HMGNY.COM PRIVACY POLICY
HMGNY.com, aka the HMG Marketplace and operated by the Hospitality Marketing Group LLC (“HMG”), is the world’s first online marketplace dedicated to creating opportunities for freelance hospitality service professionals and fulfilling the needs of hospitality service buyers seeking the services of these individuals.
This “HMG Privacy Policy” (or “Privacy Policy”) describes how we collect, use and disclose your “Personal Information” while you use our Site and Services. By registering with HMG, you are accepting the policies and practices described in this Privacy Policy. Each time you visit the Site or provide us with information, you agree that you are consenting to our use and disclosure of the information that you provide, and consenting to receive emails, as described in this Privacy Policy. When we use the term “Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we mean information about you that is personally identifiable to you, like your name, address, email address, or phone number, as well as other related non-public information. When we use the term “Non-Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information; and thus, it does not identify you. As the owner of the HMG Site and provider of the HMG Services, HMG is the sole owner of all information collected on this Site.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into the HMGNY.COM Terms of Service. If a term is capitalized and not defined in this Privacy Policy, it is defined in the HMGNY.COM Terms of Service.
WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT
You acknowledge and agree that we may collect and store the following Personal Information.
1. From Service Pros
• Name, email address, physical contact information (mailing address, phone numbers, etc.), and financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers;
• Information required for us to send you payments from Companies who retained you for Gigs, and other related information;
• Your preferences related to the type of Gigs you are seeking (e.g., client types and event types);
• Your hospitality service experience (e.g., cocktail party, buffet service, private dining)
• Your “Ad Blurb” which gives you the opportunity to tell a Company about your relevant experience;
• Logistical information (e.g., driver’s license, willing to drive);
• Other skills (e.g., languages spoken);
• Photos;
• The rates you with to be paid by a Company when performing a Gig and related information; and
• Your feedback on Companies and Events that you provided services for or at.
2. From Companies
• Name, email address, physical contact information (mailing address, phone numbers, etc.), and financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers;
• Information required for us to send bill you for services performed by Service Pros that you ordered, and other related information;
• Information required to create an Order, such as event details and other Company requirements for that event (e.g., guest count, service style, Service Pro attire, call times, positions);
• Your preferences related to particular Service Pros (i.e., requests to contact a Service Pro for a new Order);
• The rates you wish to pay Service Pros and other related information; and
• Your feedback on Service Pros who provided services for you.
3. From all HMG Users
• Transactional information based on your activities on our Site (e.g., offering, bidding, accepting or declining a Gig, or creating or changing Orders, and content you generate or that relates to your account);
• Community discussions, chats, correspondence through our Site, and correspondence sent to us;
• Other information from your interaction with our Site, Services, content and advertising, including computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the Site, ad data, IP address and standard web log information;
• Other supplemental information from third parties.
o For example, if you incur a debt to HMG, we will generally conduct a credit check by obtaining additional information about you from a credit bureau, as permitted by law; or a Company may require a background check to be conducted on a Service Pro; or if the information you provide cannot be verified, we may ask you to send us additional information, such as your driver’s license, credit card statement, recent utility bill or other information confirming your address, or to answer additional questions online to help verify your information.
HOW WE USE INFORMATION
In order to use our Site and Services, you provide us with certain Personal Information (as described above) either through the Site or in some other way. We use your Personal Information to help you, as a Service Pro, find hospitality service opportunities, or to help you, as a Company, find hospitality service professionals to service Events for you. We also use your Personal Information to contact you and provide you with information that may be useful or interesting to you, including newsletters regarding changes and upgrades to the Services as well as promotional emails. By using the Site, you agree to receive such information from us. If you do not want us to send you emails or otherwise contact you, you can always opt out of communications by following the instructions we provide to you when we contact you.
We may, from time-to-time, create Non-Personal Information from Personal Information by excluding information (such as your name and other contact information) that would personally identify you. Generally, we use this Non-Personal Information in statistical analyses to help us analyze patterns in the use of our Services. We reserve the right to use and disclose Non-Personal Information in our sole discretion.
More specifically, you agree that we may use your Personal Information to:
• Provide the HMG Services;
• Provide customer support (through Member Services) you request or as part of our Services and troubleshoot problems related to your use of the Site and Services;
• Prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, and enforce our Terms of Service;
• Customize, measure and improve our Site and Services, content and advertising;
• Tell you about service updates and promotional offers; and
• Compare information for accuracy, and verify it with third parties.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
When you register with us, we receive and store Personal Information you give us, either through the HMG Site or in some other way. We use this Personal Information to provide you with hospitality service opportunities or needs through the HMG Marketplace. While using our Site and Services, we may also passively collect certain information, including your Internet protocol address, browser type, domain names, access times, and operating system. We also use Cookies, clear GIFs, and navigational data like Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to gather information regarding the date and time of your use of the Service. This type of information is collected to make our Services more useful to you and to help us improve the Site.
An “Internet protocol address” or “IP address” is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet access provider when you use the Internet. In some cases your IP address stays the same from browser session to browser session; but if you use a consumer Internet access provider, your IP address probably varies from session to session. We track IP addresses for system administration purposes. This information is used to diagnose server problems, monitor traffic patterns, analyze trends, administer the website, track member user patterns, and identify the most popular areas of the website to deliver content most relevant to HMG Users. IP addresses are not linked to Personal Information and are only used to gather broad demographic information for aggregate use, except in the case of fraud.
“Cookies” are small pieces of information that a Web site sends to and places (in the form of files) onto your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing a Web site. Below are some things you should know about Cookies.
• We offer certain features that are available only through the use of cookies.
• We may use both session Cookies (which expire (automatically deleted) once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them).
• We use Cookies to help identify you and maintain your logged-in status.
• We may use Cookies on some of our Web pages to help analyze our Web page flow; customize our Services, Site, content and advertising; measure promotional effectiveness; and promote trust and safety.
• Should we allow advertisers on our Site, some of these advertisers may use Cookies; and therefore, we will not have any access or control over these Cookies.
• You are always free to decline our Cookies (i.e., remove persistent Cookies) if your Web browser permits, although doing so may interfere with your use of some of our Sites or Services.
• You may encounter Cookies from third parties on certain pages of Web sites that we do not control. (For example, if you view a Web page created by another user, there may be a cookie placed by that Web page.)
DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
All HMG Users acknowledge and agree that some Profile information is made available to Service Pros or Companies (whichever applicable) during the process of offering and accepting Gigs or Orders (whichever applicable). Also, please be aware that when you voluntarily display or distribute Personal Information on the Site or in other ways, that information can be collected and used by others. This may result in unsolicited messages from third parties. We cannot be responsible for Personal Information you voluntarily display, disclose or distribute on the Site or in any other way. Further, you understand that we do not control how HMG Users (whether Service Pros or Companies) use or disclose information they obtain from us, including Personal Information you have permitted the disclosure of. If you do not want us to allow your Personal Information to be shared in this way, you may not be able to use some of the HMG Services. (Please feel free to contact us with any questions.)
With regard to Service Pros, please note that HMG does not have any control over how a Company uses and discloses your Personal Information, including information you provide directly to that Company. You acknowledge and agree that: (i) HMG does not evaluate any Company’s privacy practices; and (ii) HMG will not have any liability for any actions of any Company. You should know that Companies to whom we may disclose your Marketing Profile may share your Marketing Profile with others.
SHARING
We do not sell, share or rent your Personal Information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. We will not provide any of your Personal Information to any third parties, except in connection with the HMG Services requested or agreed to by you. For example, we have a third party supplier providing our Billing & Payment Services; therefore, that third party will have access to your Personal Information in order to send invoices and payments pertaining to completed Events.
If we share aggregated demographic information with partners and/or advertisers, such information will not be linked to any Personal Information that identifies individual users. We may combine your information with information we collect from other HMG Users and companies, and use it to improve and personalize our Site, Services, content and advertising. In addition, we may use your Personal Information to keep you informed about our Site and Services and new information or product features related to the HMG Marketplace.
LINKS
The HMG Site may contain links to other Web sites, and HMG is not responsible for the privacy practices of such Web sites. We encourage all HMG Users to read the privacy policies of all Web sites. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by HMG.
ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES OF INFORMATION
In addition, we may disclose your Personal Information for the following purposes:
• To comply with the law or an order issued by a court or an authorized administrative agency, respond to a subpoena, protect the rights or property of HMG or its affiliated companies, prevent a crime, or protect the personal safety or rights of others.
• To our service providers for the purpose of providing HMG Services on our behalf (e.g., information technology services, billing and payment services, hosting services).
• As part of a merger or consolidation, or part of the sale of all or substantially all the stock or assets of the business to which the information pertains.
• As part of a disposition in a bankruptcy proceeding in a transaction approved by the bankruptcy court.
• To our Affiliates, which can include a parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control.
NO SPAM, SPYWARE OR SPOOFING
We and the HMG Users do not tolerate spam. Make sure to set your notification preferences (in your Account Profile) so we communicate to you as you prefer. You are not licensed to add other Service Pro or Company users to any contact or mailing list of yours without their express consent. To report HMG-related spam or spoof emails, please send email to HMG at user-reports@hmgny.com. You may not use our communication tools to send spam or otherwise send content that would violate our Terms of Service. We automatically scan and may manually filter messages to check for spam, viruses, phishing attacks and other malicious activity or illegal or prohibited content, but we do not permanently store messages sent through these tools.
ACCOUNT PROTECTION
Your password is the key to your account. Use unique numbers, letters and special characters, and do not disclose your HMG password to anyone. If you do share your password or your Personal Information with others, remember that you are responsible for all actions taken in the name of your account. If you lose control of your password, you may lose substantial control over your Personal Information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised for any reason, you should immediately notify HMG and change your password.
ACCESSING, REVIEWING AND CHANGING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
You must promptly update your personal information if it changes or is inaccurate. Once you make a public posting, you may not be able to change or remove it. Upon your request, we will close your account and remove your Personal Information from view as soon as reasonably possible, based on your account activity and in accordance with applicable law. We do, however, retain Personal Information from closed accounts to comply with law, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Service, and take any other actions otherwise permitted by law.
You may access the Personal Information you provide to us, and may modify or delete that information by logging into your account and editing it. If you request that we delete your Personal Information we will do so, but we may retain Non-Personal Information that was derived from your Personal Information, and we may also retain your original information in our backup files for a period of time. Please remember, however, that if we have already disclosed some of your Personal Information, we cannot access that Personal Information any longer and cannot force the deletion or modification of that Personal Information by the parties to whom we have made those disclosures.
SECURITY
HMG is committed to protecting the security of your Personal Information. We use a variety of industry-standard security technologies and procedures to help protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Even though we have taken steps to prevent your Personal Information from being intercepted, accessed, used, or disclosed by unauthorized persons, you acknowledge and agree that we cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with Personal Information. You assume all responsibility and risk for your use of the Site and the information you post or access through the Site.
USER FEEDBACK
If you provide feedback, any such comments and any email we receive becomes the property of HMG. We may use feedback for marketing purposes or to add to or modify our Services without paying any royalties or other compensation to you.
CHANGES
This Privacy Policy is subject to occasional revision, and if we make any substantial changes to it, we will post an alert on this page. If you object to any such changes, you must cease using our Service and request that we delete your profile. Continued use of our Service following notice of any such changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes. All such changes will apply to previously collected information.
CONTACT
Thank you for using the HMG Site and Services. If you have questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at: questions@hmgny.com.
Last updated: March 28, 2008