Vacation rental sites attract consumers from all around the world who are interested in traveling to new destinations. And while having international guests brings with it additional considerations, one specific thing to keep in mind if your site has visitors from Europe is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This consumer data privacy law applies to any site with European visitors, and describes specific legal requirements for collecting and using consumer personal information. Since vacation rental sites rely on the use of personal information to process reservations, complete payments, send out newsletters or offers, share guest reviews, and more, they fall under GDPR’s scope.
Here, we cover what GDPR is, its requirements, whom it applies to, and how to ensure your vacation rental website complies.
What is GDPR?
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European regulation that protects the personal information of people in the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA). Personal information simply refers to anything that can directly or indirectly identify an individual.
GDPR gives consumers the right to choose if an organization can collect, process, or use their personal information. Organizations must keep all collected information safe from breaches and unauthorized access, alteration, or use.
Anyone who violates GDPR could be fined 2-4% of their gross annual income or up to €20 million/$22.5 million (whichever is highest), so it’s well worth your while to ensure compliance!
Does GDPR apply to my vacation rental website?
GDPR has a very broad scope and applies to businesses around the world. Your vacation rental site is required to comply if any of the following are true:
- You are located in the EU/EEA.
- Your site is available to people in the EU/EEA, and you monitor their online behaviors.
GDPR still applies even if no transaction or purchase takes place. This means any data you collect about people from Europe who browse your vacation rental site is protected by GDPR, including through internet cookies.
GDPR compliance tips for vacation rental websites
If your vacation rental site needs to comply with GDPR, follow these simple tips.
Tip 1: Follow the six fair information principles
Under GDPR, organizations are required to follow six fair information principles. Vacation rental websites should keep these principles in mind when collecting consumer data, which could include:
- Deploying internet cookies for analytics, ads, or other purposes
- Processing reservations
- Newsletter signups
- Profile creations or account logins
- Sharing guest reviews or experiences
The GDPR fair information principles are:
- Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: Ensure all data collection meets GDPR requirements, is fair, and is accurately communicated to consumers.
- Purpose limitation: Only use and collect data for legitimate purposes that you explain to your consumers.
- Data minimization: Only collect and process necessary data, nothing more.
- Accuracy: Ensure all personal data collected is accurate and updated.
- Storage limitation: Only store personal data for as long as necessary to complete your specified purpose.
- Integrity and confidentiality: Implement security measures, like data encryption, to keep all data safe from unauthorized access.
- Accountability: Ensure you can demonstrate that your processing activities comply with GDPR.
Tip 2: Post a privacy policy
GDPR outlines transparency requirements that your website must meet, and one way to do this is to present your users with an easy-to-read, accurate privacy policy.
So, what should your privacy policy include? Be sure to cover the following information:
- What personal information you collect
- Your purpose and legal basis for collecting it
- Who you share data with, if applicable
- If you intend to transfer the data internationally
- How long you plan to retain the data
- The rights consumers have over their data
- The contact information for your data protection officer, if applicable
- Your business’s contact information
Once your privacy policy is ready, post a link to it wherever data collection occurs on your site. That way, your users will always have a chance to read it.
Lodgify makes it easy to create and share a privacy policy by providing a free template. Download our vacation rental privacy policy template and adapt it for your business!
Tip 3: Obtain and manage user consent
Another key aspect of complying with GDPR is managing user consent preferences.
Under GDPR, processing personal data is legal if you obtain active, opt-in, informed consent from consumers. But these consumers have the right to change their minds at any time, and you must make this process as straightforward as possible.
Here’s what you need to ensure proper consent:
- Configurable cookie consent banner: Present European users with a consent banner asking them to read your cookie policy and agree to your use of cookies before they use your vacation rental site.
- Accurate cookie policy: Have a link to an accurate cookie policy available on your pop-up banner and ask users to read it and give active consent, i.e., by asking them to select an unmarked checkbox.
- Consent preference center: Have a consent preference center available on your website where users can easily change their minds and either give or rescind their consent at any time.
- Website cookie scanner: Use a website cookie scanner to name, categorize, and explain all cookies your website uses and include this information in your cookie policy. Run these scans regularly to ensure your cookie policy is always accurate.
Many vacation rental solutions achieve all of this by using a consent management platform (CMP), which should include all the above GDPR solutions. Lodgify also makes this practice easy for our customers by offering a cookie policy banner feature in our website builder, as well as a cookie policy template to help you get started. We’ve even had a lawyer review our template to ensure GDPR compliance.
Tip 4: Provide users with a DSAR form
GDPR also requires businesses to explain to users what their rights are over their personal information and provide a means to respond to requests to follow through on these rights.
One way to comply with this guideline is to add a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) form to your website.
DSAR forms are web forms that include all necessary questions and information to make receiving and responding to a consumer privacy rights request much more efficient. Consumers can submit a DSAR to exercise the following rights:
- Find out what data an organization is collecting about them
- Access the data collected about them
- Rectify, correct, erase, or delete data collected about them
- Restrict the processing of their data
- Obtain a portable copy of their personal data
- Object to the data processing
You can embed a DSAR form directly on your website and provide a link to it in your privacy policy.
Tip 5: Keep personal data safe
One of the GDPR requirements is to keep all collected personal information safe from unauthorized access, use, and alterations. This means your vacation rental site needs to implement security measures to protect the data you process and use.
Common data protection methods include:
- Data encryption
- Limiting who has access to the data
- Storing data behind strong passwords with multifactor authentication
- Minimizing data collection
- Firewalls and other network security systems
- Training all employees on data privacy best practices
- Developing a data breach response plan
It’s up to you what security techniques you use! Just be sure that whatever you choose is appropriate to the type and amount of data you collect.
Vacation rental GDPR compliance made easy
GDPR can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. By staying informed and following these tips, you can set your vacation rental site up for compliance, protect your visitors’ data, and avoid fines.
And if you don’t have a vacation rental website yet, we can help with that, too! Sign up for a free seven-day trial or book a demo call here to explore our website builder and everything else Lodgify has to offer.
About Termly
Termly is an all-in-one compliance solution for complex data privacy laws worldwide, providing privacy policy generators, cookie consent, and more. Their goal is to make data compliance as easy, affordable, and user-friendly as possible.