Online Policy Primer

Meng Yuan(Rhoda) Lu14046959NET503 Assignment

2

“Booking.com is the world leader in booking hotel and other accommodations online. It guarantees the best prices for any type of property - from small independents to five-star luxury.”(booking.com,2013) 

“Booking.com was recently rated as Australia's biggest and fastest-growing online travel agent by

Hitwise, a digital data specialist that measures website traffic.”(Upe,2013)

Generall

y, We need to tick a box to accept one or more TOS (Terms of Use), EULA (End User License Agreement) or other governing policy if we want to register and use an online service or an online platform .However,

I believe most people(including

me) haven't read these policies

before.

Does it really matter?

Absolutely!

These policies constitute “the rights and responsibilities of customers and suppliers. Ignoring them may increase the likelihood of paying additional fees” (Law&Wong,2010) or other issues ,like privacy and copyright...

Sometimes, it is easy to register

Without real name verifying

Without agreeing to TOS, EULA or other policy.

Like Booking.com

Just type your email address and set a password, then you can have a booking.com account.

Does it mean they don’t have rules? And we

can do whatever we

want….

Of course not….look at the bottom of their

websiteThere are two links which you need pay attention…

Maybe you never see it ….But you should know something about it.

Let’s go…

First of all….First of all….

It means -Once you have accessed this website, no matter read or not, it would be considered that you agreed to all terms and conditions they made.

And….

All the terms and conditions may be

changed anytime without notice…

Age Requirement

“Booking.com are not directed at children under the age of 18. The use of any of our

services is only allowed with the valid consent of a parent or a guardian. When

we receive information from a child under the age of 18, we reserve the right to

delete it.”(booking.com,2013)

That means, you cannot use booking.com to make reservation if you are under 18 years old.

“4.Our service is free of charge. we won't

charge you for our service or add any

additional (reservation) fees to the room rate.

We won't charge your credit card - you'll pay

the accommodation provider directly for your

stay.”(booking.com,2013)

It sounds good! Although

booking.com is playing a role of

agency, it doesn’t charge you any intermediation

fees.

【】

But, it also points out…

1.The information that we disclose is based on the information provided to us by

accommodation providers. we will not verify if, and cannot guarantee that, all

information is accurate, complete or correct, nor can we be held responsible for

any errors (including manifest and typographical errors), any interruptions

(whether due to any (temporary and/or partial) breakdown, repair, upgrade or

maintenance of our website or otherwise), inaccurate, misleading or untrue

information or non-delivery of information. Each accommodation provider

remains responsible at all times for the accuracy, completeness and correctness

of the (descriptive) information (including the rates and availability) displayed on

our website.

”“

(Booking.com,2013)

It means, they cannot verify whether information published in the website is correct or not,

because they are only an agency .All information is

provided by accommodation providers.

If you have any related losses,

they have no responsibility!

That’s great. And what is the Best Price Guarantee?

“2. Prices and Best Price Guarantee: In the event of a crossed-out

rate, we look at the prices currently being charged by the property

in the 30-day window around your proposed check-in date. From

the prices within this window, we display the third-highest price on offer as the crossed-out rate. This means that you get the same room for a lower price compared to other check-in dates at the same time of year.”(Booking.com,2013)

What can you do if other place has a better deal after your reservation with booking.com?

That means, you can get a better rate if you find a lower rate even you have made a reservation with booking.com. But you must contact them

immediately and all the booking conditions in the new place must be the same as your prior

reservation.

“If you find your reservation on another website at a

lower rate, contact our customer care team right

away. We'll match the price of the other deal if:

1. You contacted us immediately after booking with

all the details of the other deal including a link to the

offer on the website and the exact price being

quoted.2. The other deal is bookable online and is still

available when we check.3. The other deal is subject to the same booking

conditions you’ve chosen with Booking.com.

4. The conditions of your booking with us still allow

penalty-free cancellations and

modifications.”(booking.com,2013)

“The currency converter is for

information purposes only and should not

be relied upon as accurate and real time;

actual rates may

vary.”(booking.com,2013)

Before you payPlease

Remember

5. Credit Card“Accommodation providers require credit card details in order to guarantee

your reservation.  In order to safeguard and encrypt your credit card

information when in transit to us, we use Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

technology for our services.  In the event that your credit card company or

bank charges you the deductible because of unauthorized transactions

resulting from a reservation made on our website, we will pay you this

deductible, up to an aggregate amount of EUR 50 (or the equivalent in your

local currency).”(Booking.com,2013)

That means booking.com has

some good protecting measures

on credit card security. But you must  ensure the

credit card reservations are

made using Booking.com's secure server…

Another good news with credit

card security under Privacy and

Cookies is :

“Your credit card details are stored for a maximum of 10 days. After that, your credit card data will be either permanently deleted from our systems or will remain hashed in our system for fraud detection purposes. This is unless you have chosen to store your credit card details in your personal account.” (booking.com,2013)

It means your information of the credit card will be deleted after 10 days ,unless you

choose to keep them in your personal

account.

9. Disclaimer“(n)either we nor any of our **shall be liable for (i) any punitive, special, indirect or consequential loss or damages, any loss of production, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of contract, loss of or damage to goodwill or reputation, loss of claim, (ii) any inaccuracy relating to the (descriptive) information (including rates, availability and ratings) of the accommodation as made available on our website, (iii) the services rendered or the products offered by the accommodation provider, (iv) any (direct, indirect, consequential or punitive) damages, losses or costs suffered, incurred or paid by you, pursuant to, arising out of or in connection with the use, inability to use or delay of our website, or (v) for any (personal) injury, death, property damage, or other (direct, indirect, special, consequential or punitive) damages, losses or costs suffered, incurred or paid by you, whether due to (legal) acts, errors, breaches, (gross) negligence, willful misconduct, omissions, non-performance, misrepresentations, tort or strict liability by or (wholly or partly) attributable to the accommodation (its employees, directors, officers, agents, representatives or affiliated companies), including any (partial) cancellation, overbooking, strike, force majeure or any other event beyond our control.”(Booking.com,2013) What is it??

It means,They won’t be liable for nearly all kinds of loss

or damages including:

 Wrong information (rates, availability and ratings) of the accommodation;the services rendered or the products offered by the accommodation provider(even disclosed on the site)….etc.

Except:

“direct damages due to an attributable shortcoming of our obligations in respect to our services”(Booking.com,2013)

But the definition of

inappropriate service is

very unclear…

“7. By completing a booking, you agree to receive an email which (i) offers (including third party offers to the extent that you have actively opted in for this information) relevant to your reservation and destination, (ii) inviting you to complete our guest review form.

8. The completed guest review may be (a) uploaded onto the relevant property's information page and (b) (wholly or partly) used and placed by Booking.com at its sole discretion (e.g. for marketing, promotion or improvement of our service).We reserve the right to adjust, refuse or remove reviews at our sole discretion.

10. Booking.com exclusively retains ownership of all rights, title and interest in and to (all intellectual property rights of) (the look and feel (including infrastructure) of) the website on which the service is made available (including the guest reviews and translated content).” (booking.com,2013)

Intellectual property rights

What do they mean?

Once you have made a

reservation with booking.com,

it means you agree to receive

advertising email from them

and you will be asked to fill a

guest review form when or

after you leave .

You can choose to publish the review with your preferred name or anonymity.(under “privacy and cookies”)After that, this review has no relation with you. Because it becomes booking.com’s ‘intellectual

property rights’.

Booking.com canAdjust your review!

Refuse it!AndRemove it!

-Without your permission!!

Let’s move to “Privacy and

Cookies”

“When you visit our website, even if you don't make a

reservation, we may collect certain information, like your IP

address, or browser, and information about your

computer’s operating system, application version, language

settings and pages that have been shown to you. If you are

using a mobile device, we might also collect data that

identifies your mobile device, device-specific settings

and characteristics and latitude/longitude details. We

might also calculate and process data related to the type of

apps installed on a mobile device, such as the name of the

app, an app description and the category it belongs to. We may

also receive information about you when you use certain

social media services.”(Booking.com.2013)

Booking.com will collect all your details when you visit their web site, no matter whether you will use their services.

What do they want from you?

Collecting data also

includes: “web pages you

viewed, which

referring/exit pages you

entered and left from,

which platform type you

have used, date and time

stamp information and

details such as the number

of clicks you make on a

given page, your mouse

movements and scrolling

activity, the search words

you use and the text you

type while using our

website.”(booking.com,201

3)

"When traveling in cyberspace, you provide information to others at almost every step of the way. Often this information is like a puzzle that needs to be connected before your picture

is revealed. Information you provide to one company may not make sense unless it is combined with information you provide to another company.“(Privacy Rights Clearinghouse,2008)

Therefore, the most important target of booking.com collecting your information is to share with cooperative partners, third-party service providers, as well as competent authorities.

Booking.com will doing ‘Marketing Activities’ by

using these personal collecting information:

• Such as promotional Email with similar travel-

related products and services;

• individualized offers are shown to you on the

Booking.com website, in mobile apps or on third-

party websites, including social media sites;

• They also may phone you to promote some

particular offer.(booking.com,2013)

This is the reason why you may see

booking.com’s promotional offer(always is the accommodation

you have visited recently) on other

websites which you are browsing(outside of the booking.com).

What is cookies?

They are not edible…

“A cookie is a small amount of

data that a website places on your

computer.”(booking.com,2013)

Why do websites use cookies?

“cookies are mainly used to remember the choices you have made – choices such as the language you prefer and the currency you use. They will also make sure you are recognized when you return to a website.”(booking.com,2013)

How does Booking.com use cookies?

Technical cookiesFunctional cookiesAnalytics cookiesCommercial cookies

Booking.com uses 4 kinds of cookies:

）（

By using these cookies, booking.com is able to remember your preferences(like preferred currency and language, the property you viewed earlier), gain insight on how visitors use the website(every details of you doing in the website), and show you Booking.com advertisements on other websites.(Booking.com,2013)

These cookies will be stored at

maximum 5 years if you do not erase them from your

browser. (booking.com,2013)

Can I refuse these cookies? especially from the third party service providers…Yes, you can . But

booking.com may

restrict some

functions and

services, in addition,

you will still receive

promotional

advertisement…“If you choose not to accept certain cookies, you may not be able to use some functions on our website. Plus, opting out of an online advertising network doesn't mean that you won't receive or be subject to online advertising or marketing analysis. It means that the network you opted out of will no longer deliver ads tailored to your web preferences and browsing patterns.”(Booking.com,2013)

In addition to using

cookies, Booking.com

sometimes uses ‘web

beacons’. What is ‘web beacons’?

“A web beacon is a tiny graphic image of just one pixel that’s delivered to your computer either as part of a web page request or in an HTML email message. Either directly or through service providers, we use these pixels as part of our online advertisements either on our website or on third-party websites to learn whether a user who is being shown an online advertisement also makes a reservation; to track conversion with partner websites and to analyze a user's traffic patterns in order to optimize the travel-related services we bring to you.”(Booking.com,2013)

cookies can be accepted or refused, while web beacons will exist as a tiny graphic image and cannot be refused. It means you will be monitored by booking.com if you visit their website and

can’t say NO!

It means..

}

Although, "online consumers are in

many cases very quick to provide

significant amounts of personal

information, if given an incentive.”

(Brown&Muchira,2004)

However, Introna(1997)

said: “without some

preserved private spaces,

society would lose its

most valuable asset: the

true individual”

{Now, you have a better understanding on what you are agreeing to and I hope everyone think carefully when you are attending to use online services and online platforms.}