Privacy Policy

CHART Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 2, 2021

This CHART privacy notice (“Privacy Notice”) describes how the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers (“CHART”, “we” or “us”) collects, uses, shares, and retains personal information that you provide to us, or that we collect, when you use the CHART website located at www.chart.org and other websites owned or controlled by CHART (the “Site”) or related mobile applications, use CHART products and services and complete related forms, participate in CHART events, or communicate with one of our representatives (Staff, Board, Director, Volunteer) (“Personal Data”).

Please note that if you disagree with anything in this Privacy Notice, you must not use the Sites or mobile applications, or provide personal information to us in connection with CHART’s products or services.

Overview
Information We Collect
Why We Collect Your Information
How We Share Your Information
Information Security
Data Retention
Your Choices and Privacy Rights
International Transfers
Notice for Individuals Located in Europe
Children
Changes to this Notice
Contact Information

1. Overview

This policy applies to all information that we collect about you when you use the CHART website. It does not cover the privacy practices of local CHART chapters or other third-party websites we may link to.

If you are in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom and/or Switzerland, refer to a section below for policies specific to you.

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information that we collect about you when you do any of the following (collectively “Services”): use the CHART websites located at chart.org, hospitalitytrainingmagazine.com, and other websites or use any CHART apps owned or controlled by CHART or related mobile applications that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively “Sites”); or use CHART products or services and complete related forms, participate in events, or communicate with one of our Board, Staff, Director, Volunteer.

Our Sites may contain links to third-party websites. These third-party websites and services are not related to us and may have separate privacy policies and data collection practices. We have no responsibility for these websites or their privacy practices and encourage you to read the privacy policies of all websites you visit.

A “visitor” is an individual who visits the Sites, without having registered. A “registered user” is an individual, such as a member, who has registered with us, and whose identity can be determined directly or indirectly from the information provided. For the purpose of this Privacy Policy “you” means a visitor or a registered user.

By accessing and using our Services, subject to applicable law, you signify you understand and consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to our Terms of Use. If you do not agree with or you are not comfortable with any aspect of this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use, you should immediately discontinue access or use of our Services.

2. Information We Collect

We collect personal information when you interact with our Services.

You provide data to us when you:

Sign up to become a registered user of our site(s)
Join as a CHART member
Register for virtual, or in-person, events or conferences
Download certain publications or materials which are offered for free
Register to take a CHART competency or other certifications or workshops
Communicate with CHART staff and provide information to us, such as your email address

We record your visits and use of our services. We may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your device, your activities on our site and your location as described in our Cookie Notice. Third parties such as your employer, our training partners or companies, may share your data with us. We may collect data about you when you use our services on social media. You provide us with data when you participate in our professional networking features or post on public areas of the site. We use third party payment processors who fully comply with PCI requirements. As such, your online payment data is not captured, stored or used by us.

We collect personal information when you interact with our Services. Personal information is data that can be used to identify you directly or indirectly or to contact you including, but not limited to, your name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number. This policy does not apply to anonymized information as it cannot be used to identify you.

Information You Directly and Voluntarily Provide to Us

Membership

If you provide your personal information to CHART to become a member, or if you sign up to become a registered user of any Site, you will be required to provide certain information as part of the registration process. This information may include your first and last name, email address, and business or home address. We may also request that you voluntarily provide other information, such as your photograph, phone number, age range, demographic information, educational background, work experience, information about your non-CHART certifications, courses or areas of study in which you may be interested and information about your company as it relates to our Services and your membership. We use this information to communicate with you, to design content and activities that we believe would be of interest to you.

We rely on fulfillment of contract as the lawful basis under Article 6, GDPR for processing members’ personal information.

Events and Conferences

We may host events that include in-person and virtual conferences, training, knowledge sharing and webinars. If you register for an event, and you already have an account, we will access the information in your account to provide you with information and services associated with the event. We may also ask for additional demographic information during the registration process. If you register for one of our events and you do not have an account or are not a member, we may collect your first and last name, email address, business or home address, information about the type of business you work for or with, and your role in that business.

We use the information provided by event attendees to provide them with event services, including badge printing, tracking your CHART competency progress, the audience profile and to determine the sessions likely to require the biggest rooms, and related purposes connected with the event.

If you are a presenter at one of our events, we will collect information about you such as your name, employer, contact information and photograph, and we may also collect information provided by event attendees who evaluated your performance as a presenter. We may also make and store a recording of your voice and likeness in certain instances.

Publications

We offer various publications and materials through our Sites. Some of these publications and materials are publicly accessible, and others require that you be a member, or that you create an account and subscribe to receive these publications and materials. If you are not a member and you create an account for this purpose, you will be required to provide certain information as part of your account registration, which may include your first and last name, email address, business or home address and professional information.

Exams and Certification

When you register to take a CHART competency, we will collect certain personal information such as your first and last name, email address, phone number, business address, home address, demographic information and professional and education history. We may also collect and store information you provide to us about special accommodations that you may request. Only authorized employees within CHART have access to your personal information pertaining to any special accommodations you may request. CHART will collect your exam results and, in conjunction with maintaining your certification(s), if applicable, your record of participation in continuing professional education. We rely on a contract fulfillment basis to process personal information associated with providing certification services.

Certification Status

If you need CHART to report your continuing education for another organization, we will only share your status with a third party to the extent we have received your prior consent to share such information.

Communications

If you communicate or correspond with us by email, through postal mail, via telephone or through other forms of communication, we may collect the information you provide as part of those communications. For example, if you correspond with us through email, we may collect and store the email address you use to send the applicable correspondence and use it to respond to your inquiry; to notify you of CHART conferences and/or events, publications, or other services; or to keep a record of your complaint, accommodation request, and similar purposes. We have a legitimate interest in processing the personal information of those who communicate voluntarily with us so that we can provide our Services.

Information We Automatically Collect

As you navigate through and interact with our Sites, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your device (computer, tablet, smart phone) and your activities. If you access the Services through a mobile device, we may also be able to identify the location of your mobile device. You may choose not to share your location details with us by adjusting your mobile device’s location services settings. For instructions on changing the relevant settings, please contact your service provider or device manufacturer.

We rely on our legitimate interest in understanding how our members and visitors use our website in processing personal information in this way. Such processing assists us in providing more relevant products and services to our members, and with providing value to our sponsors.

Information from Third Parties

We may receive personal information about individuals from third parties. This may happen if your employer pays and registers you for training, events, or membership. Our third-party partners may also share your personal information with us when you sign up for training, certification, events or membership through the applicable training partner.

We may also receive personal information about you from companies controlled by or under common control of CHART. When you interact with our Services on a social media platform, we may collect the personal information that you or the platform make available to us on that page or account, including your social media account ID and/or user name associated with that social media service, your profile picture, email address, friends list or information about the people and groups you are connected to and how you interact with them, and any information you have made public in connection with that social media service. The information we obtain depends on your privacy settings on the applicable social media service; we will comply with the privacy policies of the social media platform and we will only collect and store such personal information that we are permitted to collect by those social media platforms. When you access our Sites through social media channels or when you connect the Site to social media services, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use such information and content in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information You Post on the Sites

If you post information on public areas of the Sites, that information may be collected and used by us, other users of the Sites, and the public generally.

If you are a member or registered user and choose to participate in our professional networking features, your postings will be associated with the personal information in your public member profile (which includes your name, user name, and other optional information you may choose to include). CHART may share the following personal information with other CHART platforms: your name, state, zip code, country, phone number, bio, email, job title, company, CHART and non-CHART certifications, areas of interest, membership level, work experience/interests, age range, photo.

If you decide to participate in our platforms and professional networking features, keep in mind that your personal information (for example, your name and online user name), along with any substantive information you disclose in the communication you decide to post, will be publicly accessible and viewable by others who visit that area. We strongly recommend that you do not post any information on the public areas of the Sites that allows strangers to identify or locate you or that you otherwise do not want to share with the public.

Information You Provide to Payment Processors

All payments made to us are processed by a PCI compliant payment processing service. All information collected by these third-party providers for purposes of processing your payments is not available to us, unless you have otherwise provided this information to us in connection with your use of the Sites or our Services.

3. Why We Collect Your Information

We use your data to provide our services to you, respond to you, advise you of other services, and to personalize your experience. We will only use your information as described in this Notice or as disclosed to you prior to such processing taking place.

To Provide and Maintain our Services

We will use your personal information to provide information or deliver Services that you request and to allow you to participate in interactive features of our Sites and Services when you choose to do so. For example, we process your personal information to provide membership benefits and other services to you, including order processing, processing of certification or membership applications, registering you for event or training programs. When you sign up for a certification course, workshop or seminar, we will use your personal information to facilitate the delivery of such course or seminar. To the extent your organization has paid for your certification course or seminar, we may provide the status of your course or seminar to your organization upon notice to you. In compliance with applicable laws, we may also publish the names, titles, country and business affiliations of officers, committee members and others who have assisted with initiatives or projects to provide recognition of their achievements to the CHART community.

To Provide Customer Support or Respond to You

We collect any information that you provide to us when you contact us, such as with questions, concerns, feedback, disputes or issues. Without your personal information, we cannot respond to you.

To Advise You of Other Services

From time to time, we may share your personal information with third parties or partners. You may opt out of having your personal information shared with third parties. If you choose to limit the use of your personal information, certain features or Services may not be available to you.

To Personalize Your Experience

We may also use your personal information to tailor your experience at our Sites, to compile and display content and information that we think you might be interested in, and to provide you with content according to these preferences. We may also use this information to help us understand your needs and interests, and to better tailor our products and services to meet your needs.

To Send You Marketing and Promotional Emails

We may use your personal information we collect from you and third-party sources to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you, to deliver targeted and relevant advertising and marketing to you, and to promote our Services.

For Research and Development

We may use your information to gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our Services and to detect, prevent and address technical issues. We may also use your information to monitor the usage of our Site including without limitation search terms entered, pages visited and documents viewed.

For Security Reasons

We may use personal information to help monitor, prevent and detect fraud, enhance security, monitor and verify identity or access, or security risks.

To Post Testimonials

We may use personal information to post testimonials on our Sites. Prior to posting a testimonial, we will obtain your consent to use your name and testimonial. You can request your testimonial be updated or deleted at any time by sending a request with your name, testimonial location and contact information.

Other Legitimate Business Purposes

We may collect personally identifiable information from Users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our site, respond to a survey, fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Site. Users may be asked for, as appropriate, name, email address, phone number. Users may, however, visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personally identifiable information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us.

We may collect non-personally identifiable information about Users whenever they interact with our Site, including the browser name, type of computer, and technical information about Users’ means of connection to our Site.

Our Site may use “cookies” to enhance User experience. Users may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert them when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function properly.

We share your data only with those who need access or those to whom you have provided consent. Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or when specifically agreed to by you, we take care to allow your personal information to be accessed only by those who really need access in order to perform their tasks and duties. In general, we do not share your information with a third party for their independent use unless: (i) you request or authorize it, (ii) it is required by law, or (iii) it is in connection with a co-sponsored event.

Service Providers

We may share your information with our suppliers, subcontractors, and other third parties who provide services to us in connection with advertising, hosting, data analytics, information technology and infrastructure, email delivery, auditing, exam-testing, training providers and other related activities. Our service providers are given only the information they need to perform their designated functions and are prohibited from using the information we provide them for their own purposes.

Business Partners and Sponsors

From time to time, we may engage in joint sales, educational events or product promotions with selected business partners. If you purchase or specifically express interest in a jointly-offered product, promotion or service, we may share relevant personal information with those partners. If you are an event attendee, speaker, or sponsor, certain items of your information may be included in the event roster, which may also be shared with a presenter and/or their company. We recommend you review the privacy policies of the relevant partner to find out more about their handling of your personal information.

Within Our Corporate Organization and with Our Local Chapters and Volunteers

We may share your personal information within this organization and with our subsidiaries and/or affiliates to provide services and support, provide recommendations to optimize services, and to provide members and prospective members with information about our Services. We may also share your information with our board members and our volunteers for the purposes of conducting our operations, and with your local CHART chapter so they can contact you about regional training forums/meetings and associated services pursuant to your membership.

Compliance with Laws or Regulatory Body

We may disclose your information to government authorities or third parties if: (i) required to do so by law or regulation, or in response to a subpoena or court order or any other enforceable governmental request or order; (ii) we believe disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect against fraud, to protect the property or other rights of us or other users, third parties or the public at large; or (iii) to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights.

Potential Employers

If you use CHART’s Career Center (Job Board, Talent for Hire) services, the information you include in your profile will be viewable on our website. We will only share information about you with potential employers or recruiters if you consent in advance to our sharing of this information.

5. Information Security

We take reasonable measures to protect any personal information we may hold in order to prevent loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We cannot guarantee, however, that all information will remain secure. The Internet by its nature is a public forum. We encourage you to use caution when disclosing information online. You are responsible for protecting your login ID and password from third-party access, and for selecting passwords that are secure.

6. Data Retention

We will retain the personal information we collect from you where we have a justifiable business need to do so and/or for as long as is needed to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, legal, accounting or other purposes). You can request deletion of your personal information at any time (see “Your Privacy Rights and Choices” section for further information) and we will consider your request in accordance with applicable laws.

When we have no justifiable business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

7. Your Choices and Privacy Rights

You have choices on how we communicate with you. Individuals located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom or Switzerland at the time they access our Services, please see section 9 for more information about your choices and rights.

Marketing Communications

If you receive commercial electronic communications from us, you can unsubscribe from the receipt of future commercial electronic communications from us by clicking on the “unsubscribe link” provided in such communications. Please note that even though you have opted out of receiving marketing-related communications from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, and you cannot opt out from receiving these messages.

Subscriptions

You may manage your subscriptions by subscribing or unsubscribing at any time.

Access and Correction

You have the right to review and correct personal information that we have collected from you. You may exercise this right by contacting us as indicated in the “How to Contact Us” section, or by emailing us at chart@chart.org. In your request, please make clear what information you would like to have changed. For your protection, we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We will try to implement your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

California Residents

This section applies only to California residents. California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Services that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, to the extent applicable. To make such a request, please email us at chart@chart.org.

Your browser may allow you to adjust your browser settings so that “do not track” requests are sent to the websites that you visit. However, we do not respond to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals.

8. International Transfers

We operate in the United States as a global organization. Your personal information may be transferred to and maintained on computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction. If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including personal information, to the United States and process it there.

We will take all the steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your personal information will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place. If you do not want your information transferred to or processed or maintained outside of the country or jurisdiction where you are located, you should not use our Services.

9. Notice for Individuals Located in Europe

If you are in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom and/or Switzerland, the policies in this section are specific to you. This section only applies to individuals that access or use our Services while located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom and/or Switzerland (collectively “Europe”). If any terms in this section conflict with other terms contained in this Policy, the terms in this section shall apply to users in Europe.

We are a controller with regard to any personal information collected from individuals accessing or using our Services. A “controller” is an entity that determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal information is processed.

Marketing

We will only contact individuals located in Europe by electronic means (including email or SMS) based on our legitimate interests, as permitted by applicable law or the individual’s consent. If you do not want us to use your personal information in this way or to disclose your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes, please click an unsubscribe link in your emails. You can object to direct marketing at any time and free of charge.

Legal Bases for Processing

Our legal bases for the processing activities identified in this Policy are:

We rely on our contract with you as our legal basis for processing in relation to the following: to provide and maintain our services, to provide customer support or respond to you, to enforce compliance with our Terms, agreements or policies, and to share your information with service providers.
Depending on the specific circumstances, we rely on your consent or legitimate interest in relation to the following: to send you marketing and promotional emails, to advise you of other services, and to share your information with business partners, sponsors, or within our organization.
We rely on legitimate interest in relation to the following: to personalize your experience, for research and development, and when we share your information with board members or volunteers or in relation to business transfers or bankruptcy.
When we share your information to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or government requests, or to protect rights and comply with our policies, our processing is based on our legal obligations.

Your Rights

We provide you with the rights described below when you use our Services. We may limit your individual rights requests in certain circumstances. When we fulfill your individual rights requests, we will notify third parties also handling the relevant personal information unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort.

Right to Withdraw Consent

You have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information collected on the basis of your consent at any time. Your withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before your withdrawal.

Right of Access and Rectification

You have a right to request that we provide you a copy of your personal information held by us. You may also request us to rectify or update any of your personal information held by us that is inaccurate.

Right to Erasure

You have the right to request erasure of your personal information that: (a) is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed; (b) was collected in relation to processing that you previously consented to, but later withdrew such consent; or (c) was collected in relation to processing activities to which you object, and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for our processing.

Right to Data Portability

If we process your personal information based on a contract with you or based on your consent, or the processing is carried out by automated means, you may request to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and to have us transfer your personal information directly to another “controller”, where technically feasible.

Right to Restriction of Processing

You have the right to restrict or object to us processing your personal information where one of the following applies: you contest the accuracy of your personal information; the processing is unlawful and you oppose erasure and request restriction instead; we no longer need your personal information but it is required by you for legal claims; or you have objected to processing, pending verification of our legitimate grounds.

Right to Object to Processing

Where the processing of your personal information is based on consent, contract or legitimate interests, you may restrict or object, at any time, to the processing of your personal information as permitted by applicable law.

Automated Decision-Making

You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing of your personal information, including profiling, which produces legal or similarly significant effects on you. We do not engage in this type of automated processing.

If you wish to confirm that we are processing your personal information, or to have access to the personal information that we may have about you, please contact us at chart@chart.org. You also have a right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority situated in a Member State of your habitual residence, place of work, or place of alleged infringement.

Transfers of European Personal Information to the U.S.

Our headquarters are located in the United States, and information we collect from you will be transferred, stored and processed in the United States. We will protect your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy wherever it is processed and will take appropriate contractual or other steps to protect the relevant personal information in accordance with applicable laws.

10. Children

We do not knowingly collect personal information data from persons under the age of 16. If you are a parent of a child under 16, and you believe that your child has provided us with information about him or herself, please contact us via email at chart@chart.org.

11. Changes to this Notice

We may need to update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business practices, data collection practices or organization. If we make a change that we believe materially affects how we process your personal information, we will provide notice of such change on this Site or via email. After such notice, your continued use of our Services will be subject to the then-current Privacy Policy. We encourage you to look for updates and changes to this Privacy Policy by checking the “Effective Date” located at the top of the Privacy Policy.

12. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at:

CHART
PO Box 2835
Westfield, NJ 07091
Telephone: 800-463-5918
Website: chart.org
Email: chart@chart.org