Data Compliance Management in Hospitality: Essential Regulations, Responsibilities, Core Capabilities

Updated October 16th, 2024

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Data compliance management ensures that a hospitality business handles all data securely, ethically, and in line with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, PCI DSS, and FTC.
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This article will explore the importance of data compliance management in hospitality, the top compliance challenges, and how to overcome them with the right capabilities.

Table of Contents #

  1. What is data compliance management in hospitality?
  2. Tackling data compliance management in hospitality
  3. Implementing data compliance management in hospitality: Core capabilities
  4. Data compliance management in hospitality: Getting started
  5. Related reads

What is data compliance management in hospitality? #

Data compliance management in hospitality is about guaranteeing that all guest, employee, and business data is handled securely, stored properly, and used in ways that comply with regional and international laws.

Importance of data compliance management in hospitality #

Hotels and resorts collect a significant amount of sensitive data—names, credit card details, passport information, and even health data. When collecting, storing, managing, and using that data, hospitality businesses must account for compliance with a wide array of compliance standards, such as:

  • Data privacy laws: As mentioned earlier, the hospitality industry handles a wide range of personal data. Any mismanagement—whether it’s sharing guest data without consent or inadequate data encryption—can lead to significant privacy violations
  • Data security requirements: Handling millions of financial transactions means that hospitality businesses must adhere to PCI DSS standards. Failure to encrypt or secure payment data can lead to breaches that affect customer trust and expose businesses to massive financial penalties.
  • Global regulations: International hotel chains need to comply with multiple regulations across regions. For example, a hotel in the U.S. might need to adhere to both CCPA and GDPR, depending on the guest’s origin and method of booking. This adds complexity to compliance management, as hotels must navigate varied legal requirements.

Top data compliance regulations for the hospitality industry #

As mentioned earlier, data compliance regulations for hospitality businesses would cover various operational aspects — accessibility, fire safety, health regulations, food safety, environmental regulations, etc. Some of the most significant regulations include:

  • GDPR: U.S.-based hospitality businesses that serve customers from the European Union must comply with GDPR if they collect, process, or store personal data from EU citizens
  • CCPA: U.S. hospitality businesses that operate in California or have customers from California must comply with CCPA – disclose data collection practices, allow customers to request data deletion or opt-out of data sharing, etc.
  • State-specific privacy laws: Besides CCPA, other states like Oregon, Texas, and Virginia have introduced their own privacy laws. Hospitality businesses should follow regional regulations that apply to their operations based on their geographic reach.
  • PCI DSS: Any hospitality business handling credit card transactions must comply with PCI DSS to ensure the secure handling of payment information.
  • FTC regulations: The FTC enforces regulations regarding unfair or deceptive practices, including how hospitality businesses collect and use personal data.

Also, read -> What is data compliance? Everything you need to know in 2024

Tackling data compliance management in hospitality #

It all comes down to data – understand what information you have, who has access, and how that data flows between systems. Conducting an audit of existing processes, tech stack, third-party contracts, current data sources, etc. should help you take stock of the situation.

The next step is to establish a data governance framework that helps you manage policies and processes around data collection, storage, management, and use.

Lastly, you should identify roles and responsibilities that are central to data governance and regulatory compliance in your organization.

Also, read -> Data compliance management 101

Who is responsible for data compliance management in hospitality? #

Compliance is the responsibility of every individual within an organization.

While each enterprise is unique and the roles may vary depending on the organization’s structure and complexity, the following roles are vital:

  • Data Protection Officer (DPO): A DPO is mandatory for businesses under GDPR and plays a central role in defining policies, conducting risk assessments, and managing incidents. The DPO is also responsible for acting as a point of contact for regulatory authorities.
  • Data team: The data team is responsible for the technical aspects of data compliance management — cataloging, infrastructure, data governance policy enforcement, access control, etc.
  • Legal and compliance teams: Legal teams interpret data protection laws and ensure that data management practices align with global regulations. They also handle legal actions in the event of data breaches or non-compliance issues.
  • Hotel operations managers: While primarily focused on operational tasks, managers at the hotel level must ensure that on-site data collection practices (guest check-ins, point-of-sale systems, etc.) comply with regulations.
  • Employees: All employees (seasonal, contractors, permanent) should understand and respect data compliance policies. They should follow the guidelines of your data governance framework, especially when it comes to raising access requests with the data team and reporting concerns with the DPO.

Implementing data compliance management in hospitality: Core capabilities #

For effective data compliance management, hospitality enterprises should focus on core capabilities, including but not limited to:

  • Metadata management: Automatically capture, describe, manage, and sync all types of metadata (including custom metadata), making it easier to find, use, and govern data.
  • Data lineage: Set up granular data lineage mapping (with impact and root cause analysis) that’s actionable, automated, and tracks data flow across systems.
  • Tagging and classification: Automatically identify and classify sensitive data across the organization.
  • Access control and identity management: Set up access control based on user roles, personas, data domains, or projects to manage who can view, edit, or delete data.
  • Real-time compliance monitoring: Set up real-time alerts that notify teams of any policy breaches or suspicious activity.
  • Automated reporting and audits: Simplify the compliance reporting process with automated tools that generate audit-ready reports for regulatory bodies like GDPR and PCI DSS.
  • Data contracts: Establish clear agreements between data producers and consumers, outlining the expectations, responsibilities, and quality standards for data usage.
  • AI-assisted documentation: Use AI to create data asset descriptions, assign owners, tag assets, write policies, and more.

Also, read -> How enterprise data catalogs (EDCs) drive business value

Data compliance management in hospitality: Getting started #

Data compliance management in hospitality is critical to building trust with guests, avoiding legal risks, and maintaining operational efficiency.

With the right framework and tech stack in place, hospitality businesses can ensure that their data practices are both secure and compliant, leading to sustained growth and customer satisfaction.

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