Maintaining guest privacy is an integral component of the hotel business. Not only does it protect their comfort and dignity, but it also has a direct influence on the hotel’s reputation. The more personal data is exposed, the less competent hotel management will be. If management understands the necessity of respecting privacy, then violations are a result of the inadequacy of privacy policy. If all documents are in order, then it is the fault of the hotel staff, which violates clients’ privacy. Therefore, it is essential to organize a training program for the staff, which would accentuate the importance of customer privacy and the consequences of violation.
Customer privacy is a set of guidelines meant to protect hotel guests from the interference of other clients and staff. First and foremost, the clients expect that their personal information will remain private even after the necessary disclosure during the check-in (Ho et al., 2017). This implies that staff members and other guests do not know such personal details as age, food preferences, room number, names of neighbors, and other information that can possibly implicate the customer. These basic rules have to be conveyed to the hotel staff in order to inform them of the possible violations they may be unaware of.
For most efficiency, training should be done in two stages. First, it is essential to motivate the staff members to learn the necessary rules. Therefore, over the course of one month, all staff members have to be gathered in groups where the importance of maintaining privacy would be explained to them. The lecture would start with a rhetorical question, where all workers have to imagine themselves as guests whose privacy is violated. The goal is to achieve a sufficient level of empathy among the staff, which would motivate them not to perpetrate later.
Training should encompass better acquaintance with the rules regarding privacy. First, staff members should learn about the collection of personal information. Aside from identification purposes, the only instance, where the collection of personal information is permissible is in cases when the clients themselves are willing to share it (Privacy policy, n.d.). Second, staff members have to learn the rules of disclosure of personal information. Particularly, it can be shared when the services requested by guests require the participation of other staff members who need to know the customers’ preferences (The Leading Hotels of the World privacy policy, 2021). Knowledge of these rules will allow the staff members to recognize potential violations.
The second stage of training should include roleplaying where staff members are required to work with personal information under the control of program instructors. Each staff member has to execute a given task without violating privacy and hotel standards. Each time the learner makes a mistake, they are informed about the consequences, which range from a two-week suspension without pay to termination of employment. Moreover, in case there is unlawful activity on the part of guests or staff members, the Administration will report a corresponding law enforcement agency (Four Seasons privacy policy, 2020). The roleplaying element will reinforce the staff’s understanding of rules and motivate them to uphold them.
Altogether, on-the-job privacy training will enhance the staff’s professional responsibility. The program should be structured into two parts – lectures and roleplaying. Knowledge of rules will be tested during the roleplaying stage, which will also inform the staff of the consequences. Privacy training is an effective tool to improve the hotel culture and make a favorable impression on the clients provided the staff members are motivated enough to maintain professional conduct and not perpetrate.
References
Four Seasons privacy notice. (2020).
Ho, T., Zhao, J., & Dooley, B. (2017). Hotel crimes: An unexplored victimization in the hospitality industry. Security Journal, 30(4), 1097-1111.
Privacy policy. (n.d.).