BENCHMARK TRAVEL PRIVACY POLICY NOTICE / GDPR (MAY 2018)
Introduction
1. Benchmark Travel is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information. This privacy notice sets out:
• When we collect personal information about you;
• What types of personal information we collect;
• Why we collect it;
• How we keep it safe;
• Who we share personal information with; and
• Your rights and choices about the personal information that we hold.
2. This privacy notice has been updated to reflect GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation) coming into effect in May 2018.
When we collect personal information about you
3. We collect personal information about you whenever you make a booking or otherwise interact with in person or via telephone, our websites, email or other contact methods (whether directly with us or through agents acting on our behalf).
The types of personal data we collect and why we collect it
4.
Personal and contact details
To be able to make and fulfil your booking.
To communicate with you about your booking.
Passport information
To complete required Advance Passenger Information or Electronic Travel Authorisations.
To arrange visas.
To obtain boarding cards.
Information about medical conditions
So that suppliers can provide assistance / provide special arrangements.
To be able to arrange assistance in a medical or other emergency.
So that travel insurers can provide cover.
Ad-hoc information about, for example, interests, special occasions, special requests.
To arrange or provide services tailored to your requirements.
Payment information
To be able to process your payment.
Information about past and current bookings
To arrange or provide services tailored to your requirements.
To communicate in a relevant way.
For purposes of accounting, reporting, analysis and regulatory disclosures.
Correspondence, including complaints
To assist customers in relation to their travel arrangements and to handle complaints.
Call Recordings
Staff Development / Identifying errors and issues.
Evidence of what was said.
Our legal basis for using your personal information
5. We will only process your personal information where we have a legal basis to do so. Depending on the circumstances, the legal basis will almost always be one or more of the following:
• so that we can make and fulfil your booking or otherwise perform our contract with you;
• because it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information to operate and improve our business as a travel agency;
• to comply with a legal obligation;
• to protect the vital interests of you or another person; or
• because you have consented to our using your information for a particular purpose.
How do we keep your personal information safe?
6. Protecting the confidentiality and integrity of your personal data is a responsibility that we take seriously at all times. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to help to keep personal data secure against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Who do we share your personal information with?
7. With suppliers - in order to provide products or services requested by you we share personal data with suppliers of your travel arrangements, including airlines, hotels and insurance providers. In many cases such suppliers will themselves separately be controllers of your personal data.
8. Within Benchmark Travel Ltd – we share personal information with the other companies in our group where necessary for them to be involved in providing the services you have requested. This privacy notice applies to their processing of personal information as well as to Benchmark Travel's.
9. Payment processing companies to process your payment.
10. With regulatory authorities - it may be necessary to disclose personal data for immigration, border control, security and anti-terrorism purposes, or any other purposes required by regulatory authorities.
11. It is often necessary for us to send your personal information outside the European Economic Area to fulfil your travel arrangements. This is because the suppliers providing your travel services are located around the world. Also your personal information may need to be transferred to border control and immigration outside of the EEA. This may involve sending your data to countries where under their local laws you may have fewer legal rights.
Marketing communications
12. When you book or register with us we will ask if you would like to receive marketing communications. If you have previously agreed to receive marketing communications we may send you relevant offers and news about our products.
13. You can change your marketing preferences by contacting us in any way or by using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in our marketing emails.
14. We will respect your choice as to what communications you wish to receive and the methods by which you are sent them.
Data retention
15. We will keep your personal data for only as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice. For example, after travel we will keep the information related to your booking so that we can respond to any complaints and fulfil our record keeping obligations. After this time, we will securely erase or anonymise personal data.
Your rights and choices about the personal information that we hold
16. You can ask us for a copy of the information that we hold about you.
17. You can also ask us to correct any information which you don’t think is correct or to delete the information we hold about you.
18. To comply with these requests we may need you to confirm your identity by providing documents or additional information.
19. You have the right to lodge a complaint about how we have handled your personal information with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
Contact us
20. Our address is: Benchmark Travel, 7-9 Bridge End, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 5DR
PRIVACY POLICY
This privacy policy is for this website and served by Benchmark Travel LTD and governs the privacy of its users who choose to use it.
The policy sets out the different areas where user privacy is concerned and outlines the obligations & requirements of the users, the website and website owners. Furthermore the way this website processes, stores and protects user data and information will also be detailed within this policy.
The Website
This website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience. This website complies to all UK national laws and requirements for user privacy.
Use of Cookies
This website uses cookies to better the users experience while visiting the website. Where applicable this website uses a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer / device. This complies with recent legislation requirements for websites to obtain explicit consent from users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user's computer / device.
Cookies are small files saved to the user's computers hard drive that track, save and store information about the user's interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server to provide the users with a tailored experience within this website.
Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors.
This website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to your computers hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website, but will not store, save or collect personal information. You can read Google's privacy policy here for further information [ http://www.google.com/privacy.html ].
Other cookies may be stored to your computers hard drive by external vendors when this website uses referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, though some may take longer. No personal information is stored, saved or collected.
Contact & Communication
Users contacting this website and/or its owners do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form to email submission process but advise users using such form to email processes that they do so at their own risk.
We may collect the following information as submitted to our web site by you: A contact name (you should ensure that you have the consent of any individual’s details submitted), your phone and fax numbers, your Email address.This website and its owners use any information submitted to provide you with further information about the products / services they offer or to assist you in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted. This includes using your details to subscribe you to any email newsletter program the website operates but only if this was made clear to you and your express permission was granted when submitting any form to email process. Or whereby you the consumer have previously purchased from or enquired about purchasing from the company a product or service that the email newsletter relates to. This is by no means an entire list of your user rights in regard to receiving email marketing material. Your details are not passed on to any third parties.
You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. This fee will not exceed £10. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please
email: [email protected]
Or Write to:
Benchmark Travel Ltd
7-9 Bridge End
Mytholmroyd
Hebden Bridge
HX7 5DR
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write or e-mail us as soon as possible to the above address. We will correct any information which was found to be incorrect promptly.
Email Newsletter
This website operates an email newsletter program, used to inform subscribers about products and services supplied by this website. Users can subscribe through an online automated process should they wish to do so but do so at their own discretion. Some subscriptions may be manually processed through prior written agreement with the user.
Subscriptions are taken in compliance with UK Spam Laws detailed in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. All personal details relating to subscriptions are held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. No personal details are passed on to third parties nor shared with companies / people outside of the company that operates this website. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you may request a copy of personal information held about you by this website's email newsletter program. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to the business address at the bottom of this policy.
Email marketing campaigns published by this website or its owners may contain tracking facilities within the actual email. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may include; the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, the clicking of links within the email content, times, dates and frequency of activity [this is by no far a comprehensive list].
This information is used to refine future email campaigns and supply the user with more relevant content based around their activity.
In compliance with UK Spam Laws and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 subscribers are given the opportunity to un-subscribe at any time through an automated system. This process is detailed at the footer of each email campaign. If an automated un-subscription system is unavailable clear instructions on how to un-subscribe will by detailed instead.
External Links
Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website.
The owners of this website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite their best efforts. Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.
Adverts and Sponsored Links
This website may contain sponsored links and adverts. These will typically be served through our advertising partners, to whom may have detailed privacy policies relating directly to the adverts they serve.
Clicking on any such adverts will send you to the advertisers website through a referral program which may use cookies and will track the number of referrals sent from this website. This may include the use of cookies which may in turn be saved on your computers hard drive. Users should therefore note they click on sponsored external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.
Social Media Platforms
Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and its owners participate on are custom to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively.
Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and communicate / engage upon them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. This website nor its owners will ever ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and encourage users wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact them through primary communication channels such as by telephone or email.
This website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. Users are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track and save your request to share a web page respectively through your social media platform account.
Shortened Links in Social Media
This website and its owners through their social media platform accounts may share web links to relevant web pages.
Users are advised to take caution and good judgement before clicking any shortened urls published on social media platforms by this website and its owners. Despite the best efforts to ensure only genuine urls are published many social media platforms are prone to spam and hacking and therefore this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any shortened links.