Event rooming list privacy
The hotel asks for the rooming list by Friday, and the spreadsheet you would send holds far more about each delegate than a room needs.
The short answer
A rooming list should carry what the hotel needs to allocate rooms and nothing more: the name as it should appear, the nights, the room type and a booking reference. Registration data such as employer, dietary needs, contact details beyond a booking contact and any assistance request stays out of it.
Whether you may share particular data, and on what basis, is a question for a competent adviser. This page sets out how to coordinate the list and the questions to put to that adviser; it does not state what the law requires.
Start from what the hotel needs
Ask the hotel which fields it needs to hold a room and check in a guest. Offer those fields and decline to send the rest. If the hotel asks for more, ask why and record the answer.
Delegates who book directly into a block through a hotel route may give the hotel their own details. Find out who holds those records, because it changes who is responsible for them.
Field-by-field decision
| Field | Send to hotel? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Name for the booking | Yes | As the delegate wants it to appear. |
| Arrival and departure nights | Yes | Needed to allocate rooms. |
| Room type and sharing | Yes, if needed | Share only if the hotel needs it to allocate. |
| Booking reference | Yes | Short reference rather than registration number. |
| Employer, job title, membership status | No | Not needed to hold a room. |
| Dietary needs and health information | No | Handle through the venue and caterer if relevant, with the delegate's agreement. |
| Assistance request | Only the arrangement | See accessibility transport requests. Ask your adviser before sharing any more. |
| Contact details | Only one booking contact | Whatever the delegate agrees to for the stay. |
| Passport or identity details | Ask your adviser | Do not collect unless a competent party says it is needed and how it must be handled. |
Who sees the list and for how long
- Name the one person who holds the master and the one person at the hotel who receives it.
- Send by the route the hotel and your adviser agree, not as a forwarded attachment in a group message.
- Set a date after which working copies are deleted, and say who deletes them.
- Keep a record of what was sent, to whom and when.
- Never send the rooming list to a supplier who is not providing rooms, such as the shuttle company.
Questions to put to your data protection adviser
- What basis do we have for sharing delegate names and nights with the hotel, and what must delegates be told at registration?
- Does the hotel act on its own account or on our instructions, and do we need a written agreement?
- Which fields, if any, beyond the minimum may we share, and with what delegate consent?
- How long may we and the hotel retain the list, and who deletes it?
- If a delegate asks what we hold about them, who answers and by when?
- If a list is sent to the wrong recipient, who must be told and who decides?
Worked example · Fictional example
Trimming a rooming list before it goes to the hotel
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration only.
A fictional dental society builds a rooming list from its registration sheet, which holds employer, dietary needs and phone numbers. Before sending, the secretariat copies only name, nights, room type and booking reference into a new sheet.
It asks the hotel which contact details it needs, sends the sheet by the route the hotel names and records the date and recipient. It also puts its adviser's questions to the adviser before the next block is booked.
Use this yourself
Rooming list privacy checklist
Check each line before the list leaves the secretariat.
- Hotel has told us in writing which fields it needs.
- Only those fields are in the file being sent.
- Dietary, health, employer and assistance details removed.
- One named sender and one named recipient.
- Route of sending agreed with the hotel.
- Date for deleting working copies set, and who deletes them.
- Record kept of what was sent, to whom and when.
- Questions for the adviser answered in writing before any extra field is added.
- Delegates were told, at registration, what is shared with the hotel.
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- A small list sent to a single hotel with only minimum fields.
- The committee has an adviser who has already answered the questions.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Several hotels, delegates from different jurisdictions or speakers and officials with special handling.
- Registration data, rooming lists and supplier lists are mixed in one file.
- Nobody on the team can own the master list and the deletion schedule.
Need the list handled with a clear process?
A conference project lead can build the trimmed rooming list from your registration data, agree the fields and route with the hotel, keep the send record and put your adviser's questions to the adviser. The project lead coordinates the process; decisions on what may be shared and on what basis stay with you and your data protection adviser. Send what the hotel has asked for so far.
Questions organisers ask
Is it safe to send the whole registration sheet to the hotel?
Send only what the hotel needs to hold a room. Whether sharing more is permitted is a question for your data protection adviser.
Can the shuttle company see the rooming list?
Not unless it needs it to do its job, and then only the fields it needs. Prefer an extract for the supplier.
How long should we keep the list?
Decide with your adviser before collecting it, and write the deletion date and the person who deletes it.
What should we tell delegates?
Say at registration what is shared with the hotel and why, in plain words. Ask your adviser to confirm the wording.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.