1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

Your Online Travel Agent respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy is designed to tell you about our information collection practices – that is, the ways we collect information; what kinds of information we collect; why we collect information; how we use information we collect; with whom we share information we collect; how you can access, amend, and delete information we collect from you; and what kinds of security we use to protect information you provide.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing notice that we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

Controller

Your Online Travel Agent is the data controller and responsible for your personal data (referred to as “Your Online Travel Agent”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).

We have appointed a Data Privacy Manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights please contact the Data Privacy Manager using the contact form on our website.

COMPLAINTS

You have the right to make a complaint at any time. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns first so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and reserve the right to make changes. This version was last updated in 2020. Historic versions can be obtained by contacting us.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

  • THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

  • Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
  • Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
  • Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
  • Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of travel services you have purchased from us.
  • Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
  • Profile Data includes your username and password, details of previous enquiries, itineraries or bookings made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
  • Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
  • Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

Special category data:

Health/mobility data: When you make an enquiry for a travel booking with us, we will ask you to/you may disclose any medical conditions/health issues or any restrictions on your mobility. This is to enable us (and the operators/suppliers of your holiday) to provide for your health, safety and welfare during your trip, which is our legal responsibility.  Any information of this type that you provide to us constitutes special category data under applicable data protection laws and so when you provide it to us, you give your consent to us using such information for the purpose of making your travel arrangements including our sharing of your information with the suppliers of your trip for this purpose (see section 5 Disclosure of your Personal Data).

If you choose not to disclose this information to us or your consent to use it for the outlined purposes, we may not be able to provide the services you have requested due to our legal responsibility to provide you with a safe holiday.

Religious beliefs: We will also ask you to disclose to us any dietary requirements that you have and you may also choose to disclose to us your religious beliefs if this informs your particular travel itinerary choices/interests. Religious beliefs constitute special category data. Accordingly, when you provide this information you confirm your consent to us using such information for the purpose of making your travel arrangements, including our sharing of your information with the suppliers of your trip for this purpose.

IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE PERSONAL DATA

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

  • HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We use different methods to collect data from and about you, including through:

  • Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by communicating with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
  • enquire about or book our travel services (either directly or via a travel agent);
  • create an online account via our website;
  • subscribe to our newsletters or other publications;
  • request marketing to be sent to you;
  • enter a competition, promotion or survey;
  • give us feedback or contact us; and
  • contact us via social media or follow/like our social media pages.
  • Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Whilst some of this Technical Data does not allow us to personally identify you, we may link this data with personally identifiable information you have provided to us.
  • Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties as set out below:
  • Technical Data from the following parties:

(a)  analytics providers such as Google Analytics based inside or outside the EU;

(b)  advertising networks such as Bing based inside or outside the EU; and

(c)  email marketing service providers such as “dotmail” based inside or outside the EU;

(d) data and trend analysers such as Pulsar based inside or outside the EU.

  • Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services based inside or outside the EU.

Information about other people.

If you provide information to us about any person other than yourself, such as people you are enquiring or making a booking on behalf of or people you are travelling with, you must ensure that they understand how their information will be used and that they have given their permission for you to disclose it to us and for you to allow us, and our service providers, to use it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

  • HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you (i.e. in order to service your travel enquiry or your booking).
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending direct marketing communications to you if you have not previously enquired or booked a holiday with us and in order to share your personal data with any third party for their marketing communications. We will also rely on your consent to our use of special category data as outlined in the paragraph “Special Category Data” above.

You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us (see Section 1 Contact Details) or in the case of email marketing, including our newsletter, if you unsubscribe.

PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE WILL USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal basis we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one basis has been set out in the table below.

Purpose/Activity  Type of data  Lawful basis for processing (including basis of legitimate interest)  
To provide you with travel services including: (a) register you as a new customer/set up an online account; (b) respond to your enquiries to design an itinerary for your desired destinations and to provide quotes for our travel products and services; (c) fulfil your travel bookings once bookings are confirmed. All of the above purposes will include sharing your Personal Data with our third party travel suppliers  as well as to public authorities and other entities if required by them in order to fulfil your travel booking (see section 5 “Disclosures of your Personal Data” below)(a) Identity (b) Contact  Performance of a contract with you (i.e. collection of this data allows us to set up an enquiry in your name, create a bespoke itinerary for that enquiry and if you confirm your booking,  to finalise your travel arrangements with our travel suppliers  
To process and deliver your booking including: (a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us All of the above purposes will include sharing your Personal Data with our third party travel suppliers (see section 5 “Disclosures of your Personal Data” below)(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications  (a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us)  
To manage our relationship with you which may include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our booking conditions or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey (c) Sending you anniversary gifts  (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications  (a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services)  
To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey  (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications  (a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them and grow our business)  
To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)  (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical  (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation  
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you  (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (f) Technical  Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)  
To use data analytics to improve and develop our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences and for internal market research, strategic development, and statistical analysis.    (a) Technical (b) Usage  Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)  
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you (e.g. direct marketing)  (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications  Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business)  

MARKETING

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

PROMOTIONAL OFFERS FROM US

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have previously opted into receiving them from us, or if you have previously asked for a quote or made a booking with us.

Profiling: As indicated in the above table, we may use your personal data to personalise and tailor your experience by using your previous requests for quotes, previous purchases, communications with Your Online Travel Agent staff and providers which have fulfilled part of your Your Online Travel Agent travel bookings, your browsing activity, and other publicly available information (such as demographic data provided by an external provider), to make recommendations and special offers to you about products and services we think may be of interest to you based on your profile. If you do not want us to profile and process your information in this way, please contact our Data Privacy Manager (see section 1 Contact Details).

THIRD-PARTY MARKETING

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.

OPTING OUT

You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us (see contact details in Section 1 of this Policy).

Where you opt out of receiving marketing messages, we will still process your personal data for fulfilling your enquiry or booking and for the other activities indicated in the table above other than marketing.

Should you wish to unsubscribe from marketing communications via email, you may opt out by clicking on the clearly marked ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of any Your Online Travel Agent newsletter or marketing email. Should you wish to unsubscribe from marketing communications via e-mail, you can contact us by e-mail through our contact form – see section 1 of this Policy.

COOKIES

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

CHANGE OF PURPOSE

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

  • DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above and otherwise in this privacy policy:

Internal Third Parties:

– Other companies in the Your Online Travel Agent group acting as joint controllers or processors and who are based inside and outside of the EU who assist with the arrangement of travel services for customers.

External Third Parties:

  • Travel product and services suppliers based inside and outside the EU who provide travel services to fulfil the itineraries and bookings that we provide (e.g. airlines, destination management companies, hotels and other accommodation providers);
  • Public authorities such as customs and immigration, security and/or credit checking companies, credit and debit card companies and government and enforcement agencies if required by them in order for us to fulfil your booking, or as required by law;
  • Police or other law enforcement or crime prevention agencies;
  • Our partners or sister companies, who arrange financial protection for bookings and provide us with certain back-office management services;
  • Service providers acting as processors based in both inside and outside the EU who provide marketing services, data management or data analytics services;
  • Commercial partners who provide our travel services as part of competitions, prize draws and similar (subject always to customer consent to such data being shared);
  • Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based inside and outside the EU who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
  • HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based inside and outside of the EU who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
  • Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

  • INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

We share your personal data within our group of companies in order to service your booking or enquiry. This will involve transferring your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Many of our external third parties, for example, our travel suppliers, are also based outside the EEA so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the EEA.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

  • DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. Note however that no system is 100% secure or error-free. Therefore, we do not, and cannot, guarantee the security or accuracy of the information we gather.

One way we protect your personally identifiable information is through usernames and passwords. This safety measure is only effective if you protect the secrecy of both your username and password. If you ever suspect your username or password may have been compromised or subject to unauthorized use, contact us immediately.

In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

  • DATA RETENTION

HOW LONG WILL YOU USE MY PERSONAL DATA FOR?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see “Your legal rights” below for further information.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

  • YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.  You have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
  • If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy;
  • Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it;
  • Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims
  • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact our Data Privacy Manager via the contact details contained in Section 1.

NO FEE USUALLY REQUIRED

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

WHAT WE MAY NEED FROM YOU

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

TIME LIMIT TO RESPOND

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

  1. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to change this Policy at any time and in our sole discretion, for example to take account of new data protection legislation, and to reflect our current business practices. If we do change the Policy, the new Policy will be posted here, along with its revision date. We encourage you to check this Policy periodically and – at a minimum – before each instance in which you provide personally identifiable information to us, in addition to any fair processing notice that we provide.