Privacy at Meriton Suites
Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information. We’ll update this policy when our information handling practices change.
Amendments to the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 have extended the application of the National Privacy Principles (Principles) to private entities like the Meriton Group of Companies. Meriton Suites has always placed great importance on the privacy of personal information it collects and holds, and this Policy is designed to help you to understand how we manage your personal information.
The Policy applies to all companies, subsidiaries, divisions and organisations within the Meriton group.
WHAT KIND OF PERSONAL DATA DO WE COLLECT?
At various times, we will be obliged to ask you, as Meriton Suites guests for information about you, and/or members of your family. Meriton Suites only collects personal information which is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to one of more of its business functions or activities. In the course of our day-to-day business, Meriton Suites collects personal information at a variety of interactions. Personal information is information that could identify you. This may include;
- Contact details (for example, first name, last name, telephone number, email, address)
- Personal information (for example, date of birth, nationality)
- Your credit card or other payment information
- Reservation information including your arrival and departure dates
- Your preferences and interests (for example preferred floor, type of bedding, other interests)
- Information related to your reservation, stay or visit to a property
- Marketing and communication preferences
The information collected in relation to persons under the age of 18 is limited to their name and date of birth, which can only be supplied to us by the parent/guardian. We advise that parents/guardians could ensure your children do not send us any personal data without your consent.
We may also collect information related to conversations, including recording or monitoring customer service calls for quality assurance and training purposes.
WHEN IS THE DATA COLLECTED?
Personal data is collected at a variety of interactions – including:
- Hotel daily functions:
- Making a reservation
- During check-in and the payment process
- Throughout your stay when using services like our wi-fi systems
- When providing feedback, complaints/disputes or making requests
- We use closed-circuit television and other security measures at our hotels that may capture or record images of guests and visitors in public areas, as well as information related to your location while on our properties (via room keycards) for the protection of our staff, guests and visitors to our hotels
- Participation in marketing initiatives, programs and events:
- Signing up for loyalty programs
- Participation in guest surveys (for example for Guest Satisfaction)
- Competitions, giveaways or sweepstakes
- Subscription
- Online interactions (for example, visiting the Meriton Suites website, completing online forms or visiting our social media profiles) for more information see below
- Building and Construction Sub-Contractors or Suppliers
- Job Applicants, Employees, and Contractors (who may provide, for example, references and tax file numbers)
This information may be collected in a number of ways, though typically we receive information from you by;
- Speaking to us on the telephone
- Visiting our website, social media channels or via emails
- Entering competitions or promotional sweepstakes
- Completing a form in relation to an upcoming stay at our hotels (such as a guest registration card, guest feedback form or web booking/reservation)
In some circumstances, we may also receive information about you from a third party. This includes information from online booking sites, travel agency, your social media profiles consistent with your settings on such services; and from other third-party sources that are lawfully entitled to share your data with us.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?
Meriton Suites uses the personal information we collect from you for a number of purposes, all of which are essential for the efficient day-to-day operation of our business. Including but not limited to:
- First and foremost, meeting our obligations to our guests
- Managing the reservation of rooms and accommodation requests
- Communicate and provide you with the information, products or services requested by you
- Service improvements or service personalisation
- Managing our business so that we can more accurately tailor the information, products and services we provide for repeat and future guests
- Where necessary, share your stay information with a 3rd part for authentication purposes for use of services like our Free wi-fi to guests
- Audit purposes to ensure our electronic hotel systems are accurately reflecting real information (hard copy)
- Marketing & Communications – for more information see below
- Complying with any legal and regulatory requirements
COLLECTION & USE OF INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION
We may use your personal information to provide you with promotions, newsletters, special announcements, sweepstakes and the opportunity to share your experience through reviews as well as other marketing messages in accordance with any preferences you have expressed. Ways we provide these communications can be via;
- Electronic direct mail (email marketing)
- Posted mail
- Online advertising including display advertising, search engines or social media platforms
- ‘User-generated-content’ such as your photos through our online channels in line with our Social Media Guidelines
If you have provided your contact information with consent, we may inform you about products and services or invite you to events via email, online advertising, social media, telephone or postal mail.
- On-property Collection: When you make a reservation and stay at one of our hotels, we process your name, address and contact information along with the details of your stay on the basis of our contractual relationship with you. We also process such data for our business interests; including product marketing, service improvements, analytics or service personalisation.
- Social Media: Participation with our social media activities and offerings is voluntary. We process information obtained from social media participation on the basis of your consent relating to business interests; including product marketing, service improvements, analytics or service personalisation.
- Promotions and Sweepstakes: Participation in sweepstakes, contests and other promotional offerings is voluntary. We process information obtained from participation on the basis of your consent relating to business interests; including product marketing, service improvements, analytics or service personalisation.
- Direct Marketing: We use your personal information to send you marketing messages on the basis of your consent by opting-in. You may withdraw your consent for direct email marketing communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions found at the bottom of the email marketing message. All direct email marketing messages will include the unsubscribe link which will allow you to opt-out.
- Guest Satisfaction Reviews: We use your personal information on the basis of implied consent to send you opportunities to review your recent stay through the Tripadvisor platform named Review Express. Implied consent is used due to the pre-existing relationship between both parties following your stay, to provide every guest with the opportunity to share their feedback. You will be sent an email from us in partnership with Tripadvisor once you have checked out. Please note there is no obligation to share your feedback.
- Website Forms: We use your personal information should you have a particular query regarding our services through the use of contact forms available on our website. In this context, we may use this information for the purposes of handling your query or complaint.
The data we collect is used solely for the purposes listed above, and are not sold to additional third parties for the purpose of advertising.
OUR USE OF ‘COOKIES’
When you interact with our website, we collect information that identifies how you use that channel; such as the pages you visit, the number of visits to our sites or profiles and the amount of time spent on those sites or profiles. Cookies themselves do not contain personal information about you, they essentially operate as a unique identifier and assist us to know what users find interesting on our website.
We use Cookies and other technology (such as “pixels” assigned by Google or Facebook, links in emails, or similar technologies) to collect this information. We use this information to process your reservation, assist with requests or to deliver online/ mobile advertisements and push messaging or content specific to your interests across multiple platforms such as a desktop or mobile devices.
Our website uses first-party cookies for the following purposes:
- Necessary Cookies: These cookies are essential and help our users to navigate our site and to support security and basic functionality of the site.
- Functional Cookies: These cookies are used to provide you with the best user experience, such as whether or not a user has visited before or if they’re seeing a certain page for the first time.
- Performance Cookies: These cookies help us understand the behaviour of site users and how they interact with our website and continuously help us to improve our site to provide the best user experience.
- Advertising Cookies: These cookies will remember that you visited and also any preferences you entered into our site. These cookies are also used for advertisements of hotels, deals and other services relevant to your preferences. These cookies also limit the number of times you will be shown an advertisement.
Most web browsers are set to accept cookies, however, if you wish to remove these Cookies, or block future Cookies – you can change the settings on your individual device at any time. You can update your browser settings by utilising your browser’s “help” menu to learn how to remove or block Cookies. Meriton Suites are not responsible for these settings.
DO WE PROVIDE THE INFORMATION TO ANYBODY ELSE?
In the ordinary course of our business, your personal information may be provided to a number of third parties. Meriton Suites does not sell personal information or provide it to mailing list companies (information about our customers is one of our greatest assets and we treat it accordingly). Other people who might receive the personal information we collect include:
Other entities and people within the Meriton group:
- External service providers who assist us with marketing, and the provision of financial and legal services.
- Insurers, financiers, credit providers, courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities as agreed or authorised by law.
SENSITIVE INFORMATION AND OTHER LEGAL RESTRICTIONS
Sometimes the information we are provided with is of such a private nature that it is classed as “sensitive information”. Meriton does not collect very much information of this nature in the day-to-day course of its business however in some circumstances (such as the provision of medical history by job applicants) it does come up. In such circumstances, the Principles require that information is used only for the purposes for which it was provided, or a directly related secondary purpose.
HOW DO WE STORE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important to us, whether you interact with us personally, by telephone, mail, over the Internet or other electronic media. We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files, and take steps to protect the information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
We retain your personal data only for the period necessary for the purposes set out in this policy or in accordance with the provisions of applicable law. Meriton Suites keep paper records for no more than 12-months after your date of departure. These paper records are then destroyed by a qualified company who specialised in the secure destruction of such records.
HOW DO WE KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCURATE AND UP-TO-DATE?
We endeavour to ensure that the personal information held is accurate and up-to-date. We realise that this information changes frequently with changes of address and other personal circumstances. Our contact details are set out below. You have the right to access your personal data collected by Meriton Suites and to modify it subject to applicable legal provisions.
To make a request to access the information we hold about you, please contact us in writing. We will require you to verify your identity and to specify what information you require. We may charge a fee to cover the cost of verifying the application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, we will advise the likely cost in advance and can help to refine your request if required.
If you’re having trouble exercising your rights, please contact our Privacy Policy officer for Meriton Suites directly by sending an email to the address listed below in the complaints section.
MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We have appointed a Privacy Officer to oversee our management of personal information in accordance with this policy and the Commonwealth Privacy Act. In addition to this, the systems we use are password protected; with access only granted to those deemed necessary specific to their daily tasks.
Meriton Suites trains our employees who handle your information to respect the confidentiality of customer information and your privacy, with breaches of your privacy taken very seriously.
WHAT IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT?
If you consider that any action of Meriton breaches this Privacy Policy or the National Privacy Principles, you can make a complaint through one of the contacts below. We will endeavour to act promptly in response to a complaint.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can phone the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner hotline on 1300 363 992.
You can contact us about a privacy-related issue by e-mail, phone, facsimile or post;
Email: marketing@meritonsuites.com.au
Address: Level 11, 528 Kent St, Sydney NSW 2000
ARE YOU AWARE OF ANY MALPRACTICE OR WRONGDOING?
Meriton Group is committed to the highest standards of conduct and ethical behaviour throughout all of our business ventures. Meriton Group’s Whistleblower Policy covers the processes for dealing with the disclosures made by employees or stakeholders in respect to suspected improper conduct within Meriton Group, in a confidential and secure manner in all states of Australia in which Meriton Group operates.
If you would like to raise a concern, please email whistleblower@meriton.com.au
This is the current ‘Privacy Policy’ for Meriton Suites. It replaces all previous versions of the privacy policy published on the Meriton Suites website to date. This ‘Privacy Policy’ will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices and the changing business environment.
Meriton Suites has the right to update this ‘Privacy Policy’ at any time by publishing the changes online.
This policy was last updated on Thursday 3 February 2022.
