PRIVACY POLICY

EFFECTIVE DATE: JANUARY 2020

This Privacy Statement applies to Booking.com B.V., Herengracht 597, 1017 CE Amsterdam, the Netherlands, (“Booking.com“) and describes how Booking.com collects and uses the information, which may include personal data, you provide on our Booking Booster Website (www.sustainability.booking.com/programme/booking-booster-accelerator-programme) (“Site”) and/or through other means as part of the Booking Booster Programme (“Programme”).

DATA COLLECTION

As part of the Programme, Booking.com will request you to provide the following information or process this information, some of which may be personal data:

Contact details and other information: we collect information such as your first name and last name, nationality, email, LinkedIn URL, phone number and language skills.

Motivation and experience: we may ask you to provide an online video pitch, a letter or other document setting out your (company) motivation to apply and information on your skills and previous work experience for your application.

Communications: we may collect and process the communications with you, for example, via email, during face to face interviews, video-calls and/or phone-screenings or interviews you may have.

Company information: we collect information on your company such as name, website, the chamber of commerce registration documentation, type of business, the amount and source of funding previously received, information on revenue, commercial partnerships and participation in similar programs. We also collect information on the backgrounds of the founders and the employees, information on shareholders, information on intellectual property rights, information on (paid) taxes, information on (possible) litigation and investigations, information on social impact of the company, competitor information and the amount of funding needed. If your company has been granted a grant from the Booking Booster Funds, we collect progress reports.

Travel information: if traveling is part of the process, we collect information on your travel dates, your travel availability, your visa requirements and (where applicable) your travel and meal preferences;

References: if applicable, we collect reference information and/or information received from background checks, including information provided by third parties;

Financial information: we collect information necessary for payment such as (your)bank details, (your)bank account number, and VAT number of your company. If your company has been granted a grant from the Booking Booster Funds, we also collect financial data such as financial reports.

DATA WE COLLECT AUTOMATICALLY

When using the Site, Booking.com also collects information automatically, some of which may be personal data. This includes data such as language settings, IP address, location, device settings, device OS, log information, time of usage, URL requested, status report, user agent (information about the browser version), operating system, browsing history and type of data viewed. Booking.com may also collect data automatically through cookies. For information on how we use cookies, click here.

PROCESSING PURPOSES

We use the information you provide, some of which may be personal data, for the following purposes:

A. Registration and assessment of your application: first and foremost, we use your personal data to administer and review your application, to check compliance of the application with the Booking Booster terms and conditions and to select applicants for the Booster Programme that may be granted a grant from the Booking Booster Funds.

B. Communications: we use your information to communicate with you, such as to respond to your requests, questions and concerns.

C. Payments: we use your information for reimbursement of costs made by you, if applicable and to transfer the grant from the Booking Booster Funds.

D. Verification: as permitted by applicable law, we use your information to verify your information and carrying out due diligence and background checks on your company.

E. Impact measurement: if you are granted a grant from the Booking Booster Funds, we use your personal data to measure the impact of our support to your company. Your (financial) progress reports and information may be used in a public-facing impact report relating to the Booking Booster Programme and Funds, in statistics and documents related to the Programme and Booking.com’s corporate social responsibility contributions.

F. Marketing and promotional purposes: if you are granted a grant from the Booking Booster Funds, we use your personal data such as your name, last name, company name, address, your photo, voice/video recordings for promotional, trade and publicity activities.

G. Marketing/Communications: we use the information to provide you with information that you request, to send our newsletter, marketing communications and updates about new programmes, projects or other news or offers which we believe will be of interest to you. Where we use your personal data for direct marketing purposes, such as newsletters and marketing communications on new projects and services or other offers which we believe will be of interest to you, we include an unsubscribe link that you can use if you don’t want us to send messages in the future. We may invite you to attend events we believe may be of interest to you.

H. Analytics and improvement: we use your information to conduct research and analysis. We may involve a third party to do this on our behalf. We may share or disclose the results of such research, including to third-parties and our affiliates, in anonymous, aggregated form. We also use the information, which may include personal data, to assess the needs of your company, to determine suitable products and to improve our services and marketing efforts. We may invite you to take part in surveys, such as market research, and to analyze how to improve your experience, and the functionality and quality of our services. Please consult the information provided when invited to participate in a survey or market research to understand how personal data may be treated differently from this Privacy Statement.

I. Security, fraud detection and prevention: we may use the information you provide, which may include personal data, to prevent fraud and other illegal or infringing activities. We also use this information to investigate and detect fraud. Booking.com can use personal data for risk assessment and security purposes, including the authentication of companies. For these purposes, personal data may be shared with third parties, such as law enforcement authorities as permitted by applicable law and external advisors.

J. Legal and compliance: In certain cases, Booking.com needs to use the information provided, which may include personal data, to handle and resolve legal disputes or complaints, for regulatory investigations and compliance, to enforce agreement(s) or to comply with lawful requests from law enforcement insofar as it is required by law.

If we use automated means to process personal data which produces legal effects or significantly affects you, we will implement suitable measures to safeguard you rights and freedoms, including the right to obtain human intervention.

LEGAL BASES

In view of purpose A to E, Booking.com relies on the legal basis that the processing of your personal data is necessary for the performance of your agreement with Booking.com. If you do not provide the requested information, Booking.com cannot register your application, nor can we provide our services to you. In view of purposes F to I, Booking.com relies on its legitimate commercial business interest to provide its services to you, to prevent fraud and to improve its services. When using personal data to serve our commercial business interest, Booking.com will always balance your rights and interests in the protection of your information against Booking.com’s rights and interests. For purpose J, Booking.com relies also where applicable on compliance with legal obligations (such as lawful law enforcement requests). Where needed under applicable law, Booking.com will obtain your consent prior to processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes.

If you wish to object to the processing set out under F to J and no opt-out mechanism is available to you directly (for example, in your account settings), to the extent applicable, please contact dataprotectionoffice@booking.com.

DATA SHARING

Sharing With Affiliates: in order to support the Booking.com Booster Programme and Funds, your information which may include personal data may be shared with subsidiaries of the Booking.com corporate family. As permitted by law, your information may also be shared for analytical purposes and fraud detection and prevention purposes. Where required by law, we shall first ask your consent before our affiliates may use your personal data for other purposes such as marketing communications. To find out everything you need to know about the Booking.com corporate family, visit About Booking.com.

Booking Holdings Inc.: Booking.com, a member of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies, may need to share some parts of your information which may include personal data with other members of Booking Holdings Inc., for compliance or fraud detection and prevention purposes as permitted by applicable law and strictly necessary to protect Booking Holdings Inc. and its members, including Booking.com, its customers and business partners from fraudulent activities and investigating and handling data security breaches.

Sharing With Third-Parties: we share your information, which may include personal data, with third parties as permitted by law and as described below. We do not sell or rent your personal data.

Service Providers (including suppliers). We share your information with third party service providers to provide our services, store data and/or maintain the Site or conduct business on our behalf. These service providers shall process personal data only as instructed by and to provide the services to Booking.com.
Payment Providers and other Financial Institutions: to process payments between you, your company and Booking.com through Booking.com your information, where relevant, is shared with payment providers and other financial institutions.
Compelled Disclosure: when legally required, strictly necessary for the performance of the Services, or to protect our rights, or the rights of Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies or users, we disclose your information to governmental authorities including law enforcement (subject to a lawful request), any of the affiliates part of Booking Holdings Inc., or in legal proceedings.
Sale or Merger: we may share your information in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets. Of course, we shall notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on our Site and inform you of your rights.

Sharing and Disclosure of Aggregate Data: we may share information in aggregate form and/or in a form which does not enable the recipient of such information to identify you, with third parties, for example for industry analysis and demographic profiling.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

The transmission of personal data as described in this Privacy Statement may include overseas transfers of personal data to countries whose data protection laws are not as comprehensive as those of the countries within the European Union. Where required by European law, Booking.com shall only transfer personal data to recipients offering an adequate level of data protection. In these situations, as may be required, we make contractual arrangements to ensure that your personal data is still protected in line with European standards. You can ask us to see a copy of these contractual agreements using the contact details below.

SECURITY

Booking.com observes reasonable procedures to prevent unauthorized access to, and the misuse of, information including personal data. We use appropriate business systems and procedures to protect and safeguard information including personal data. We also use security procedures and technical and physical restrictions for accessing and using the personal data on our servers. Only authorized personnel are permitted to access personal data in the course of their work.

DATA RETENTION

We will retain your information, which may include personal data, for as long as we deem it necessary to provide our services to you, to comply with applicable laws, resolve disputes with any parties and otherwise as necessary to allow us to conduct our business, including to detect and prevent fraud or other illegal activities. All personal data we retain will be subject to this Privacy Statement. If you have a question about a specific retention period for certain types of personal data we process about you, please contact us via the contact details included below.

YOUR CHOICES AND RIGHTS

We want you to be in control of how your personal data is used by us. You can do this in the following ways:

You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
You can inform us of any changes to your personal data, or you can ask us to correct any of the personal data we hold about you;
In certain situations, you can ask us to erase or block, or restrict the processing of, the personal data we hold about you, or object to particular ways in which we are using your personal data; and
In certain situations, you can also ask us to send the personal data you have given us to a third party.

Where we are using your personal data on the basis of your consent, you are entitled to withdraw that consent at any time subject to applicable law. Moreover, where we process your personal data based on legitimate interest or the public interest, you have the right to object at any time to that use of your personal data subject to applicable law.

We rely on you to ensure that your personal data is complete, accurate and current. Please do inform us promptly of any changes to or inaccuracies of to your personal data by contacting booster@booking.com.

QUESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS

If you have questions or concerns about our processing of your personal data you are welcome to contact us via our data protection officer via dataprotectionoffice@booking.com. If you want to exercise any of the rights you have under this Privacy Statement, please contact our data protection officer via dataprotectionoffice@booking.com. All questions and complaints reported to Booking.com will be investigated. Booking.com will attempt to resolve complaints and questions in line with internal policies. You may also contact your local data protection authority with questions and complaints.

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY STATEMENT

This Privacy Statement may change from time to time. If you want to see changes made to this Privacy Statement from time to time, we invite you to access this Privacy Statement to see the changes. If we make material changes or changes that will have an impact on you (e.g. when we start processing your personal data for other purposes than set out above), we will contact you prior to commencing that processing.