Privacy Policy
At the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association (“GHLA”), we are delighted that you have visited our website and we respect the privacy of our website visitors. We make every reasonable effort to ensure that information held by us is confidential and secure.  We collect information at times in order to improve the performance of our website and to improve the overall experience to website visitors.  We also take all reasonable steps to minimize the intrusiveness of any data gathering and to disclose fully all policies and practices regarding the collection, management and uses of such information.

Your Voluntary Information.
You may use our website without providing GHLA with any information about you.  We only collect personally identifiable information that you voluntarily provide, such as when you sign up for GHLA updates or newsletters through our website.  Several examples of such personally identifiable information that you provide to us may include, among other information, your name, street address, email address, office or cell phone number and your website user name, if any.

Other Collected Information.
When you visit our website, or when you sign up for GHLA updates and newsletters, and/or elect to receive our email messages, we may automatically collect some information about your visit using cookies, log analysis software and other aggregate tracking technologies.  This may include information pertaining to whether you open an email message that is sent to you by us, whether you visit our website or whether you click through to any of the articles or blogs on our website.

You may modify your browser settings to control the collection of cookies. However, if you refuse to accept cookies, you may not be able to access some pages or use some of the functions of our website. Some cookie files may remain on your computer’s hard drive unless and until you manually delete the cookie files.

Our Use of Information Collected.
We will not sell, exchange or otherwise distribute your personally identifiable information without your consent, except to the extent required by law, in accordance with your instructions, or as identified in this Privacy Policy.

We may use your personal information, including personally identifiable information, for business purposes including, without limitation, the following: (a) to improve the quality of your visit to our website and (b) to send marketing communications, updates and newsletters that you have requested, opted-in to or otherwise agreed to receive from GHLA.

Also, we may use your information, including personally identifiable information, as follows: (a) we may contract with other companies and individuals to perform functions or services on our behalf, such as hosting and maintaining our website, database storage and management, sending email messages and newsletters.  These service providers may have access to your personally identifiable information, such as your email address, needed to perform their functions, but are restricted from using it for purposes other than providing services for GHLA.

In addition, we have the right to disclose any information about you, including personally identifiable information, or your use of our website, without your prior permission if we believe, in good faith, that such action is necessary to: (a) protect and defend the rights, property or safety of GHLA and other users of our website, or the public; (b) enforce the Terms of Use for our website; or (c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties or is otherwise unlawful.  We may also disclose information, including your personally identifiable information, as we deem necessary to satisfy any and all applicable laws, regulations, legal processes or governmental requests.

Furthermore, we may share your personally identifiable information you voluntarily submit to us or when we need to share the information in order to provide the information or service you requested. We may also use your personally identifiable information to monitor how visitors are using our website and to uncover and provide diagnosis as to our website and server problems, as well as for system administration needs that may arise from time to time.

What You Will Receive From Us When You Sign Up for Updates.
When you sign up to receive our updates, you may receive email messages from us relating to our newsletters, marketing or promotional matters and upcoming GHLA events, if any.  We only intend to send you communications and information that you have requested.  

Updating Your Information and Opting Out.
Visitors who would like to correct, update or delete any information, including personally identifiable information, may contact us with a request to do so at [email protected].  In addition, if you wish to unsubscribe to our marketing and communication, you may do so by using the unsubscribe option in an email communication or by sending an email message to [email protected].  We will respond to any request to update or modify your personal information, or to opt out of or unsubscribe from any communications, within a reasonable period of time. If you request the deletion or modification of your personally identifiable information maintained by us, such information may be retained for a period of time in our backup systems as a precaution against system failures. Some information may be retained for longer periods as required by law, contract or auditing requirements. 

Security.
If you provide us with your email address in order to receive any of our information and updates, your email address will be stored on our server.  We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect your personally identifiable information, both during transmission and once we receive it.  Please note, however, there is currently no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage that is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.  Accordingly, we hereby expressly disclaim any such obligation.

Privacy Policy Updates.
We reserve the right to change, alter or modify this Privacy Policy for any reason at any time, and from time to time, without notice to you. When we do so, all changes, alterations or modifications to this Privacy Policy will be posted on our website and will be effective immediately. If you are a regular visitor to this site, we strongly recommend that you check this Privacy Policy on a continuous and regular basis. 

Usage by Children Under Age 13.
Our website is directed to adults and is not directed to children under the age of 13.  We cannot prohibit minors from visiting our website.  We must rely on parents, guardians and those responsible for supervising children under the age of 13 to decide which materials are appropriate for such children to view the website. We comply with The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, as amended, and we do not knowingly seek or collect personal information from users under the age of 13. If we determine we have inadvertently gathered personal information from a user under the age of 13, we will promptly delete any and all such personally identifiable information from our records. 

Third Party and External Links.
Our website includes links to other websites whose privacy policies we do not control. Once you leave our website, your use of such links is governed by the privacy policy of the operator of the website you are visiting. 
 
Questions.
If you ever have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].  
This Privacy Policy is effective as of December 11, 2018.