ABTS Convention Services, Inc. d/b/a IGH INTERNATIONAL GROUP HOUSING; IGD INTERNATIONAL GROUPS DEPARTMENT, is a United States based company authorized by event organizers and group sponsors to provide Housing and travel related services for their events and groups.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold and use your personal information in accordance with applicable data privacy legislation including the General Data Protection Regulation and EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. By providing your personal information, you acknowledge that we will only use it in accordance with this Policy.
ABTS Convention Services complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries transferred to the United States pursuant to Privacy Shield. ABTS Convention Services has certified that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles with respect to such data, and for all onward transfers of personal information from the European Union and the United Kingdom, including the onward transfer liability provisions. If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy policy and data subject rights under the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/
ABTS Convention Services is subject to the jurisdiction and enforcement authority of the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Cookies
Cookies are small text files placed in the memory of your browser or device when you visit a website or view a message.
We use cookies on our website to help us provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and allow us to improve our site. We do not collect or store your personal information. By continuing to browse our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
You may block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. If you wish to withdraw your consent at any time, you will need to delete your cookies using your internet browser settings.
Why we need your Data
We require access to your personal data in order to fulfill our services including: Performance of a contract we have with you (such as Housing Agreements), Providing you with Proposals/Quotes, Payment Processing, Event Registration, compliance with a legal obligation (such as tax obligations), and to inform you of upcoming deadlines, events and other important dates.
The Information we collect
When you sign up for or use our services, consult with our customer service team, send us an email, post on our blog, Request a Proposal/Quote, Book or Pay for a service, Sign a Housing Agreement, Fill out Event Registration, or communicate with us in any way, you are voluntarily giving us information that we collect.
In order to provide our services, we may need to collect the following types of information from you:
- Contact details such as name, address, telephone number and email address (to secure your accommodation, arrange your travel, register you for an event and to keep in contact with you).
- Identification information including institution, city, country of work or residence (if you participate in education programs and are requesting CME credit).
- Billing information such as credit card details and billing address.
- We may receive information about how and when you use our websites, we store it in log files and data files. This information may include, for example, your IP address, time, date, browser used, and actions you have taken within the website. This type of information helps us to improve our services for both you and for all of our users.
By giving us this information, you consent to this information being collected, used, disclosed, transferred to the United States and stored by us.
Retention of Data
For Tax reasons we may keep your basic personal data (name, address, contact details) for a minimum of 7 years after which time it will be destroyed.
Your information we use for marketing purposes will be kept with us until you notify us that you no longer wish to receive this information. You can do this by opting out of receiving marketing emails from us at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of our marketing messages, or contact us directly at customerservice@abtscs.com. See the section titled “Contact Us” for further contact information.
We will also retain your information for as long as is needed to provide you with the contracted services.
We may also retain and use your information in order to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and enforce our agreements.
Accuracy of Data
We do our best to keep your data accurate and up to date, to the extent that you provide us with the information we need to do so. If your data changes (for example, if you have a new email address), then you are responsible for notifying us of those changes. Upon request, we will provide you with information about whether we hold, or process on behalf of a third party, any of your Personal Information.
Sharing of Information
We disclose Personal Information only to the following types of third parties for the purposes described in this policy:
a) Rooming lists containing personal data of individuals attending an event provided by group Sponsors (or Travel Agencies representing said Sponsors), and shared with Event organizers, Housing Companies, Hotels, Restaurants and other travel related Service Providers in order to complete your booking. Specific companies may include but are not limited to:
Convention Management Resources (CMR), Housing Management Company
3641 Mt. Diablo Blvd. #368, Lafayette, CA 94549 * 415.905.0130
MCI USA, Housing Management Company
6100 W. Plano Pkwy. Ste. 3500, Plano, TX 75093 * (972) 349-7300
onPeak LLC., Housing Management Company
7000 Lindell Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89118 * (800) 355 8093
Maritz Global Events, Housing Management Company
1395 North Highway Drive, St. Louis, MO 63099 USA * 636.827.1000
Orchid Events, Housing Management Company
17 S West Temple, Ste 30, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 * 801-505-4100
b) Payment details provided by a group Sponsor, their agent, or an Individual attendee, sent to our Payment Processing vendor and Bank.
We do not share personal data with non-agent third parties or permit the use of your information for reasons other than those for which it was originally provided. If this process should change in the future, we will update this policy accordingly and provide you with opt-in or opt-out choice, as appropriate.
Pursuant to the Privacy Shield Framework we are liable for the transfer of EU personal data to agent third parties unless we can prove we were not a party giving rise to the damages.
Note that we may be required to provide an EU individual’s personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities including to meet law enforcement and national security requirements.
Safeguarding Your Information
We take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction, taking into account the risks involved in the processing and the nature of the Personal Information. All personnel with access to personal information are obligated to familiarize themselves and comply with provisions of this Privacy Policy.
Security measures employed included high grade SSL encryption, Password encryption, Secure Servers, Adherence to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Information Security Awareness and Acceptable Use Policies and Procedures.
All production data is housed in secure data centers protected 24/7 with on-site guards and CCTV surveillance. Facility is SSAE 16 and PCI DSS certified and staffed 24/7 by certified engineers.
Only approved staff may gain physical access to company systems. Identification at this location is verified through a combination of official picture ID and Biometric hand readers.
Contact Us
ABTS Convention Services acts as the Data Processor of the personal data you provide to us, under data protection laws. Meaning we use the information to provide a service to you in accordance with your instructions, and the terms of the written service agreement we have with you
In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, we commit to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information transferred to the United States pursuant to Privacy Shield.
Pursuant to the Privacy Shield, you have the right to access, correct, or delete your personal information, and you may also limit our use or disclosure of your personal information, provided that you send us notice of any such request by using the contact information listed below.
If you are a European Union individual with Privacy Shield inquiries or complaints, or if you want to update, delete, or change any Personal Information we hold, you should first contact us at:
ABTS Convention Services, Inc.
d/b/a IGH INTERNATIONAL GROUP HOUSING;
IGD INTERNATIONAL GROUPS DEAPRTMENT
Attn. Privacy Officer
customerservice@abtscs.com
1666 79th Street Causeway, Suite 702
Miami, FL. 33141 USA
We have further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the Privacy Shield Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU PRIVACY SHIELD. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://bbbprograms.org/privacy-shield-complaints/ for more information and to file a complaint. This service is provided free of charge to you.
If your Privacy Shield complaint cannot be resolved through the above channels, under certain conditions, you may invoke binding arbitration for some residual claims not resolved by other redress mechanisms. See Privacy Shield Annex 1 at (https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=ANNEX-I-introduction).
For EU Individuals: Your Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation
We will give an individual, access to any Personal Information we hold about them within 30 days of any request for that information.
Individuals may request to access, correct, amend or delete information we hold about them by contacting us at the address provided in the “Contact Us” section of this document.
Unless it is prohibited by law, we will remove any Personal Information about you from our servers at your request. There is no charge for an individual to access or update their Personal Information.
You may opt out of inclusion of your data in further marketing efforts. You can do this by opting out of receiving marketing emails from us at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of our marketing messages, or contact us directly at customerservice@abtscs.com. See the section titled “Contact Us” for further contact information.
We will export your account data to a third party at any time upon your request
Should you wish to report a complaint or if you feel that our company has not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office or any of the supervisory authorities listed here: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/item-detail.cfm?item_id=612080
Last update: Apr 25, 2023