our service providers, as applicable. By creating a user profile, you are agreeing that we may use the personal information you provide for these purposes.
Opt-In for E-mail Communications
As part of the user profile creation process on Hyatt.com, you will be offered the opportunity to receive via e-mail news, special offers, and promotions regarding products and services offered by us, the Hyatt family of companies and our travel partners. For example, if you choose to receive e-mail communications from us, among other things, you will receive "Hyatt Extras", a semimonthly e-mail newsletter containing destination information, special rates and other Hyatt news. If you choose to receive e-mail communications from us, you may also receive e-mail communications from the Hyatt family of companies. We hope you will find these items interesting and informative. In fact, we may use your travel preferences and experiences to share customized advertisements, updates and promotions that include our recommendations to you about travel specials. Nonetheless, at the time you create your user profile, you will let us know if you want us to receive any such information by checking the applicable boxes. When you link from hyatt.com to the home page of a specific Hyatt Hotel or Resort or Hyatt Vacation Club Resort web site, we may also ask you if you want to receive any such news, special offers, and promotions directly from that hotel or resort in the same fashion. Any such e-mail communications from us may be effected by service providers acting on our behalf in accordance with this policy. Of course, if you initially elect to receive these e-mail communications but later change your mind, you can visit our web sites and tell us that you would like to stop receiving promotional communications from us and/or a specific Hyatt Hotel or Resort or Hyatt Vacation Club Resort, and/or our travel partners. Further, each time you receive such an e-mail communication, you may elect to cancel your subscription for future e-mail communications from the sender by clicking on an e-mail link that will appear at the bottom of each e-mail message. As part of the user profile creation process of Hyatt.com, you will also be asked to check a box if you wish to participate in occasional online opinion surveys conducted by us or one of our service providers. Like other e-mail communications, you may change your mind and tell us you no longer wish to participate in occasional online opinion surveys by updating your user profile accordingly.
Updating or Removing Personal Information from your User Profile
You can view, update or remove any personal information forming a part of your user profile at any time by accessing your user profile while online at hyatt.com or by e-mailing us at concierge@hyatt.com. Any such updates shall constitute personal information provided to us for use in accordance with this policy. If you do elect to remove your user profile from Hyatt.com, you will no longer receive any of the customized benefits described above. We will, however, have the right to use any personal information previously provided by you on our web sites for record keeping and quality assurance purposes.
Making a Hotel Reservation
If you elect to make a room reservation through our web sites and do not have an established user profile, you will need to furnish your name, telephone number, billing address and credit card type, number and expiration date, in addition to the dates of your stay, the number of rooms you will require and the number of adults and children in your party. In order to permit us to serve you better, you will also be asked to furnish the following additional information, as applicable, although it is not required in order for you to obtain a reservation: your e-mail address; your Gold Passport Membership Number; your Group/Corporate Number (if we have assigned an identification code to your group, company or organization); your flight arrival details; whether you qualify for a special rate as a Senior Citizen, employee of the U.S. Government or member of the American Automobile Association; and whether you have any special requests (which you can indicate by either ticking one of the pre-selected choices found in the online form or by entering a note in the Comments field). If you are a travel agent making a reservation on behalf of a client, you will also be asked to provide your Travel Agent I.D. (i.e., your ARC/IATA/TIDS number). If you have an established user profile on either hyatt.com or Goldpassport.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields.
Once you have completed and submitted the online reservation form, the information included in the form is then automatically sent to SPIRIT (the Hyatt Central Reservations System that is operated for the benefit of all Hyatt Hotels & Resorts by CSC Outsourcing, Inc. ("CSCO"), a subsidiary of Computer Sciences Corporation, from its offices in Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois) and to the Hyatt Hotel or Resort where you will be staying. If you submit an online reservation for a Hyatt Vacation Club Resort, we will also share the information included in the form with the HVC Parties, including the Hyatt Vacation Club Resort where you will be staying. If a guarantee or advance deposit is required in order to secure your reservation, the Hyatt Hotel or Resort where you will be staying (or, in the case of a Hyatt Vacation Club Resort, the HVC Parties) will then process your credit card for that purpose, gaining appropriate billing authorization from your credit card company. While online, you will be given a reservation confirmation number and if you so request while online, a confirmation of your reservation by e-mail. The information you furnish when making a reservation will be used to fulfill your reservation and may be used as otherwise disclosed in this policy.
Purchasing a Gift Certificate
If you elect to purchase a gift certificate for stays at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts through our web sites, you will be linked to another web site maintained by Rapp Collins Worldwide ("Rapp Collins") of Dallas, Texas for the benefit of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. Before proceeding with your purchase, we urge you to read the terms and conditions for all gift certificates. To proceed, unless you have already purchased a gift certificate online, you will need to provide your name, billing address, home and daytime telephone number, e-mail address and credit card type, number and expiration date along with information concerning the type and amount of the gift certificate you wish to purchase and the message you wish to send to the recipient. The personal information required to fulfill your gift certificate purchase will be stored in a database maintained by Rapp Collins for record keeping purposes. If you want the gift certificate to be sent to an address other than your billing address, you will also be asked to provide the name, address and home and daytime telephone number of the recipient. The information that you furnish will then be used to fulfill your gift certificate purchase (inclusive of obtaining authorization/approval from your credit card company) and transmit the gift Certificate, and as may be otherwise disclosed in this policy. If you have previously purchased a Gift Certificate online, by entering the e-mail address and password provided at the time of your first gift certificate purchase, the information contained in the Rapp Collins database regarding your prior transaction may be used to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. Before proceeding with the transaction, you may update any personal information by making changes to the applicable information fields. Alternatively, you can communicate any such updates by e-mail to concierge@hyatt.com or by calling Hyatt's Central Reservation Center in Omaha, Nebraska at 1-800-955-9655. Any such update shall constitute personal information provided to us for use in accordance with this policy. Please note, however, that information in the Rapp Collins database regarding prior gift certificate transactions will not be changed as a result of the update. Further, any such updates will not automatically update your hyatt.com user profile. If you elect to make a gift certificate reservation while online from the Hyatt Gift Certificate web site, you will be returned to hyatt.com to complete the reservation process as described in the preceding section. In addition to the other information required to make a reservation while online, you will be required to furnish information regarding the gift certificate.
Meeting Planners - Request for Proposal
Meeting Planners that are interested in receiving information concerning rates and availability at a particular Hyatt hotel or resort can do so either by using Hyatt's E-mmediate Response Meetings service, by emailing their request for rates and dates to hyattgrp@hyatt.com or by calling a Hyatt representative at 1-800-543-1818. Hyatt's E-mmediate Response Meetings service is an interactive online group booking tool that provides meeting planners with the ability to perform searches for group room and function space availability, schedule catered events, and submit reservations through an online "Request for Proposal" ("RFP"). The information that you furnish in an RFP will be used to process your request and for other purposes disclosed in this policy and/or any third party's privacy policy referred to herein. Hyatt's E-mmediate Response Meetings service can be used for meetings at any Hyatt hotel or resort within the U.S., Canada or the Caribbean. Inquiries for locations outside of the U.S, Canada and the Caribbean can be submitted through the E-mmediate Response Meetings service and should receive a response within approximately 48 hours. In order to use the E-mmediate Response Meetings service, you will be required to submit certain personal information (e.g., name, company or organization, address, telephone and fax number and e-mail address) and meeting requirements (e.g., dates, number of guest rooms per night, function type, event name and meeting requirements). Hyatt has contracted with StarCite, a third party service provider, to handle the collection and use of personal information submitted by users to the E-mmediate Response Meetings service. We therefore urge you to read the StarCite privacy policy, which can be found at http://www.starcite.com/html/legal.html, before submitting any information to the E-mmediate Response Meetings. [link to E-mmediate Response Meetings web site] For other RFPs concerning Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located within the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, you will be directed to contact Hyatt's National Sales Office located in Omaha, Nebraska by telephone or by filling out an RFP while online. RFPs concerning Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located outside the United States, Canada and the Caribbean are forwarded for response to the individual Hyatt Hotel or Resort, with a copy to OpenWorld for support and quality assurance purposes. Please note that information you provide online in a RFP is not encrypted for the purposes of transmission. The information that you furnish in your RFP will be used in responding to your request and for other purposes disclosed in this policy.
Travel Professionals - Award Requests and Hyatt Resorts Specialists Training
Award Requests
Travel Professionals visiting hyatt.com can request information concerning Hyatt's "Slice of Paradise" Awards Program online by completing and submitting an online form with their name, travel agency name, address, telephone and fax number, e-mail address and a description of the information requested. If you have an established user profile on Hyatt.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. The information input into the online form is currently transmitted by e-mail to Hyatt's Marketing Department at the corporate office in Chicago, Illinois for response. Travel Professionals that choose to submit "Slice of Paradise" award request forms online will be asked to provide information concerning themselves, their travel agency and the qualifying reservations they make, including the agent's name, travel agency name and IATA number, their client's name, destination, dates of stay, number of rooms and total number of room nights and reservation confirmation number and the method of booking. If you have an established user profile on hyatt.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. The information provided through the online form is transmitted by e-mail to the North American Corporation of Glenview, Illinois ("North American"), the company we have engaged to handle the fulfillment of Slice of Paradise Awards. North American subsequently transmits that information to the Hyatt Central Reservations Center in Omaha, Nebraska for the purposes of verifying that the terms and conditions of the program have been met.
The information submitted in an online award request form will be used by North American and by us in fulfilling your Slice of Paradise award. The information concerning you and your travel agency (but not the information concerning your clients) may also be used as otherwise disclosed in this policy.
Hyatt Resorts Specialists Training
Travel Professionals visiting hyatt.com can also take advantage of the opportunity to become "Hyatt Resorts Specialists" and the special benefits offered to individuals that achieve that status by completing an online course offered by Travel Agent University Online, a program run by the Education & Training Division of Travel Agent Magazine published by Advanstar Communications Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio. Visitors choosing to complete that online course will be linked to the Travel Agent University Online web site. As we are not responsible for the content, data collection or privacy policies of Travel Agent University Online, we urge you to read the privacy and security policies of that web site before providing any personal information.
Hyatt Vacation Club
Information Requests
Visitors to Hyatt.com can access a portion of the Hyatt Vacation Club web site at Hyattvacationclub.com to request information concerning vacation ownership. To request information, it will be necessary for you to provide your name and full address (including state). That information will be stored in a database maintained by Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc. Please be advised that we may not be able to respond to your on-line request if the land sales registration requirements of your home state do not permit us to provide you with information.
Members of Hyatt Vacation Club
Members of Hyatt Vacation Club can access a separate section of the Hyatt Vacation Club web site by submitting their membership number and PIN. If you don't have a PIN, you can request one by calling 1-800-GO-HYATT. Through the separate members section, members can access information about their account, including current points balances, reservation windows and pending reservations. This information is stored in a secured database maintained by Critical Mass.
Applying for a Job Online
Visitors to hyatt.com who are interested in pursing career opportunities at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts within the United States, Canada and the Caribbean can review and apply for job openings listed in an online jobs database. Visitors can also forward job descriptions that they believe would be of interest to others by e-mail. If you elect to proceed, you will be seamlessly linked to a web site maintained by Recruitsoft Inc. of San Francisco, California ("Recruitsoft") from their facility in Montreal, Canada. As we are not responsible for the content, data collection or privacy policies of Recruitsoft, we urge you to read the privacy and security policies of Recruitsoft before providing any personal information. If you choose to apply online for a posted job on the Recruitsoft web site, you will be required to provide your name, address and home telephone number and to complete a Questionnaire that is specific to the job for which you apply. Your responses to the Questionnaire will be used in evaluating your qualifications for that position. While not required in order to complete the online application process, you will also be asked to provide your work telephone number, Social Security Number and information concerning your educational background, previous work experience (you will even have the opportunity to copy your resume into our electronic form) and your gender and racial/ethnic origin (which will be used only for the purposes of satisfying government reporting regulations). At the beginning of the application process, you will be asked to provide your e-mail address. If you do not have an e-mail address or don't wish to provide one, you can still apply online for a posted position by following the instructions concerning how to create a non-active address, which is required based on the current functionality of the Recruitsoft database. The personal information that you submit to Recruitsoft while online may be accessed and down-loaded by the Human Resources professionals of Hyatt International Corporation, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and at the various Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean through a secured connection to the Recruitsoft database and used for evaluating your qualifications for the job for which you have applied and other jobs that may suit your experience and qualifications, provided you indicate a desire to be notified about other positions. In addition, the provisions of this policy relating to use of information apply to any information that may be accessed or downloaded by us from the Recruitsoft database. If you want to update the information previously submitted to RecruitSoft at a later date, you will need to remember the e-mail address that you create or provide and the password that you will be asked to create at the end of the online submission process. While you may remove your application from further consideration, once an application is made, it cannot be removed. You will also be given the opportunity to indicate whether you would like to receive e-mail about career opportunities that correspond to your profile. If you subsequently decide you no longer want to receive e-mails concerning other career opportunities, you can remove yourself from consideration by either going back to your Recruitsoft profile and deselecting that option or by clicking on a link that will appear in all e-mails sent to you concerning other career opportunities.
Sending e-Postcards
On certain individual hotel web sites for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located outside of the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, you may have an option to send an e-Postcard. An e-Postcard is a fun, easy way for you to electronically share images of a Hyatt Hotel or Resort with someone else. If you elect to send an e-Postcard, you will be required to provide your name, your e-mail address, and your recipient's name and e-mail address, along with your brief text message. This information is stored on a database server hosted by OpenWorld in New York, which is mirrored to a second server also in New York. Backups are made to a third server located in Atlanta. As the information you provide in connection with an e-Postcard is not encrypted with SSL technology during transmission to the OpenWorld servers, you should exercise good judgment about the nature of the information you include in an e-Postcard. The message you send will contain a unique URL that will point to where the e-Postcard may be located. The content on the URL, and the database that stores information about your e-Postcard, will be deleted after 7 days once the recipient has viewed it, or after 30 days if it has not been viewed by the recipient by then.
Contact Us with Your Questions and Comments
You can always contact us by simply sending us an e-mail addressed to concierge@hyatt.com. If you elect to contact us with any questions, comments or requests using one of the online forms that form part of Hyatt.com, you will need to provide your full name, telephone number and e-mail address so that we can be sure to be able to contact you. If you have an established user profile on Hyatt.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. Depending on which online form you complete, you will be given the opportunity to provide additional information that will allow us to serve you better, although the additional information is not required in order for you to complete and submit the online form. If you are submitting an online form relating to spa services, you will be given the opportunity to indicate the dates of your stay and to specify your question or request. For any other question, comment or request, you will also be asked to: identify the nature of your comments (by selecting from a pick list); provide your Gold Passport Number; if you are writing to comment on a particular stay, the name of the hotel where you stayed and the dates of your arrival and departure; and include any comments you may have in a free text field at the end of the form. If you would also like to give us feedback concerning a particular stay, you will be given the opportunity to complete on online feedback survey which gives you the opportunity to rate your overall stay, indicate whether you would recommend Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to a friend or colleague, indicate whether you had a problem during your stay, describe the nature of the problem (in a free text field at the end of the form) and to indicate whether the problem was handled by the hotel to your satisfaction. The information that you include in any of the online forms described above will not be encrypted prior to transmission so you should exercise good judgment about the nature of the information that you include in the form (e.g., do not include things like your credit card number in the comments field). The information that you include in those online forms will be used in responding to your questions, comments and requests and as otherwise disclosed in this policy. Questions concerning this privacy policy should be sent to privacyombudsman@Hyatt.com.
Use of Personal Information; Sharing Data with Third Parties
The personal information and other information that you furnish when online, whether through a user profile or when you conduct an online transaction, will be used to create a user profile (at your request) or to fulfill your requested transaction as indicated in each applicable section of this policy. Further, such information may be used by us, the Hyatt family of companies, our service providers (acting on our behalf) and travel partners as otherwise described in the policy. While the policy identifies certain of our service providers, there may be other service providers acting on our behalf in accordance with this policy that are not so disclosed. Indeed, we reserve the right to change service providers from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Except as otherwise disclosed in the policy, personal information will not be shared with or sold to third parties outside the Hyatt family of companies (including our service providers and travel partners) without your permission unless it is done on an aggregated basis for statistical purposes without any information that could be used to link that information to you.
Quality Assurance and Marketing Research.
If you stay at a Hyatt Hotel or Resort (regardless of whether or not your reservation was made through hyatt.com), personal information forming a part of the transaction record of your stay may be made available to Maritz Research, Inc. ("Maritz") located in Oak Brook, Illinois for quality assurance and/or marketing research purposes. As part of this process, Maritz may contact you by telephone to discuss the specifics of your Hyatt stay. Use of Tracking Pixels Hyatt Web sites may contain electronic images known as Web beacons - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that allow Hyatt to count users who have visited those pages. Web beacons do not access your personal information; they are a technique we use to compile aggregated statistics about Hyatt Web site usage. You may find more information about Web beacons at the Network Advertising Initiative.
Business Transfers
As we continue to develop our business, we may buy or sell hotels and other assets. In such transactions, customer information is generally one of the transferred business assets and we reserve the right to include personal information collected on our web sites as an asset in any such transfer. Also, in the unlikely event that we, or substantially all of our assets, are acquired, customer information may be one of the transferred assets.
Legal Requirements
We reserve the right to disclose any personal information you submit to us if we are compelled to do so by a court of law or governmental entity or if we determine it is necessary or desirable to comply with the law or to protect or defend our rights or property or the rights or property of, the Hyatt family of companies, our web sites or their users.
Security
AT&T, Critical Mass, UUNET, OpenWorld, CSCO, Rapp Collins, GetThere and Recruitsoft use Secured Socket Layer ("SSL") software up to 128-bit encryption in order to encrypt the personal information that you provide to us through them. Provided that you use a SSL enabled Internet browser like the most current versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, your transmissions of personal information to us through them online will be secure. You can verify whether the information you will be asked to provide on any particular page of this or any other web site will be transmitted using SSL encryption by confirming the presence of a "closed lock" (for users of Microsoft Internet Explorer) or a "solid key" (for users of Netscape Navigator) symbol on the bottom bar of your browser window. You can also verify that your personal information will be encrypted using SSL encryption by making sure that the prefix for the web address listed for that page has changed from "http" to "https". If you do not see the appropriate symbol and the "https" prefix, you should not assume that the personal information that you are being asked to provide will be encrypted prior to transmission. As disclosed elsewhere in the policy, information provided by a Meeting Planner in an RFP, e-Postcards and questions and comments sent by e-mail to concierge@hyatt.com are not encrypted prior to transmission. The personal information that we collect from you online is stored by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and its service providers disclosed in this policy on databases protected through a combination of physical and electronic access controls, firewall technology and other reasonable security measures. Nevertheless, such security measures may not prevent all loss, misuse or alteration of personal information and we are not responsible for any damages or liabilities relating to any such security failures.
Links To Other Web Sites
This policy, and our responsibility, is limited to the Internet data collection practices of our web sites. We are not responsible for, nor can we ensure, the data collection practices, privacy policies or content of other web sites maintained by third parties or our service providers, even if accessible using a link from our web sites, including, without limitation, Rapp Collins, Recruitsoft and Travel Agent University Online. We urge you to read the privacy and security policies of any external sites before providing any personal information to those sites.
Children
Our web sites do not sell products for purchase by children. If you are under 18, you may only use our web sites with the involvement of a parent or guardian.
At Hyatt, we have always been committed to providing our customers with the utmost in customer service. Hyatt.com now offers you the opportunity to create a customized online experience as you explore the exciting world of Hyatt, guided by the interests and preferences you choose to share. As described in this Internet Privacy Policy ("policy"), we are committed to properly using and safeguarding the privacy of all personally identifiable information ("personal information") that is collected from you when you visit and use hyatt.com and when you link through hyatt.com to Hyattvacationclub.com and the web pages or web sites for individual Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Vacation Club Resorts worldwide (sometimes collectively referred to herein as "our web sites"). In particular, the policy identifies the personal information that may be collected from you through our web sites, how it is used and with whom it may be shared, the choices available to you regarding its collection, use and distribution, the security procedures in place on our web sites and how you can change or correct inaccuracies in the personal information you provide on our web sites.
As Hyatt values your privacy, you can obtain a list of disclosures of personal information for third parties' commercial marketing purposes by sending an email request to privacyombudsman@hyatt.com, or by writing to us at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Attn: Consumer Affairs, 9805 Q Street, Omaha, NE 68127. In your request please be sure to specify an email or postal address to which we may respond.
The policy may be summarized as follows:
- We do not collect personal information on our web sites without your knowledge and your voluntary action of providing the requested information while online.
- We will use the personal information you provide on our web sites to:
- Create your hyatt.com user profile at your request and customize your online experience according to your chosen interests and preferences
- Process and record your requested online transaction (please click on the applicable type of transaction for further information):
- Making a Hotel Reservation
- Purchasing a Gift Certificate
- Meeting Planners - Request for Proposal
- Travel Professionals - Award Requests and Hyatt Resort Specialist Training
- Hyatt Vacation Club Information Requests
- Applying for a Job
- Sending e-Postcards
- Contacting Us with Your Questions or Comments
- Send you by e-mail news, special offers and promotions regarding products and services offered by us, the Hyatt family of companies and our travel partners if, as part of your user profile, you request to receive such information.
- Occasionally solicit your opinion through online surveys if, as part of your user profile, you request to participate.
- We will not share, transfer or sell personal information you provide on our web sites outside of the Hyatt family of companies and the service providers described in the policy (when acting on our behalf in accordance with the policy) without your consent, unless legally required, as part of a business transfer or if done on an anonymous, aggregated basis for statistical purposes.
- You may view, correct or remove personal information associated with your hyatt.com user profile (including changing your election to receive e-mail communications).
- We will take commercially reasonable steps to protect the security of personal information collected on our web sites.
By visiting our web sites, you are accepting the practices described in this policy.
Your visit to our web sites and any dispute over privacy is subject to this policy and our Terms and Conditions ("conditions"), including limitations on damages and application of the law of the State of Illinois. Just as our business changes constantly, this policy and the conditions may also change. As our policy is dated, please check our web site frequently to see recent changes. If we decide to materially change the way we use personal information gathered on our web sites or otherwise change the policy in a material way, we may notify you by e-mail sent to the address you have provided to us or by pop-up screen at least thirty (30) days before putting the change into effect. If a change is unacceptable to you, you may remove personal information associated with your hyatt.com user profile as provided in the policy.
If you have any questions or concerns about privacy on our web sites, please send us a detailed e-mail to privacyombudsman@corphq.hyatt.com, and we will try to resolve it.
The preceding language summarizes Internet data collection procedures on our web sites. Additional detail about our policy is also available because we want you to make an informed decision about the extent of your use of our web sites and the personal information you choose to provide while online. The remainder of the policy describes in detail our practices regarding the handling of personal information on our web sites.
Hyatt Gold Passport
Enrollment
Visitors to this web site can enroll in the Gold Passport® program online. In order to enroll online, you will need to:
- Furnish your name, a password, e-mail address and home or business address
- Indicate whether you would like to receive promotional information from us
- Indicate whether you would like to receive promotional information from our partners (click here for a list of our travel partners)
- Agree to the terms and conditions of the Gold Passport® program.
Account Information
As a Gold Passport® member, you can update the information that you submitted during the enrollment process and access your recent account activity online through this web site or by calling a toll free (in the United States) telephone number for Gold Passport® Customer Service or the telephone number of the nearest Hyatt Worldwide Reservations Center. In order to access your account online, you will need to key in your Gold Passport® account number or Username and password. If you don't have your password, you can request one online or by writing or calling Gold Passport® Customer Service. Once you have logged in with your account number or username and password, you will also have the opportunity to provide additional information for your account profile including additional communications preferences, travel preferences (e.g., weekend or senior rates, special interests, top destinations, preferred Hyatt Hotels), and room preferences (e.g., smoking or non-smoking room, bed size, location of the room within the hotel and special needs) and preferred language for communications purposes, all of which will assist us in better serving you.
Hyatt Gold Passport ExclusivesTM
Members of Hyatt Gold Passport® have the ability to redeem their Hyatt Gold Passport® points periodically through online auctions conducted on goldpassport.com. The auction will feature a collection of unique experiences upon which members may bid using their Hyatt Gold Passport® points.
Points to Miles Requests
Members of Gold Passport® have the ability to exchange Gold Passport® points or eligible award certificates for participating airline partner miles via this web site. In order to request conversion of your Gold Passport® points to miles, you will need to indicate the airline, your frequent flyer account number with that airline and the award or number of points to convert.
Customer Service Requests
Members of Gold Passport® have the ability to request a new membership card, password or credit for a stay from Gold Passport® Customer Service via this web site. Our Gold Passport® Customer Service representatives will then access your Customer Service Request via a secured connection to the Gold Passport® database in order to fulfill your request.
Send a Question or Comment
Gold Passport® Members can request brochures and send a question or comment concerning the Gold Passport® Program or a particular Hyatt Hotel or Resort online. After selecting the appropriate option from a drop down menu, the member is required to identify the subject of his question, comment or request, to provide his or her name and to state the nature of the question, comment or request in a free text field. The member will also be given the opportunity to provide his mailing address and e-mail address, if they would like a reply.
When You Visit Our Web Sites
You can always visit our web sites without revealing who you are or providing any personal information. When you visit our web sites, we do collect usage information, but it is anonymous and is not linked to you as an individual. As discussed below, one way in which we collect such usage information is through the use of cookie technology. We use this information to improve our site content and ease of use, learning among other things how our web sites are navigated, the number of visitors arriving at specific pages, the length and frequency of stays at our site and the Internet Protocol address ("IP Address") from which a visitor connects to our web sites. Of course, when you create a user profile on hyatt.com or request a transaction on our web sites, personal information gathered on our web sites is no longer anonymous, all as detailed in the policy.
Web Host
Hyatt.com is hosted by AT&T Corp. ("AT&T") on servers located in Lisle, Illinois and managed by Critical Mass ("Critical Mass") of Calgary, Alberta, for the benefit of all Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. AT&T also hosts, and Critical Mass also manages, the individual web sites for all Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, Hyattvacationclub.com and the individual web sites for all Hyatt Vacation Club Resorts worldwide. Individual web sites for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located outside the United States, Canada and the Caribbean are hosted by UUNET ("UUNET") on servers located in New York, New York, and managed by OpenWorld Ltd. of Bath, England ("OpenWorld").
IP Address
An IP Address is a number automatically assigned to a user's computer each time the user browses the Internet. When you visit our web sites, the applicable server used by our Web Hosts make a record of your IP Address, together with the date and time of your visit, the type of Internet browser you use and the URL of any other web site that referred you to our web sites. The same is true when you are transferred from our web sites to other web sites in the manner described elsewhere in this statement. We use that information in order to evaluate and improve the design and functionality of our websites.
Cookies
Cookies are sets of data that a web site transmits to a user's computer, enabling web sites to recognize your computer and to "remember" your entries as you move from page to page, or even when you revisit the site from time to time using the same computer. Cookies are not programs that will corrupt or damage your computer or computer files. Each time you visit our web sites, we use "persistent" cookies that remain on your computer's hard drive after you leave our web sites so we can track how users navigate through the sites and to track any referring web site that may have linked you to a page on our web sites. This tracking allows us to evaluate and improve the functionality of our web sites. In addition, persistent cookies are used to remember you, including the interests and preferences you provide as part of your user profile, and to customize your hyatt.com experience accordingly, should you check the "remember me" box while creating your user profile as detailed below. When you choose to transact business on our web sites, "session" cookies are used to allow our systems and the systems of our service providers to temporarily remember information you provide while you are in the process of completing the transaction. Your session cookies are deleted as soon as you close your browser. For example, while you are in the process of making a reservation online, our web sites use session cookies to temporarily remember your travel dates and preferences. As another example, to make your online job application process more convenient, Recruitsoft uses session cookies to temporarily remember the data you input while in the process of applying for a job online. If you do not want to accept cookies, you can block them by adjusting the settings on your Internet browser. If you do so, however, you won't be able to benefit from the convenience afforded through the use of cookies and you will not be able to use all of the features of our web sites, including the customization features associated with creating a user profile.
When You Create a User Profile Visitors to hyatt.com can create a user profile to, among other things, facilitate the online transactions available on our web sites and customize our web sites each time you return according to the travel and leisure interests you indicate. If you choose to share this personal information with us, we may also use it to record your travel preferences in reservations you may make, to tailor your experience at our web sites and your stays at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to your interests and to make more appropriate travel recommendations to you. For example, personal information contained in a user profile may be used to pre-populate various required or requested information fields needed to process an online transaction without the need for you to enter the information each time you use our web sites. Also, if you indicate a preference for a certain type of vacation experience, such as a spa or golf vacation, special spa or golf packages may be highlighted when you return to our web sites. You may still use our web sites to search for and purchase services even if you choose not to create a user profile.
If you elect to create a user profile, you will be asked to furnish your name, an e-mail address that will serve as your user name and a password to use each time you log-in. You will also be asked to provide contact information, including your address, telephone and fax numbers. You will be asked to identify your interests (e.g. special rates, spa or golf packages). If you are a member of Hyatt Gold Passport, Hyatt's frequent traveler program, you may log-in using your Gold Passport Number and PIN number and personal information contained in your Gold Passport profile will be used to pre-populate corresponding information fields of your hyatt.com user profile. If you are a meeting planner, you will be asked to provide your company name and title. If you are a travel professional, you will be asked to provide your IATA number.
When we create a user profile at your request, we may add your session data to your user profile. We may also use the information you provide or update in your user profile to populate or update other databases maintained by us and our service providers, as applicable. By creating a user profile, you are agreeing that we may use the personal information you provide for these purposes.
Opt-In for E-mail Communications
As part of the user profile creation process on Hyatt.com, you will be offered the opportunity to receive via e-mail news, special offers, and promotions regarding products and services offered by us, the Hyatt family of companies and our travel partners. For example, if you choose to receive e-mail communications from us, among other things, you will receive "Hyatt Extras", a semimonthly e-mail newsletter containing destination information, special rates and other Hyatt news. If you choose to receive e-mail communications from us, you may also receive e-mail communications from the Hyatt family of companies. We hope you will find these items interesting and informative. In fact, we may use your travel preferences and experiences to share customized advertisements, updates and promotions that include our recommendations to you about travel specials. Nonetheless, at the time you create your user profile, you will let us know if you want us to receive any such information by checking the applicable boxes. When you link from hyatt.com to the home page of a specific Hyatt Hotel or Resort or Hyatt Vacation Club Resort web site, we may also ask you if you want to receive any such news, special offers, and promotions directly from that hotel or resort in the same fashion. Any such e-mail communications from us may be effected by service providers acting on our behalf in accordance with this policy. Of course, if you initially elect to receive these e-mail communications but later change your mind, you can visit our web sites and tell us that you would like to stop receiving promotional communications from us and/or a specific Hyatt Hotel or Resort or Hyatt Vacation Club Resort, and/or our travel partners. Further, each time you receive such an e-mail communication, you may elect to cancel your subscription for future e-mail communications from the sender by clicking on an e-mail link that will appear at the bottom of each e-mail message. As part of the user profile creation process of Hyatt.com, you will also be asked to check a box if you wish to participate in occasional online opinion surveys conducted by us or one of our service providers. Like other e-mail communications, you may change your mind and tell us you no longer wish to participate in occasional online opinion surveys by updating your user profile accordingly.
Updating or Removing Personal Information from your User Profile
You can view, update or remove any personal information forming a part of your user profile at any time by accessing your user profile while online at hyatt.com or by e-mailing us at concierge@hyatt.com. Any such updates shall constitute personal information provided to us for use in accordance with this policy. If you do elect to remove your user profile from Hyatt.com, you will no longer receive any of the customized benefits described above. We will, however, have the right to use any personal information previously provided by you on our web sites for record keeping and quality assurance purposes.
Making a Hotel Reservation
If you elect to make a room reservation through our web sites and do not have an established user profile, you will need to furnish your name, telephone number, billing address and credit card type, number and expiration date, in addition to the dates of your stay, the number of rooms you will require and the number of adults and children in your party. In order to permit us to serve you better, you will also be asked to furnish the following additional information, as applicable, although it is not required in order for you to obtain a reservation: your e-mail address; your Gold Passport Membership Number; your Group/Corporate Number (if we have assigned an identification code to your group, company or organization); your flight arrival details; whether you qualify for a special rate as a Senior Citizen, employee of the U.S. Government or member of the American Automobile Association; and whether you have any special requests (which you can indicate by either ticking one of the pre-selected choices found in the online form or by entering a note in the Comments field). If you are a travel agent making a reservation on behalf of a client, you will also be asked to provide your Travel Agent I.D. (i.e., your ARC/IATA/TIDS number). If you have an established user profile on either hyatt.com or Goldpassport.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields.
Once you have completed and submitted the online reservation form, the information included in the form is then automatically sent to SPIRIT (the Hyatt Central Reservations System that is operated for the benefit of all Hyatt Hotels & Resorts by CSC Outsourcing, Inc. ("CSCO"), a subsidiary of Computer Sciences Corporation, from its offices in Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois) and to the Hyatt Hotel or Resort where you will be staying. If you submit an online reservation for a Hyatt Vacation Club Resort, we will also share the information included in the form with the HVC Parties, including the Hyatt Vacation Club Resort where you will be staying. If a guarantee or advance deposit is required in order to secure your reservation, the Hyatt Hotel or Resort where you will be staying (or, in the case of a Hyatt Vacation Club Resort, the HVC Parties) will then process your credit card for that purpose, gaining appropriate billing authorization from your credit card company. While online, you will be given a reservation confirmation number and if you so request while online, a confirmation of your reservation by e-mail. The information you furnish when making a reservation will be used to fulfill your reservation and may be used as otherwise disclosed in this policy.
Purchasing a Gift Certificate
If you elect to purchase a gift certificate for stays at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts through our web sites, you will be linked to another web site maintained by Rapp Collins Worldwide ("Rapp Collins") of Dallas, Texas for the benefit of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. Before proceeding with your purchase, we urge you to read the terms and conditions for all gift certificates. To proceed, unless you have already purchased a gift certificate online, you will need to provide your name, billing address, home and daytime telephone number, e-mail address and credit card type, number and expiration date along with information concerning the type and amount of the gift certificate you wish to purchase and the message you wish to send to the recipient. The personal information required to fulfill your gift certificate purchase will be stored in a database maintained by Rapp Collins for record keeping purposes. If you want the gift certificate to be sent to an address other than your billing address, you will also be asked to provide the name, address and home and daytime telephone number of the recipient. The information that you furnish will then be used to fulfill your gift certificate purchase (inclusive of obtaining authorization/approval from your credit card company) and transmit the gift Certificate, and as may be otherwise disclosed in this policy. If you have previously purchased a Gift Certificate online, by entering the e-mail address and password provided at the time of your first gift certificate purchase, the information contained in the Rapp Collins database regarding your prior transaction may be used to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. Before proceeding with the transaction, you may update any personal information by making changes to the applicable information fields. Alternatively, you can communicate any such updates by e-mail to concierge@hyatt.com or by calling Hyatt's Central Reservation Center in Omaha, Nebraska at 1-800-955-9655. Any such update shall constitute personal information provided to us for use in accordance with this policy. Please note, however, that information in the Rapp Collins database regarding prior gift certificate transactions will not be changed as a result of the update. Further, any such updates will not automatically update your hyatt.com user profile. If you elect to make a gift certificate reservation while online from the Hyatt Gift Certificate web site, you will be returned to hyatt.com to complete the reservation process as described in the preceding section. In addition to the other information required to make a reservation while online, you will be required to furnish information regarding the gift certificate.
Meeting Planners - Request for Proposal
Meeting Planners that are interested in receiving information concerning rates and availability at a particular Hyatt hotel or resort can do so either by using Hyatt's E-mmediate Response Meetings service, by emailing their request for rates and dates to hyattgrp@hyatt.com or by calling a Hyatt representative at 1-800-543-1818. Hyatt's E-mmediate Response Meetings service is an interactive online group booking tool that provides meeting planners with the ability to perform searches for group room and function space availability, schedule catered events, and submit reservations through an online "Request for Proposal" ("RFP"). The information that you furnish in an RFP will be used to process your request and for other purposes disclosed in this policy and/or any third party's privacy policy referred to herein. Hyatt's E-mmediate Response Meetings service can be used for meetings at any Hyatt hotel or resort within the U.S., Canada or the Caribbean. Inquiries for locations outside of the U.S, Canada and the Caribbean can be submitted through the E-mmediate Response Meetings service and should receive a response within approximately 48 hours. In order to use the E-mmediate Response Meetings service, you will be required to submit certain personal information (e.g., name, company or organization, address, telephone and fax number and e-mail address) and meeting requirements (e.g., dates, number of guest rooms per night, function type, event name and meeting requirements). Hyatt has contracted with StarCite, a third party service provider, to handle the collection and use of personal information submitted by users to the E-mmediate Response Meetings service. We therefore urge you to read the StarCite privacy policy, which can be found at http://www.starcite.com/html/legal.html, before submitting any information to the E-mmediate Response Meetings. [link to E-mmediate Response Meetings web site] For other RFPs concerning Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located within the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, you will be directed to contact Hyatt's National Sales Office located in Omaha, Nebraska by telephone or by filling out an RFP while online. RFPs concerning Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located outside the United States, Canada and the Caribbean are forwarded for response to the individual Hyatt Hotel or Resort, with a copy to OpenWorld for support and quality assurance purposes. Please note that information you provide online in a RFP is not encrypted for the purposes of transmission. The information that you furnish in your RFP will be used in responding to your request and for other purposes disclosed in this policy.
Travel Professionals - Award Requests and Hyatt Resorts Specialists Training
Award Requests
Travel Professionals visiting hyatt.com can request information concerning Hyatt's "Slice of Paradise" Awards Program online by completing and submitting an online form with their name, travel agency name, address, telephone and fax number, e-mail address and a description of the information requested. If you have an established user profile on Hyatt.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. The information input into the online form is currently transmitted by e-mail to Hyatt's Marketing Department at the corporate office in Chicago, Illinois for response. Travel Professionals that choose to submit "Slice of Paradise" award request forms online will be asked to provide information concerning themselves, their travel agency and the qualifying reservations they make, including the agent's name, travel agency name and IATA number, their client's name, destination, dates of stay, number of rooms and total number of room nights and reservation confirmation number and the method of booking. If you have an established user profile on hyatt.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. The information provided through the online form is transmitted by e-mail to the North American Corporation of Glenview, Illinois ("North American"), the company we have engaged to handle the fulfillment of Slice of Paradise Awards. North American subsequently transmits that information to the Hyatt Central Reservations Center in Omaha, Nebraska for the purposes of verifying that the terms and conditions of the program have been met.
The information submitted in an online award request form will be used by North American and by us in fulfilling your Slice of Paradise award. The information concerning you and your travel agency (but not the information concerning your clients) may also be used as otherwise disclosed in this policy.
Hyatt Resorts Specialists Training
Travel Professionals visiting hyatt.com can also take advantage of the opportunity to become "Hyatt Resorts Specialists" and the special benefits offered to individuals that achieve that status by completing an online course offered by Travel Agent University Online, a program run by the Education & Training Division of Travel Agent Magazine published by Advanstar Communications Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio. Visitors choosing to complete that online course will be linked to the Travel Agent University Online web site. As we are not responsible for the content, data collection or privacy policies of Travel Agent University Online, we urge you to read the privacy and security policies of that web site before providing any personal information.
Hyatt Vacation Club
Information Requests
Visitors to Hyatt.com can access a portion of the Hyatt Vacation Club web site at Hyattvacationclub.com to request information concerning vacation ownership. To request information, it will be necessary for you to provide your name and full address (including state). That information will be stored in a database maintained by Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc. Please be advised that we may not be able to respond to your on-line request if the land sales registration requirements of your home state do not permit us to provide you with information.
Members of Hyatt Vacation Club
Members of Hyatt Vacation Club can access a separate section of the Hyatt Vacation Club web site by submitting their membership number and PIN. If you don't have a PIN, you can request one by calling 1-800-GO-HYATT. Through the separate members section, members can access information about their account, including current points balances, reservation windows and pending reservations. This information is stored in a secured database maintained by Critical Mass.
Applying for a Job Online
Visitors to hyatt.com who are interested in pursing career opportunities at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts within the United States, Canada and the Caribbean can review and apply for job openings listed in an online jobs database. Visitors can also forward job descriptions that they believe would be of interest to others by e-mail. If you elect to proceed, you will be seamlessly linked to a web site maintained by Recruitsoft Inc. of San Francisco, California ("Recruitsoft") from their facility in Montreal, Canada. As we are not responsible for the content, data collection or privacy policies of Recruitsoft, we urge you to read the privacy and security policies of Recruitsoft before providing any personal information. If you choose to apply online for a posted job on the Recruitsoft web site, you will be required to provide your name, address and home telephone number and to complete a Questionnaire that is specific to the job for which you apply. Your responses to the Questionnaire will be used in evaluating your qualifications for that position. While not required in order to complete the online application process, you will also be asked to provide your work telephone number, Social Security Number and information concerning your educational background, previous work experience (you will even have the opportunity to copy your resume into our electronic form) and your gender and racial/ethnic origin (which will be used only for the purposes of satisfying government reporting regulations). At the beginning of the application process, you will be asked to provide your e-mail address. If you do not have an e-mail address or don't wish to provide one, you can still apply online for a posted position by following the instructions concerning how to create a non-active address, which is required based on the current functionality of the Recruitsoft database. The personal information that you submit to Recruitsoft while online may be accessed and down-loaded by the Human Resources professionals of Hyatt International Corporation, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and at the various Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean through a secured connection to the Recruitsoft database and used for evaluating your qualifications for the job for which you have applied and other jobs that may suit your experience and qualifications, provided you indicate a desire to be notified about other positions. In addition, the provisions of this policy relating to use of information apply to any information that may be accessed or downloaded by us from the Recruitsoft database. If you want to update the information previously submitted to RecruitSoft at a later date, you will need to remember the e-mail address that you create or provide and the password that you will be asked to create at the end of the online submission process. While you may remove your application from further consideration, once an application is made, it cannot be removed. You will also be given the opportunity to indicate whether you would like to receive e-mail about career opportunities that correspond to your profile. If you subsequently decide you no longer want to receive e-mails concerning other career opportunities, you can remove yourself from consideration by either going back to your Recruitsoft profile and deselecting that option or by clicking on a link that will appear in all e-mails sent to you concerning other career opportunities.
Sending e-Postcards
On certain individual hotel web sites for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located outside of the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, you may have an option to send an e-Postcard. An e-Postcard is a fun, easy way for you to electronically share images of a Hyatt Hotel or Resort with someone else. If you elect to send an e-Postcard, you will be required to provide your name, your e-mail address, and your recipient's name and e-mail address, along with your brief text message. This information is stored on a database server hosted by OpenWorld in New York, which is mirrored to a second server also in New York. Backups are made to a third server located in Atlanta. As the information you provide in connection with an e-Postcard is not encrypted with SSL technology during transmission to the OpenWorld servers, you should exercise good judgment about the nature of the information you include in an e-Postcard. The message you send will contain a unique URL that will point to where the e-Postcard may be located. The content on the URL, and the database that stores information about your e-Postcard, will be deleted after 7 days once the recipient has viewed it, or after 30 days if it has not been viewed by the recipient by then.
Contact Us with Your Questions and Comments
You can always contact us by simply sending us an e-mail addressed to concierge@hyatt.com. If you elect to contact us with any questions, comments or requests using one of the online forms that form part of Hyatt.com, you will need to provide your full name, telephone number and e-mail address so that we can be sure to be able to contact you. If you have an established user profile on Hyatt.com, you may use the information contained in your user profile to pre-populate any corresponding required or requested information fields. Depending on which online form you complete, you will be given the opportunity to provide additional information that will allow us to serve you better, although the additional information is not required in order for you to complete and submit the online form. If you are submitting an online form relating to spa services, you will be given the opportunity to indicate the dates of your stay and to specify your question or request. For any other question, comment or request, you will also be asked to: identify the nature of your comments (by selecting from a pick list); provide your Gold Passport Number; if you are writing to comment on a particular stay, the name of the hotel where you stayed and the dates of your arrival and departure; and include any comments you may have in a free text field at the end of the form. If you would also like to give us feedback concerning a particular stay, you will be given the opportunity to complete on online feedback survey which gives you the opportunity to rate your overall stay, indicate whether you would recommend Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to a friend or colleague, indicate whether you had a problem during your stay, describe the nature of the problem (in a free text field at the end of the form) and to indicate whether the problem was handled by the hotel to your satisfaction. The information that you include in any of the online forms described above will not be encrypted prior to transmission so you should exercise good judgment about the nature of the information that you include in the form (e.g., do not include things like your credit card number in the comments field). The information that you include in those online forms will be used in responding to your questions, comments and requests and as otherwise disclosed in this policy. Questions concerning this privacy policy should be sent to privacyombudsman@Hyatt.com.
Use of Personal Information; Sharing Data with Third Parties
The personal information and other information that you furnish when online, whether through a user profile or when you conduct an online transaction, will be used to create a user profile (at your request) or to fulfill your requested transaction as indicated in each applicable section of this policy. Further, such information may be used by us, the Hyatt family of companies, our service providers (acting on our behalf) and travel partners as otherwise described in the policy. While the policy identifies certain of our service providers, there may be other service providers acting on our behalf in accordance with this policy that are not so disclosed. Indeed, we reserve the right to change service providers from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Except as otherwise disclosed in the policy, personal information will not be shared with or sold to third parties outside the Hyatt family of companies (including our service providers and travel partners) without your permission unless it is done on an aggregated basis for statistical purposes without any information that could be used to link that information to you.
Quality Assurance and Marketing Research.
If you stay at a Hyatt Hotel or Resort (regardless of whether or not your reservation was made through hyatt.com), personal information forming a part of the transaction record of your stay may be made available to Maritz Research, Inc. ("Maritz") located in Oak Brook, Illinois for quality assurance and/or marketing research purposes. As part of this process, Maritz may contact you by telephone to discuss the specifics of your Hyatt stay. Use of Tracking Pixels Hyatt Web sites may contain electronic images known as Web beacons - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that allow Hyatt to count users who have visited those pages. Web beacons do not access your personal information; they are a technique we use to compile aggregated statistics about Hyatt Web site usage. You may find more information about Web beacons at the Network Advertising Initiative.
Business Transfers
As we continue to develop our business, we may buy or sell hotels and other assets. In such transactions, customer information is generally one of the transferred business assets and we reserve the right to include personal information collected on our web sites as an asset in any such transfer. Also, in the unlikely event that we, or substantially all of our assets, are acquired, customer information may be one of the transferred assets.
Legal Requirements
We reserve the right to disclose any personal information you submit to us if we are compelled to do so by a court of law or governmental entity or if we determine it is necessary or desirable to comply with the law or to protect or defend our rights or property or the rights or property of, the Hyatt family of companies, our web sites or their users.
Security
AT&T, Critical Mass, UUNET, OpenWorld, CSCO, Rapp Collins, GetThere and Recruitsoft use Secured Socket Layer ("SSL") software up to 128-bit encryption in order to encrypt the personal information that you provide to us through them. Provided that you use a SSL enabled Internet browser like the most current versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, your transmissions of personal information to us through them online will be secure. You can verify whether the information you will be asked to provide on any particular page of this or any other web site will be transmitted using SSL encryption by confirming the presence of a "closed lock" (for users of Microsoft Internet Explorer) or a "solid key" (for users of Netscape Navigator) symbol on the bottom bar of your browser window. You can also verify that your personal information will be encrypted using SSL encryption by making sure that the prefix for the web address listed for that page has changed from "http" to "https". If you do not see the appropriate symbol and the "https" prefix, you should not assume that the personal information that you are being asked to provide will be encrypted prior to transmission. As disclosed elsewhere in the policy, information provided by a Meeting Planner in an RFP, e-Postcards and questions and comments sent by e-mail to concierge@hyatt.com are not encrypted prior to transmission. The personal information that we collect from you online is stored by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and its service providers disclosed in this policy on databases protected through a combination of physical and electronic access controls, firewall technology and other reasonable security measures. Nevertheless, such security measures may not prevent all loss, misuse or alteration of personal information and we are not responsible for any damages or liabilities relating to any such security failures.
Links To Other Web Sites
This policy, and our responsibility, is limited to the Internet data collection practices of our web sites. We are not responsible for, nor can we ensure, the data collection practices, privacy policies or content of other web sites maintained by third parties or our service providers, even if accessible using a link from our web sites, including, without limitation, Rapp Collins, Recruitsoft and Travel Agent University Online. We urge you to read the privacy and security policies of any external sites before providing any personal information to those sites.
Children
Our web sites do not sell products for purchase by children. If you are under 18, you may only use our web sites with the involvement of a parent or guardian.
