Privacy Policy Introduction

HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO — a responsible nonprofit organization serving Chicago, the country and the world — is committed to protecting your best interests and personal information. To earn your trust and confidence, we strictly adhere to the Privacy Policy, Principles and Statement outlined below. We know you are cautious about how information is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so respectfully and sensibly. By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices described in this notice.

Principle 1 – Accountability
We answer to you. Our organization is responsible for personal information under our control and has designated individuals who are held accountable for compliance with the Principles described in this notice.

Principle 2 – Responsiveness
If you have specific questions that are not answered by the material that we disclose here, or in the linked resources, we will address your concerns at the following email address: [email protected].

Principle 3 – Openness & Security
HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO is the sole owner of the information collected at our site. We do not sell, share, or rent information to third parties or partners. The information collected at our site is used exclusively to determine the most appropriate information to send to those who request it.

Principle 4 – Maintaining Safeguards
HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO will protect your personal information by using appropriate security safeguards. We will remain alert and prepared to adapt these measures to address potential threats, hazards or unauthorized access. Examples of our safeguards are:

• Restricting access to information to persons who need to know the information to provide products or services to you.
• Maintaining physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information

Principle 5 – Identifying Collection
We obtain personal information about you in order to service your business and enhance our services. Such information includes:

• Applications, forms, or other communications that you send us
• Data from either an HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO cookie or a cookie from an HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO service provider

Principle 6 – Limiting Collection
We will limit the collection of personal information to that which is necessary for the purposes of providing the products and services you have requested and conducting our business efficiently.

Principle 7 – Limiting Disclosure and Retention
Personal information is retained and disclosed as necessary to serve our guests and otherwise only in accordance with applicable law. Personal information about our guests or former guests is not used or disclosed to any third parties except:

• As permitted by law to our service providers (such as to complete our mailings to you – and again, we will select and monitor these vendors in order to maintain the privacy and security of your information).
• As required by subpoena or law (as to tax authorities or regulators).
• As may be appropriate to protect against fraud or illegal activity, for the safety of guests, employees, or property, or is otherwise permitted by law.

Principle 8 – Respecting Your Wishes
HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO uses email and direct mail as a way of keeping you up-to-date about our product and service innovations and offers that may be of interest to our guests (e.g., new features or other information). These communications may also offer special incentives that we hope will prompt you to try something new at HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO. Nonetheless, HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO maintains a practice of permitting persons to be excluded from such communications, such as straightforward opt-out options.

Principle 9 – Accuracy
We will strive to keep personal information as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for its intended purpose.

Principle 10 – Notice
We will provide you with a notice in plain language before making any material change.

Overview
Respecting the privacy of our customers is one of HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO’s highest priorities. We consistently emphasize the importance of our website visitors’ security and privacy among our employees. The success of our business depends upon our ability to maintain the trust of our users.

Information Collection & Use
Information collected at this site includes:

• Request Information Form: Requires users to give us contact information.

• Log Files: We use IP addresses to monitor our site and collect aggregate data for future use. The log files we collect include browser type, access date and time, pages viewed, and domain name. IP addresses and log files are anonymous and are not linked to any individual’s personal information.

• Surveys: Periodically, HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO will survey our guests for purposes of improving the quality of our service and customer satisfaction. Client participation is completely voluntary.

• Sharing: Occasionally, HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO may share aggregated information with our guests or partners. This information is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person. Nor does it disclose confidential or proprietary client information.

• Cookies: HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO does not use cookie technology on our website. Client-side cookies may be used to verify the login status of guests using products or services linked directly with our website. Client-side cookies are also used to track and measure the success of a particular marketing campaign, including click-through rates, forward rates (how many times an e-mail recipient forwards an e-mail to another person using our Forward-to-a-Friend technology), and conversion rates (an optional feature that allows guests to track the return on investment of a campaign).

• Ad Server Relationships: We do not partner with or have special relationships with ad server companies.

Choice/opt-out
All e-mail sent by HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO will contain clear and concise instructions (such as clicking on the link at the bottom of an e-mail) for how to opt-out of receiving future communications.

Correct/Update
Upon request, we provide site visitors with access to all information that we maintain about them. Visitors have the ability to correct their contact information or update their profiles by sending an e-mail to [email protected], sending your updates via postal mail (see bottom of this page), or calling us at (312)360-0300.

Links
The HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO website may contain links to other sites. HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked sites as their policies may differ from ours.

Notification of Changes
This policy may be revised over time as new features are added to the website. Please check this site for information about revisions to our privacy policy.

• If there is a material change to our privacy policy we will post notification on our homepage.

• If there is a material change to personally identifiable information, we will notify you by e-mail and provide the ability to opt out of these new uses.

Contacting Us
Contact Hostelling International with questions at any time.

Hostel Address:
Hostelling International – Chicago
24 East Congress Parkway
Chicago, IL 60605

Administrative Office Address:

Hostelling International – Chicago
24 East Congress Parkway
Chicago, IL 60605

Phone Number: 1-312-360-0300

Fax Number: 1-312-360-0313