Hospitality-specific discussion covered in free-to-industry webinar on Monday, November 20
With just over six months until the new EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are in effect, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is ramping up its education campaign to prepare the hospitality industry for compliance. The association initiated this drive last spring with the formation of the HFTP Hospitality Data Protection Officer (DPO) Task Force, a team of 23 experts developing compliance guidelines and resources specific to hospitality, including defining the role of the hospitality DPO. As part of its initiative, HFTP has created an education program to build awareness and educate hospitality companies on the steps needed to take leading up to the May 25, 2018 compliance deadline. Available free to the industry are a variety of resources, including a webinar on Monday, November 20, "Hospitality Faces GDPR — How HFTP Can Help."
HFTP Chief Operations Officer and Task Force Member Lucinda Hart, CAE, MBA, explained why this initiative is integral to the association's strategic goals. "The GDPR is greatly impacting the hospitality industry," said Hart. "The dedication that HFTP and our members have committed to industry awareness demonstrates HFTP's commitment to assisting our stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization."
The upcoming webinar reviews key requirements to GDPR, and what it means for the hospitality industry. Topics to be covered include the main issues and challenges that hospitality faces, and a sample job description for a hospitality data protection officer – a position required by the GDPR. The presentation will be given by two HFTP Hospitality DPO Task Force members: Alvaro Hidalgo, task force chair and managing partner of FIRST LOGIC consulting and Carl Weldon, FIH FHOSPA, HFTP COO, Europe. The interactive, webinar will be Monday, November 20, 2017 from 10:45–11:45 a.m. CET (9:45–10:45 a.m. GMT), when the two presenters are live and available to respond to participants' questions. An archived recording will be available afterwards. Registration is now available on the HFTP website.
The webinar is one of a several GDPR educational events from HFTP. Live presentations include the recent, standing-room only presentation on the same topic from Hidalgo and Weldon in London at HOSPACE 2017 on November 2 – the Hospitality Finance, Revenue and IT Professionals' (HOSPA) Annual Conference and Exhibition. Also, task force member Daniel Johnson, partner and co-founder at VENZA Inc., gave a similar informational presentation at the HFTP Annual Convention on October 27 in Championsgate, Florida USA. Also, to a broader audience, Hart spoke on the topic with Jon Albano for a Lodging Leaders podcast. Looking ahead, HFTP will be developing a webinar geared to suppliers.
The HFTP Hospitality DPO Task Force is in the process of developing material to reference, free to the industry. Just published is an article written by Hidalgo, "Personal Data, Privacy and Identity", in the Hotel Yearbook 2018: Technology. The task force is also in the final stages of creating a definitive job description for the hospitality DPO. These resources are collected in a repository on the HFTP website.
To find the latest materials, and information from HFTP on GDPR as well as any upcoming educational events, visit the task force page on the HFTP website.
