Updated: July 27, 2021
Choose Chicago is committed to protecting the privacy of users of the Choose Chicago Web sites. The information we collect is used exclusively to facilitate services that we provide to you. We value your privacy and will take all necessary steps to protect it and maintain your trust.
This Privacy Policy explains the types of personal information we collect through our websites, www.choosechicago.com, www.chicagogreeter.com, and www.chicagosportscommission.com (“Websites(s)”), how we use it, what we do not do with it, how you can view your information and update it, and how we keep it safe.
Our Promise
We will not communicate with you unless you expressly request it. We are committed to your privacy and will not share your personal information to any third-party that is not a trusted partner of Choose Chicago.
Our Commitment to Privacy
To make sure your personal information remains confidential, we communicate these privacy guidelines to every Choose Chicago employee, vendor and partner.
Choose Chicago does not knowingly solicit personal information from children or send them requests for personal information.
Choose Chicago and all program Websites, the chatbot or email correspondence may contain links to other sites. Choose Chicago does not share your personal information with those sites and is not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to learn about the privacy policies of those companies.
If we are going to use your personal information differently from that stated at the time we collect it, we will try to contact you via email using the most recent information we have. If you have not given us permission to communicate with you, you will not be contacted nor will we use your personal information in a new manner.
Choose Chicago’s Privacy Policy is subject to change at any time. We encourage you to review the privacy policy regularly for any changes.
How to Contact Choose Chicago
301 East Cermak Road
Chicago, Illinois 60616
+1 312.567.8500
For questions about privacy and data collection through www.choosechicago.com, www.chicagogreeter.com and www.chicagosportscommission.com, contact privacy@choosechicago.com.
Information We Collect
To better serve Website visitors and customers, Choose Chicago collects two basic types of information from our customers:
Personally Identifiable Information: This is information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. This information is voluntarily provided to us by our customers and is used by us for the purpose of fulfilling requests, inquiries or travel service orders. Choose Chicago does not rent or sell any of this information to anyone.
Aggregate User and Tracking Information: This information gives us insights on how our customers and Website visitors use our Website and our other products. This data is anonymous in nature and does not contain/is not linked with any personally identifiable information. We use this information to ensure that our Website, e-mails and marketing efforts continue to appeal to our customers.
Information We Collect About You
Choose Chicago only collects personally identifiable information that you voluntarily provide to us. Examples of such personally identifiable information that you provide to us includes your:
First and last name
Physical address or postal address
Phone number
E-mail address
Company name
Job title
Choose Chicago only requires personally identifiable information from you when it’s needed to complete your purchase, fulfill your order, respond to your request(s), or when you voluntarily decide to register as a partner independent of a transaction. Choose Chicago uses Simpleview/Paypal to process credit cards for partnership agreements. Choose Chicago also uses Simpleview and EventBrite to process credit cards for event registration.
Other Information We Collect
When you visit Choose Chicago’s Website, we automatically collect some information about your visit using cookies, web beacons, log analysis software and other aggregate tracking technologies.
Navigation information
Each time you visit Choose Chicago’s Website, anonymous navigation information is collected by our servers. This information includes:
- the type of browser and operating system you are using;
- the address of the referring site (ie the previous site you had visited) and the website you leave our site to visit;
- the date and time of your visit;
- your server’s IP address (a number which is unique to the machine); and
- the address of the pages you accessed.
This provides Choose Chicago with information about how the Websites is used and navigated, including the number of hits, the frequency of visits and the duration of visits to each web page on the Website. It does not personally identify individual users.
User Data/Data Collection: Social Media (Features) and Widgets
Our Website includes social media programs and features, such as CrowdRiff, the Facebook Like button and widgets, and the Share button. If you choose to use these features, they may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our Website, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. The social media programs, features, and widgets we use are either hosted by a third-party or hosted directly on our Website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the Privacy Policy of the company providing the feature(s).
Cookies
Cookies are files that contain small amounts of data. If your browser is configured to accept these files, they are stored on your computer’s hard drive. Choose Chicago uses these data files when you visit our site to anonymous identify you. By using cookies, Choose Chicago is able to:
- Completely support and enhance your visit to our site.
- Allow you to Favorite articles, events, and partner business/organizations
- Allow you to access your partnership account information without requiring you to answer your sign-in question multiple times during the same visit to our site.
- Ensure that you won’t see the same advertisements too often.
- Better measure how many users view and navigate our site.
- Better measure how effective our online marketing campaigns are performing.
If you wish, you may set your browser to refuse cookies. However, by refusing to accept a cookie, you will not be able to access some pages on www.choosechicago.com. Since many websites use some form of cookie technology, setting your browser to refuse cookies may restrict your access to certain information or product offerings on those websites. Some Choose Chicago cookie files remain on your computer’s hard drive unless and until you manually delete the file. Choose Chicago cookie files do not contain personally identifiable information or track an individual users’ movement through our Website.
A Choose Chicago third-party advertiser cookie file may also be placed on your hard drive during your visit to our Website. The purpose of these types of cookies is to collect aggregate statistics about your visit to our Website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. These cookies do not contain personally identifiable information.
For example, Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on www.choosechicago.com. Google’s use of the DoubleClick DART cookie enables it to serve ads to Choose Chicago users based on their visit to www.choosechicago.com and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
Tracking Pixels
As a means of measuring the efficacy of the online advertising and marketing campaigns that Choose Chicago employs, allow third-party advertising companies to use a single-pixel image file on our Website to collect information about your visit. This information is anonymous in nature. It only identifies actions being performed on our Website. It does not tie actions back to any individual user of our Website. No personally identifiable information is collected during this process.
Certain Choose Chicago marketing and confirmation e-mails may also contain a single-pixel image file to detect when and whether you’ve opened the e-mail. Choose Chicago may also track clicks from e-mail communications using an internal or third-party tracking system. Choose Chicago uses this personal information to continually assess and improve the products and services we offer. Choose Chicago also uses this information to inform you of products and services, sales and special offers that might benefit you.
These tracking mechanisms are used to ensure that Choose Chicago Websites and e-mails continue to provide relevant content that is interesting and useful to our customers.
Information from Third-Party Sources
Choose Chicago may periodically add or update information about you obtained from third-party sources. Examples include updated address or e-mail address information from such sources as co-branded businesses, business partners or other third parties. This information can help us accurately fulfill orders or deliver purchase confirmation messages. We also receive aggregate information such as page views, search terms and click-through information from sources, such as companies we advertise with.
How We Use the Information We Collect
Choose Chicago may use your information, including personally identifiable information, for business purposes including, without limitation, for the following business purposes:
- To improve the quality of your www.choosechicago.com, www.chicagogreeter.com and www.chicagosportscommission.com visit.
- To complete your partnership or event purchase.
- To bill your credit card when you make a purchase or register for an event.
- To credit your credit card in the event that we issue you a refund.
- To notify you of any changes to your purchase.
- To create your Choose Chicago Partnership account.
- To send marketing communications and purchase confirmations that you have opted-in to or otherwise agreed to receive.
- To send surveys to you.
- To update your user account with any information we receive from you or from third-party sources about you.
Additionally, Choose Chicago may use your non-personally identifiable information it collects during your site visit, during your interaction with our e-mails or chatbot or during your interaction with our third-party marketing efforts for other purposes including without limitation, the following:
- To better monitor in aggregate the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns.
- To better monitor in aggregate how visitors and customers are using our Website.
- To ensure that our Website and e-mails continue to provide relevant content that is interesting and useful to our customers.
- To uncover and diagnose problems with our servers.
- For day-to-day system administration needs.
Special note:Information we collect on how you use our Website does not include personally identifiable information unless you choose to specifically provide us with such information.
This information can be used to display targeted advertising. We do not use personally identifiable information to deliver such targeted advertising.
Additionally, Choose Chicago may use your information, including personally identifiable information, for special purposes. Below are a few examples of special purposes:
- In disclosures to law-enforcement agencies when required by law.
- In disclosures to law-enforcement agencies and/or credit card companies in cases of partner fraud or in other cases where an individual poses a threat to the interests of Choose Chicago.
- To resolve customer or credit card company disputes.
In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these business transfers, partner information, including personally identifiable information, is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if Choose Chicago, or substantially all of its assets were acquired, or in the unlikely event that Choose Chicago goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, partner information, including personally identifiable information, would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of Choose Chicago may continue to use your personally identifiable information as set forth in this policy.
From time to time, Choose Chicago may enter into agreements with third party providers for web analytic and other similar services. If Choose Chicago enters into such an agreement, Choose Chicago may share your information, including personally identifiable information, with the provider or such provider may have access to and collect your information on behalf of Choose Chicago. Your information, including personally identifiable information, may be stored with the provider. Before sharing or storing any customer information with a third-party provider, Choose Chicago shall ensure that any provider agrees to comply with the terms and conditions of this privacy policy. Additionally, Choose Chicago requires any third-party provider of web analytic or other similar services to maintain industry security standards to protect your information.
If you prefer your web browsing patterns on www.choosechicago.com or our program sites to be tracked anonymously or if you prefer for your web browsing patterns to not be tracked in this way, please click here for opt-out options.
Chatbot Usage/Answering Your Inquiries
When contacted either in person, via phone or email, Choose Chicago will use your e-mail address, telephone number or postal address to respond to you.
You may also receive assistance from the chatbot found on our Website. Our chatbot works with artificial intelligence, which means it is not operated by a human. It interacts with users by providing automated response(s) based on previous interactions and programmed algorithms. Personally identifiable information will not be collected when you initiate a conversation with the chatbot unless you choose to provide it. In the event that you have additional inquiries and the chatbot is unable to assist you, a customer service representative of Choose Chicago will be notified and will seek your consent before collecting your contact information such as name and e-mail address, in order to follow up on your inquiry. The processing of such personal data is necessary for us to contact you and based on our legitimate interest to enhance your travel experience and improve our services, so as to follow up on your request(s). Any content submitted through the chatbot can be deleted by contacting us at privacy@choosechicago.com.
What You’ll Receive from Choose Chicago
Choose Chicago believes that honest and clear communications with our users and partners is a key part of a great user experience. We only want to send you e-mail that you expect to receive or that you have requested. All of our e-mail contains clear information on how to unsubscribe, and we honor all requests as quickly as possible. Below are examples of types of communications you may receive from us.
Partnership Registration Confirmation Email Messages
When you register for the Choose Chicago Partnership Program or make a purchase on www.choosechicago.com, you’ll receive an e-mail confirming you have become a Choose Chicago Partner. The e-mail will contain your name, the e-mail address you provided.
Marketing or Promotional Emails
If you sign up for one of our marketing e-mails either directly, through the partnership area, at a live event, during a contest sign-up, or by any other means, we will send you the marketing e-mail that you have requested.
We only send these e-mails to site visitors and partners who sign up for one of our mailing lists or who agree to future contact regarding special promotions and offers from Choose Chicago. These mailings contain clear information on how to unsubscribe, and we honor all requests as quickly as possible.
If you are receiving e-mail from us and wish to unsubscribe, either follow the unsubscribe instructions in the e-mail, e-mail us, call us or send us a note via postal mail to inform us that you do not want to receive e-mail from our company.
Postal Mail
Upon order request, Choose Chicago will utilize your postal address to fulfill your order/request.
How to Opt-Out of Future Communications
In order to opt-out of future communications please click here.
What Information Choose Chicago Shares
Choose Chicago does not rent or sell any of your personally identifiable information to anyone.
Services sold on Choose Chicago web sites are provided by parties other than Choose Chicago. These parties include but are not limited to hotels, tour operators, attractions, restaurants, agency partners, online travel agencies, and vendors. Choose Chicago will provide only the personally identifiable information to these parties that is necessary to complete or fulfill your services transaction.
Special note: The practices and privacy policies of these other parties may differ from Choose Chicago’s policies. Choose Chicago suggests and encourages you to review their privacy policies to gain further understanding of their procedures for collecting, using, and disclosing your information.
Choose Chicago may also share personally identifiable information to third parties who provide or offer other services on our behalf. We may also share your personally identifiable information with business partners with whom we jointly market products or services. If you choose to access such third-party services and provide authorization, we may share information about you, including your personal information, with those business partners. Please note that we do not control the privacy practices of third party business partners and recommend you evaluate their practices before deciding to provide your personal information.
Choose Chicago may also share aggregate information to service providers, business partners and advertisers. In these cases, Choose Chicago does not provide personally identifiable information. In addition, Choose Chicago may contract with third-party vendors for survey distribution, promotions or to facilitate sweepstakes or contests.
Security
We make our best efforts to ensure that our systems are secure. Choose Chicago safeguards the security of the data you provide to us with physical, electronic and managerial procedures.
Your Right to Update Your Information
If you wish to update information held about you or your company by Choose Chicago, please e-mail your new details to privacy@choosechicago.com.
About This Policy
The Choose Chicago Privacy Policy was posted May XX, 2018. Choose Chicago reserves the right to change, alter or modify this policy for any reason at any time. In cases where there are substantial material changes to our policy with regard to the manner in which Choose Chicago handles personally identifiable information, we will provide prominent notice of the changes on our website. By submitting information to Choose Chicago, you consent to its collection and use by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
