Acacia Hotel Privacy Policy

Acacia Hotel has adopted and is bound by the National Privacy Principles set out in Schedule 3 of the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (the Act). This document sets out the Acacia Hotel Privacy Policy (privacy policy) effective from December 2001 which we trust will answer your questions regarding how we respect and treat the information you provide to us.

1.   Collection Of Personal Information
There are two categories of information we collect:

  • General Information: General Information is anonymous data that we use to analyse trends, administer the web site, diagnose problems on the web site servers, track user’s movements, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use and to help improve the quality of the web site. It may be your domain name or your IP address.
  • Personal Information: Personal Information is any information that personally identifies you.

2.     When you either make a reservation or just check in to our hotel, we may ask you for personal details such as your name, home address, work telephone number and how the account will be settled. We may also obtain from you credit card details, whether you have any room preferences, disabilities or other lifestyle information. While staying with us, we may record the number of times you have stayed, telephone numbers dialled, movies watched, room service ordered and other details you supply to us.

Personal Information may also be collected from information you provide to us if you enter a competition run by or on behalf of Acacia Hotel or you reply to a survey conducted by or on behalf of Acacia Hotel.

We may also collect certain Personal Information if the law requires us to collect it or receive it from other sources.

3.   Sensitive Information
From time to time we may collect or receive information or an opinion about your origin, beliefs, membership, sexual preferences, criminal record or health. This type of information is known as sensitive information. Where sensitive information is concerned, Acacia Hotel takes greater precautions as to who has access to it and what they use it for. Generally speaking, except as stated in this privacy policy, sensitive information will not be used or disclosed for a purpose, without your consent, other than the purpose for which it was collected. Where we collect sensitive information from you, we will disclose to you the reason for seeking it. If we are to disclose it to an entity outside the Acacia Hotel (including its associated companies and security contractors), we will seek your consent. However, we may disclose sensitive information to the police or where required by law, without your consent.

4.     Consequences of not providing Personal Information
If you do not provide us with Personal Information that we consider essential or necessary, we regret the inconvenience, but may have no choice other than to decline your reservation, function booking or entry into a competition.

5.     Primary purpose for which Acacia Hotel collects information
Some of the information that we ask for is essential such as your name and billing details. These are used so we can contact you during your stay for reasons such as security, transferring incoming calls to you, letting you know if a facsimile arrives, if a visitor is waiting for you in the lobby, and so we can ensure we are paid for goods or services provided to you or requested by you.

If you make a reservation, we may also request your contact details, credit card details or the like. This information is used to pay the deposit, a security bond and so we can identify you when you check-in.

If you supply lifestyle information it may be used for two primary purposes. The first helps us to try and meet or exceed your expectations. For example, if we know which room you prefer or that you would like connecting rooms when you check-in to our hotel, we can hopefully provide you with the room and facilities you prefer.

The second is to make your stay as comfortable as possible by giving you peace of mind. For example, by providing us with information regarding a disability, our friendly staff can take this into consideration when selecting your room. This information may also be used by our staff, contractors or emergency services in the event of an emergency to assist with your well being.

6.     Secondary purpose for which Acacia Hotel collects information
Although we may use Personal Information while you are staying with us for the purposes described above, we may also use Personal Information for other purposes.

We may use your Personal Information to update you on news, events, special deals or if we believe we have something to offer which may be of interest to you. This will usually be done via a mail out, however, if you have supplied an e-mail address, you may be contacted by e-mail. From time to time, we may also call you regarding this.
Personal Information may also be used if we need to contact you in relation to matters that arose from your stay with us.

7.     Who information is disclosed to and why
We may share General Information with our partners, associated companies, advertisers, government agencies, travel agencies or the media. If you have made a reservation (or have stayed) at our hotel, we may disclose your name and date of your reservation (or stay) to our partners, associated companies, advertisers, government agencies, travel agencies, the media or publish such information in our employee newsletters or promotion and marketing materials.

Other than as stated in this policy, we will not share your Personal Information with a third party outside of government agencies or the Acacia Hotel unless a third party, such as a contractor, needs to know the relevant Personally Identifiable Information in order to perform their duties. If we do intend to disclose such information, we will try to either let you know at the time we collect it, or seek your consent.

You have the right to take your name off Acacia Hotel’s mailing lists at any time without charge. You may apply to add your name to a mailing list at any time should you desire.

We may send you information on behalf of our advertisers and partners. We will not give them your Personal Information without your express permission unless the advertisers are also Acacia Hotel associate companies bound by this or a similar privacy policy.

If we have provided credit to you or you do not pay your account on time, or you act in an unlawful manner, we may provide this information to credit reporting agencies, government agencies, other hotels in the area or hotel association bodies. We may also use the information for recovery action against you.

Except as stated in this privacy policy, we will not disseminate any Personal Information about you outside of the Acacia Hotel without your consent unless we believe it is necessary:

  • because it is required or authorised by law;
  • to provide you with a service which you have requested;
  • to assist a law enforcement agency or agency responsible for national security in the performance of its functions;
  • to protect our rights or property or those of any member of the public; or
    to lessen a serious threat to a person’s health or safety.

8.     We may retain the content of any document (including electronic documents such as e-mails and other similar forms of communication) that you send to us. Any Personal Information contained within those documents will only be used or disclosed in the ways set out in this privacy policy.

If Acacia Hotel becomes aware of, or suspects any unlawful activity taking place, it may instigate an investigation and/or report its findings or suspicions to the police or other relevant enforcement agency.

9.   Contracting out services involving the disclosing of personal information
Acacia Hotel may contract out certain services from time to time. The types of services Acacia Hotel may contract out include:

  • Security;
  • Laundry (including dry cleaning);
  • IT;
  • Marketing;
  • Promotions (including mail outs); and
  • Maintenance.

10.   In order for our contractors to perform their duties, it may be necessary for them to have access to Personal Information, or in carrying out their duties they may be able to access Personal Information.

Where Acacia Hotel is contracting with a company who may receive or have access to Personal Information, it will make reasonable efforts to keep your information secure by contracting with companies who have either:

  • adopted or are bound by the National Privacy Principles under the Act;
  • implemented a privacy policy acceptable to us; or
  • included in their contract for services:

11.   (i) clauses setting out obligations on how to treat Personal Information;
(ii) clauses stating the reasons for having access to the Personal Information;
(iii) clauses setting out the primary purpose of collecting Personal Information;
(iv) clauses regarding confidentiality to prevent disclosure of Personal Information to third parties;
(v) clauses stating the purpose for which they may use the Personal Information;
(vi) clauses setting out how they will keep the information secure from unauthorised access, modification, use or disclosure;
(vii) positive obligations on them to take measures to prevent the loss and misuse of information;
(viii) procedures to enable us to meet obligations of disclosure;
(ix) procedures whereby we may audit the information the contractor holds; and
(x) procedures to keep Personal Information held by both parties up to date.

12.     Requests for access to personal information
We understand that you may like to know what Personal Information we hold about you or the type of such information we hold. We are happy to assist you with your request (subject to exceptions where relevant), but before we do, we may require that you prove your identity to us. When you make a request in person, we may require you produce some form of photo identification such as a passport or an Australian driver’s licence. Where you make a request by other means, we may request you supply us with particulars so we can check them with our files and satisfy ourselves as to your identity.

We may require that a request be made in writing. We have adopted this policy so there can be no confusion as to what information is sought, who was it sought by, and when it was sought. This allows us to create an audit trail of how the request has been handled. Where a request is made, any correspondence or application may be kept and added to your Personal Information.

How we respond to your request will depend on a number of factors including:

  • the sort of information you seek to have access to;
  • the way you made the request (in person, facsimile, e-mail, mail etc);
  • where the information you have requested is stored or located;
  • how the information is stored;
  • the technology that has access to the information (some information can only be accessed from a system operating at a specific property); and
  • any exceptions to disclosure that may apply to the information sought.

Ways in which we give you access to information include:

  • allowing you to inspect some or all of the information we hold about you;
  • providing copies of the information requested;
  • allowing you to take notes about the contents of our records;
  • where data exists only in electronic form, we may provide you with printouts or give you access to one of our computers to review it yourself;
  • allowing you to view the information before someone who can explain its contents;
  • faxing or e-mailing the information requested;
  • providing you with either an oral or written summary of the information requested; or
  • using any other appropriate method to give you access to the information requested.

When giving you access to Personal Information, we may also try to accommodate other considerations such as any disabilities you may have, your level of understanding, and English or literacy skills.

13.     If we are unsure of exactly what Personal Information you are seeking, we may ask you whether you want access to all the Personal Information we hold or just a part of it.

We will not charge you for making a request to access Personal Information held by us. We may, however, charge you for the cost of making the Personal Information available to you. The cost of making information available to you will depend on the information sought, however, if you request an estimate of the likely cost, we will make reasonable efforts to provide you with one prior to us incurring further expense. Although we will do our best, we cannot guarantee that our estimate will be accurate and the true cost may be substantially greater than our estimate. Where the true cost is greater than the estimate, you may still be required to pay the true cost prior to us giving you access to the Personal Information.

Where we deny or refuse access to Personal Information, we will provide you with written reasons. Where we refuse to give you access to Personal Information but provide you with a summary of that Personal Information where it would reveal a formula or the fine details of an evaluative process if it involves commercially sensitive business decisions we will also provide you with written reasons for our decision.

We may consider using an intermediary to allow limited access to Personal Information that would otherwise be denied to you under one of the permitted exceptions. If it is decided to use an intermediary, you will be liable to pay the intermediaries’ fees and expenses.

14.     Correction of information
At Acacia Hotel, we know that nothing remains the same, which is why we are always looking for ways in which to make your stay more pleasurable. If at any time you wish to update any of the Personally Identifiable Information you have provided to us (or add some information you haven’t provided before), you can do it in the following ways:

* Phone Administration Manager on 61-8-9328 0000
* Fax Administration Manager on 61-8-9328 0100
* E-mail to bookings@acaciahotel.com.au or
* Mail to:

Administration Manager
Acacia Hotel
15 Robinson Avenue
Northbridge WA 6003

Although it is not always possible to remove or modify information (including Personal Information) in our databases, we will make reasonable efforts to do so. If we have provided the information to third parties (as discussed above and subject to this privacy policy) we are sorry, but we will not ask and cannot force the third party to also delete or change the information.

15.     How Acacia Hotel stores and secures information
Acacia Hotel has taken reasonable precautions to protect the security of your Personal Information which it collects. These include protection of passwords using industry standard encryption, provisions to preserve the security of the information stored on computers or in offices or archives and to prevent unauthorised access, modification, use or disclosure, and back-up systems to prevent accidental or malicious loss of data or information.

Unfortunately, there’s always a risk involved in storing information. Although we will try to take reasonable precautions, we cannot guarantee Personal Information will not be stolen or used without permission. To the extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible for any unauthorised access disclosure or use of your Personal Information.

If you suspect that someone has Personal Information that we have collected and you don’t want them to have it, please let the Administration Manager know immediately.

A few of our employees and contractors will have access to your Personal Information to a level that is necessary to enable them to perform their jobs. They are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any Personal Information held by us.

16.     Identifiers
At Acacia Hotel we want to treat you as a person not a number. If you have provided us with information which the Australian Commonwealth government has assigned to you (such as a tax file number or Medicare number), we will not use these identifiers to also identify you.

Where we are provided with Australian Commonwealth identifiers, we will not disclose this information to third parties outside of the Group except as set out in this privacy policy or as required by Australian law.

17.     Acceptance of our privacy policy
By making a booking, staying with us or using our services and not providing us with a written objection, you agree to our using Personal Information in accordance with our privacy policy. If at any time you do not agree to our privacy policy, please immediately advise us in writing. Acacia Hotel reviews its privacy policy periodically and reserves the right, at its discretion, to modify or remove portions of this privacy policy at any time subject to any applicable law. You should review this policy every time you stay with us so that you are up to date with any changes to this privacy policy. This version of the policy is effective from December 2001.
18. Questions or comments regarding our privacy policy
Questions or comments regarding this privacy policy should be directed in the first instance to the Administration Manager at Acacia Hotel by writing to us at the following address:

Administration Manager
Acacia Hotel
15 Robinson Avenue
Northbridge WA 6003

19.     Application of Act, Complaints
This policy and our actions are subject to the Act and any other applicable laws. If you feel that Acacia Hotel has not treated your Personal Information in accordance with either our privacy policy or the Privacy Act 1988, we invite you to contact us by directing your complaint to the General Manager at Acacia Hotel by writing to us at the above address.

If after consultation with our General Manager you wish to take the matter further, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on 1300 363 992 or by mail to:

Director of Compliance
Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 1042

20.     Additional Privacy Information
If you are interested in obtaining additional information of privacy, you can visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privacy.gov.au.