Fifty-nine percent of customers believe their data is vulnerable to a security breach, according to a recent report by Salesforce. Consumers don’t trust global businesses to carefully handle their data, and when breaches happen the results can be fatal for companies big and small. For this reason, data protection is a high priority for the hotel industry, reliant on returning business and customer loyalty to survive.

On this podcast, we explored how the hospitality industry can protect customer data with Daniel Johnson, partner and co-founder of VENZA, a company specifically designed to guide hotels through the maze of data protection laws around the world.

Hotels collect consumer data with every booking. Be it paying for a room, signing up for loyalty programs, customizing dining requests, or reserving special services, data is collected in order to make the stay better. Johnson says to hoteliers—“Information about their guests is where the value lies.” Digital data is a hotel's greatest asset, which makes investing in data security all the more important.

Johnson co-chairs Hospitality Technology Next Generation, a conglomeration of representatives throughout the hospitality industry brought together to provide a working solution for global hoteliers to comply with data laws. By using a 12 step framework HTNG provides expert, practical guidance to the hospitality industry as they comply with data protection regulations, like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe. Johnson described the framework as full of resources, like “FAQ’s for staff or for leadership, templates for agreements, and ...a prioritized approach.”

Consumer transactions will only become increasingly more digital and more international. In order to survive in the digital market, hotels must learn to keep up with data laws around the world and safely protect the user data that keeps their business alive.