Opal Cove Resorts Privacy Policy

Opal Cove Resort 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 Opal Cove Resorts Privacy Policy effective from December 2004 which we trust will answer your questions regarding how we respect and treat the information you provide to us.
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, gather broad demographic information for general use and to help us understand your needs and wants so we can improve the quality of your stay with us. General information includes the number of room nights booked and used, guest’s gender, age, where guests are from, room rate, etc.
  • Personal Information: Personal Information is any information that personally identifies you.

When you make a reservation for one of our Resort rooms, Villas or Units, we may ask you for personal details such as your name, home address, and work telephone number and how the account will be settled. We may also obtain from your credit card details, whether you have any room preferences, disabilities or other lifestyle information. On check in we will ask for proof that you are the person who made the reservation or as a walk in guest are the person who is actually booking the room. Generally this will be in the form of an identification document such as a driver’s license, state ID card or passport. (In other words a document showing photo identification)

We require this identification for two main security reasons:
The first reason is to protect your safety. Requiring an ID for check-in is a way to make sure that only registered, paid guests are admitted to the Resort rooms, and prevents strangers or persons of ill intent from comprising your personal safety.

The second reason is to protect you and ourselves from fraudulent credit card use. Requiring identification upon check-in is a way that we can ensure that the room and services were not booked with a credit card not belonging to you.

While staying with us, we may record the number of times you have stayed, telephone numbers dialed, 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 the Resort or you reply to a survey conducted by or on behalf of the Resort.

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

Sensitive Information

From time to time we may collect or receive information or an opinion about your origin, beliefs, membership, or health. This type of information is known as sensitive information. Where sensitive information is concerned, Opal Cove Resort 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 other than the purpose for which it was collected without your consent. 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 Opal Cove Resort, we will seek your consent. However, we may disclose sensitive information to the police or where required by law, without your consent.

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, entry into a competition or membership to our Leisure Club.

Anonymity

If you wish to stay in the resort on an anonymous basis, we may be able to accommodate your request, but we do not guarantee it. If we do accept your stay with us on an anonymous basis, you will not be able to make a booking in advance, you will need to pay for your accommodation at the time you check-in, and leave with us an amount of money we specify as a security bond (which will be refunded to you on your departure if your room is left in order and you have paid for all services or facilities provided to you or requested by you during your stay).

Primary purpose for which Opal Cove 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 message of some form 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 Resort, 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.

Secondary purpose for which Opal Cove 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, and special deals or if we believe we have something to offer you which may be of interest. This will usually be done via a mail out, however, if you have supplied an e-mail address or registered for newsletter, 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.

Who information is disclosed to and why

We may share General Information with our, advertisers, government agencies, travel agencies or the media. If you have made a reservation (or have stayed) with us, we may disclose your name and date of your reservation (or stay) to our 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 senior management 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 our 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 Opal Cove Resort 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, and other hotels in the area and hotel association bodies. We may also use the information for recover action against you.

Except as stated in this privacy policy, we will not disseminate any Personal Information about you outside of the Resort, 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.

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 Opal Cove Resort 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.

Contracting out services involving the disclosing of personal information

Opal Cove Resort may contract out certain services from time to time. The types of services we may contract out include:

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

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 Opal Cove Resort 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:
  • clauses setting out obligations on how to treat Personal Information;
  • clauses stating the reasons for having access to the Personal Information;
  • clauses setting out the primary purpose of collecting Personal Information;
  • clauses regarding confidentiality to prevent disclosure of Personal Information to third parties;
  • clauses stating the purpose for which they may use the Personal Information;
  • clauses setting out how they will keep the information secure from unauthorised access, modification, use or disclosure;
  • positive obligations on them to take measures to prevent the loss and misuse of information;
  • procedures to enable us to meet obligations of disclosure;
  • procedures whereby we may audit the information the contractor holds; and
  • procedures to keep Personal Information held by both parties up to date.

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 drivers license. 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 it was 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; 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;
  • 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.

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.

Correction of information

At Opal Cove Resort, 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 five ways:

  • via our web site www.opalcove.com.au;
  • Phone Sales and Marketing on +61-2 6651 0510 ext 1573;
  • Fax Sales and Marketing on +61-2 6651 1999;
  • E-mail to sales@opalcove.com. ; or
  • Regular Mail to:
    Sales and Marketing
    Opal Cove Resort
    P O Box 6299
    Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450, Australia

Although it is not always possible to remove or modify information (including Personal Information) in our database, 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.

How Opal Cove Resort stores and secures information

Opal Cove Resort 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 our Sales office 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.

What we mean by Opal Cove Resort

By Opal Cove Resort, we mean the owners and operators of the Resort.

Identifiers

At Opal Cove Resort we want to treat you as a person not a number. Australian Commonwealth Government documents that have been assigned to you (such as a tax file number or Medicare number), will not be used for identification.

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

Destruction and de-identifying information

Opal Cove Resort understands that in this ever changing world, what is relevant today may not be tomorrow. Where Personal Information is clearly no longer required, we will attend to either destroying or de-identifying the Personal Information.

Where Personal Information exists as a ‘hard’ copy, we will destroy this information by shredding and burning all paperwork.

Where information is de-identified, it will be done in a manner whereby the removal of the Personal Information is permanent and can no longer be matched to re-establish your identity.

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. Opal Cove Resort 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 came into effect in December 2004.

Notification of changes to this privacy policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on our web site www.opalcove.com so you are always aware of how we treat Personal Information. If at any point we decide to use Personal Information in a manner different from that stated in our privacy policy in force as of December 2004, we will notify you by letter or e-mail sent to your last known address. If you do not agree with the different way we intend to use the Personal Information, you may ask in writing that we delete your details from our databases or not use it in that different way. If you do not, you will be deemed to have consented to the use of your Personal Information in the changed manner.

Questions or comments regarding our privacy policy

Questions or comments regarding this privacy policy should be directed in the first instance to the Duty Manager at Opal Cove Resort and thereafter by writing to us at the following address:

Sales and Marketing
Opal Cove Resort
P O Box 6299
Coffs Harbour NSW 2450, Australia

  • Phone Sales and Marketing on +61-2 6651 0510 ext 1573;
  • Fax Sales and Marketing on +61-2 6651 1999;
  • E-mail to sales@opalcove.com.

Application of Act, Complaints

This policy and our actions are subject to the Act and any other applicable laws. If you feel that Opal Cove Resort 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 by writing to us at the above address.