Privacy Policy: data collection & protection
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We confirm we will not disclose or transfer your personal information to any third party for any purpose whatsoever other than that which is directly relevant to your holiday booking – for example, your name and hotel to a taxi firm for a taxi transfer. In other words, the little information we ‘collect’ from you is safe with us.
The information reproduced below covers the following areas of our Privacy Policy:
• What information do we collect from you?
• How will we use the information we collect about you?
• Who might we share this information with?
• How long do we keep hold of your information?
• What are your rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you?
• Changes to our Data Privacy Notice
• How to contact us
Privacy Policy: What information do we collect from you?
The information we collect, hold and process about you comes from the way you engage with us, such as:
• By filling in our on-site Contact Form to ask a question or via our on-line LiveChat facility, booking forms when purchasing a service,
• Through your interactions with us, including if you contact us by post, email, telephone or by any other means, and
• From the way you use the services you purchase from us.
These interactions form the lawful basis for processing your personal data internally and developing a relationship with you that you are free to terminate at any time.
We do NOT receive information about you from other companies, third parties who provide services to you or us (apart from occasional and relevant communications re your booking with hotels, transporters and so on), and research, credit reference and fraud prevention agencies.
Like any new medium or technological innovation, the internet is a source of both good and bad. As a family business our aim is to stay focussed, keep things simple and avoid the pitfalls to which some larger competitors fall foul.
Even though we have a secure site (https), security is relative on the web. We were hacked on average seven times a year prior to joining the Word Press Community. Because of this we have chosen to avoid on-line booking forms and the collection of customers personal details on-line that can be hacked and used by predatory third parties. Some visitors may find it outdated that we chose to have a traditional downloadable booking form that you save, complete and return by email or fax. We believe we are avante guarde and setting the standard by putting the interests of privacy protection foremost and before commercial advantage.
As for as we are concerned, there is No secure server capable of safeguarding your personal information. Therefore, none of your details are stored on line when booking with The Enlightened Traveller. Futhermore, to avoid your financial details being held or placed at risk, we do NOT take credit/debit card payments directly from customers, but only indirectly via the intermediary of Paypal: you make payment to them and they pay us. The alternative is for you to pay us by bank transfer/wire, whereby we supply you with our bank details – not the other way round.
The fact is that we collect very little information on our customers – the bare essentials really in order that we can communicate with you seamlessly and serve your requirements to the best of our ability – as well as stay within the Law and Tour Operator regulations with which we comply proactively. Such information is essentially laid out in our downloadable booking form (see under Booking), which we store on our off-line computer systems.
As part of our commitment to quality and incremental improvement, we invite customers to complete a post-tour evaluation. This again is stored in our off-line systems or in paper format and used by us to analyse the satisfaction levels of our customers across key criteria. Only your name and the chosen tour appears on such communications.
Our simple-to-navigate website is uncomplicated. The theme we use does NOT use on-line ‘cookies’, but WordPress does, thus our opt-in notice for new site visitors. These cookies expire after 30 days. LiveChat and Google Adwords and Analytics may provide us with information as to the country of location of visitors, time spent on a particular page and so on, but we are unable to obtain, and have no wish to gain, details that will enable us to contact you direct via such third party services. And our judicious use of adverts with Google does not include the type that follow you around the web for ever after, popping up at odd and unwanted occasions.
The DP Law sets apart certain personal information as special categories, e.g. racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, physical or mental health, sexual life.
We do NOT collect such information for any purposes, although we may engage in a one-to-one dialogue with you in respect of your physical fitness for a certain walking tour based on your capabilities and preferences in order to ensure you purchase the ideal product or one that is tailorable to your precise needs.
Privacy Policy: How will we use the information we collect from you?
We use the personal information you provide us in a number of ways, including:
• To provide you with products and services and service your account
• To develop new products and services
• To offer new products and services
• To inform you of other products and services by email or occasional email newsletter unless you ask us not to – you can determine the extent of our communication to you through the links in any email newsletter we send you or by contacting us direct by email
• To communicate with you – sometimes by phone or SMS during a tour
• To comply with the law and regulations
• To prepare research and anonymised statistical reports
Privacy Policy: Marketing
We would, from time to time, like to send you information about products and services of ours which may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving this information at any point by contacting us using the on-site Contact Form, by email or by unsubscribing from our email newsletter.
Privacy Policy: Who might we share your information with?
We will keep your personal information con?dential, but we may share some of it judiciously with:
• Third parties providing services to you during a tour;
• Family members trying to contact you, or
• Our Insurers, your insurers, Law enforcement agencies and other authorities such as Search & Rescue bodies to comply with legal obligations.
We take appropriate steps to both store and send the information you provide us with securely and all involved are schooled in and aware of their responsibility to maintain your privacy.
Privacy Policy: How long do we keep hold of your information?
As a tour operator, we are obliged to keep all documentation relevant to our business for a minimum of 5 years: booking forms, invoices and evaluation forms; all of which are retained for our records. Nothing else about you is held on record, so you know in advance what we have because you freely provided it to us in the first place. So you do, in fact, already have a copy of everything we hold in our ‘data base’ on you.
Privacy Policy: your rights in relation to the information we hold about you
This section explains the rights you have under DP Law with respect to how your personal information is held and used by us. If you wish to request to exercise any of these rights or if you would like further information about them, please Contact Us using the details set out in the ‘How to Contact Us’ section below. We will grant your request only to the extent that it follows from our assessment of your request that we are allowed and required to do so under DP Law.
You have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you in a written format, free of charge.
You also have the right, at no cost, to require us to correct any inaccuracies in your personal information. In order for us to do so, you must inform us of any changes to your personal information so that we can keep it up to date.
In some cases, you have the right to restrict or suppress further use of your personal information. When you have exercised this right, we can still store your personal information but may not use it further unless you provide your consent for us to do so or as otherwise permitted by law.
You have the right to have the personal information we hold about you erased in certain circumstances unless it prevents us from carrying out the services you have requested or prevents us from meeting our legal obligations. We may not be able to provide our products and services to you if you ask us to erase your personal information.
Finally you have the right to lodge a complaint about how we collect, process and store your personal data, with us in writing to this address:
The Enlightened Traveller®, Walking Holidays in France Ltd, Equity House, 4-6 School Road, Tilehurst, READING RG31 5AL, England
as well as with the supervisory authority:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Privacy Policy: Changes to our Data Privacy Notice
We keep our Data Privacy Notice under regular review and we will update this document from time to time. This Data Privacy Notice was last updated May 2018.
Privacy Policy: How to contact us
To discuss anything in this notice please write to:
The Enlightened Traveller®, Walking Holidays in France Ltd, 12, Park Lane, Tilehurst, READING RG31 5DL, England
Alternatively you may contact us by email: info [at] walking-holidays-france.com
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The Enlightened Traveller® is the registered trading name of Walking Holidays in France Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.
To find out more, see About Us.
