The type of personal information we collect
Personal Data
We only collect personal data that is necessary for conducting travel bookings. This includes information such as your name, date of birth, mailing address, contact telephone numbers, email address, contact preferences, passport details, loyalty membership details. We may also record your preferred types of holidays, destinations or hotels that you have specified or a special date such as a birthday or anniversary. When making a booking, we may also inquire about special requirements such as dietary restrictions or medical/health conditions to ensure we meet your specific needs.
Non-Personal Data:
In addition to personal data, we collect non-personal data that does not directly identify individual users of our systems and services. This data, known as “Non-Personal Data,” is obtained through website cookies and includes information such as site activities (e.g., length of stay on each page, areas visited) and frequent search queries. We use Non-Personal Data for internal purposes such as data analysis and research to improve our services.
How we get the personal information and why we have it
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons
- Browsing our site or making telephone enquiries: When you visit our website or make an enquiry over the phone or via our enquiry form.
- Booking or searching for services: When you book or search for holidays or other services (e.g., flights, cruises, hotel lounge access, transportation, special assistance) through our website or call centre.
- Incomplete booking information: When you partially fill in the booking information on our site but do not complete the booking.
- Contacting Us: When you reach out to us via our call centre, social media platforms, post, enquiry forms, email, WhatsApp or instant messenger.
- Brochure requests and subscriptions: When you request a brochure, sign up for email updates, participate in competitions, promotions, surveys, or market research via social media, email, or our site.
- Reporting accidents, illnesses, or incidents: When you provide us with information about an accident, illness, or incident related to your holiday.
- Complaints via third parties: When you file a complaint through a third party, such as an airline or hotel.
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Manager
(b) We have a contractual obligation.
(c) We have a legal obligation.
(d) We have a vital interest.
(e) We need it to perform a public task.
(f) We have a legitimate interest.
How We Use Your Personal Data:
We utilise your Personal Data based on the necessity of providing services to you as part of our contractual agreement, or due to legitimate business reasons.
- a) Activities Related to Service Provision:
- Internal management of your booking, including communication with external suppliers such as airlines, hotels and transport providers to arrange your services.
- Communication with you regarding your booking, including sending relevant travel information and necessary travel documents.
- Assisting you in emergency situations or arranging assistance from third parties in case of incidents or health emergencies that are in your interests.
- b) Activities Based on Our Legitimate Interests as a Business:
- Enhancing the customer experience through our online and offline services.
- Safeguarding our business against financial losses by conducting payment card and booking verifications.
- Promoting our business and improving our products and services through:
- Sending marketing correspondence only if you have granted us permission to contact you about similar products and services to those you have previously purchased
- Contacting you in response to any inquiries made on our website
- Inviting you to participate in customer surveys to enhance our service offerings.
- Resolving complaints, managing disputes, and engaging in legal proceedings, which may involve contacting you to address any issues or concerns related to your bookings or services purchased from us.
How we store your personal information
We retain your information for the necessary duration to fulfill your requested services, comply with legal obligations, or for our legitimate interests. Our data retention policy aims to minimize the amount of information we hold and the duration of its retention. Here are some examples:
- Paperless approach: Whenever feasible, we strive for a paperless approach and securely dispose of any paper correspondence on a regular basis, unless its retention is required for evidential or legal purposes.
- Exclusion list: We maintain a suppression list containing the details of individuals who have expressed their preference not to be contacted by us. This information is retained indefinitely to ensure compliance with their contact preferences.
We regularly review our data retention practices ensuring they align with relevant regulations and industry best practices.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
- Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
- You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact the Data Protection manager via the details below if you wish to make a request.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us via the details listed below.
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
The Travel Authority Group contact details
Name: The Data Protection Manager
Address:71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London. WC2H 9JQ
Phone Number: 020 3951 1616
E-mail:hello@thetravelauthority.co.uk
Date: 17 May 2023