Personal data confidentiality of consumers of the hospitality industry services in the digital age

Abstract

The issues of information confidentiality and personal data processing are extremely relevant, especially in the age of digitalization. The current state of hospitality industry services consumers perception of the modern offers using Internet technologies is analyzed in the article and the influence of various factors on the decision to provide personal data to obtain a certain level of service is determined. Bypassing confidentiality destabilizes trust between social actors, reinforces feelings of insecurity and threatens social cohesion, which is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of our societies. Legislation as well as technology can protect personal information, but sometimes they are not user-friendly or are insufficient. In online interactions, users disclose information about themselves or others, while expressing concerns about breaches of confidentiality that may arise from self-disclosure practices rather than restricting or blocking their disclosure behavior. Hospitality industry companies typically collect two types of data: subscription data, which includes consumer personal information obtained during registration for a particular service use, and transactional information obtained when a consumer pays for a product or service. A question of consumers’ choice of hospitality institutions arises according to the volume of information confidentiality collected by the institution from the services consumer. A survey of university-age respondents was conducted in order to study the factors influencing decision-making when choosing a place of accommodation and the desire of young people to maintain privacy by confrontation or the desire to share personal data on the Internet. It is found that the majority of respondents either do not worry about the further confidentiality of personal data or consider it less important compared to the possible benefits of using access to the site or mobile applications. It has been proven that in order to improve mutual understanding with clients, companies in the hospitality industry should pay attention to the ethical aspects of the collection and use of personal data of services consumers.