Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy for www.thornetravel.com (Site).

WHO ARE WE

Thorne Travel Group trades using the brands Thorne Travel, Thorne Travel Experience, Thorne Heritage and All About The Magic.
Our privacy policy explains your privacy rights and how we gather, use and share information about you. You can get in touch with our Data Protection Officer by emailing dataprotectionofficer@thornetravel.com or you contact us by post at Thorne Travel, Group Data Protection Officer, 153, Main Street, Kilwinning, Ayrshire Scotland. KA13 6EQ.

By using the Site, you consent to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the associated Cookie Policy. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time by changing it on the Site.

WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT FROM YOU

We may collect and process the following information about you:
Information, such as your name, email address, postal address and telephone number that you provide by completing forms on the Site, by email or by telephone, including if you:

  • register as a user of the Site
  • make a booking
  • submit an enquiry
  • subscribe to any service on the Site
  • upload or submit any material via the Site
  • request any information
  • enter into any competition or promotion we may sponsor;
  • if you make a booking we may also need your passport number, credit/debit card details, and details of any special needs, health, medical, mobility or dietary requirements, etc;
  • communications you send to us, for example to report a problem or to submit queries, concerns or comments regarding the Site or its content;
  • information from surveys that we may, from time to time, run on the Site for research purposes, if you choose to respond to them;
  • details of your visits to the Site, the resources you access and any data you download;
  • employment details if you send us a CV, resume or other details of your employment history in connection with an advertised job vacancy or a general enquiry regarding employment opportunities with us.

You are under no obligation to provide any such information. However, if you should choose to withhold requested information, we may not be able to process your booking or provide you with certain services.

If you provide us with the personal information of any third parties, for example any other passengers included in a booking you make, you must have the authority of each of those third parties to provide their personal information to us for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. By providing such information, you confirm that you have such authority.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We will use the information you provide to:

  • Enable us to process your booking and to organise and/or provide your holiday arrangements;
  • Provide you with any other services and information offered through the Site and which you request;
  • Verify and carry out financial transactions in relation to payments you make online;
  • audit the downloading of data from the Site;
  • improve the layout and/or content of the pages of the Site and customise them for users;
  • identify visitors to the Site;
  • carry out research on our users ‘ demographics;
  • measure and target our online advertising on third party websites;
  • send you information we think you may find useful or which you have requested from us, including information about our products and services, provided you have indicated that you do not object to being contacted for these purposes;
  • We will not pass your information to third parties for the purposes of them contacting you regarding their products and services.

You can tell us not to contact you with information regarding our products and services either at the point such information is collected on the Site (by checking or un-checking (as directed) the relevant box) or by following the unsubscribe instructions on any communications sent to you. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us using the contact details at the end of this Privacy Policy.

WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

We may disclose aggregate statistics about visitors to the Site, customers and sales in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, sponsors and other reputable third parties and for other lawful purposes, but these statistics will include no personally identifiable information.

If you make a booking, we may pass your personal information to other relevant suppliers of your holiday arrangements such as airline and transport operators and accommodation providers. This may also apply to any sensitive personal information that you give to us, such as details of any disabilities or dietary/religious requirements. Your personal information may also be passed to travel agents, tour operators, government, enforcement and security agencies and to the public authorities of any country in your itinerary, including immigration and customs authorities. If we cannot pass your personal information on as outlined here, we cannot properly fulfil your booking.

We may disclose your personal information to any of our affiliates, or to our agents or contractors who assist us in processing bookings, providing the services we offer through the Site, processing transactions, fulfilling requests for information, receiving and sending communications, updating marketing lists, analysing data, providing support services or in other tasks, from time to time. Our agents and contractors will only use your information to the extent necessary to perform their functions.

In the event that we undergo re-organisation or are sold to a third party, you agree that any personal information we hold about you may be transferred to that re-organised entity or third party.

We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or if we believe that such action is necessary to prevent fraud or cyber crime or to protect the Site or the rights, property or personal safety of any person.

The Site may, from time to time, make chat rooms, message boards, news groups and/or other public forums available to its users. Any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when using these and never disclose your personal information.

PAYMENT PROCESSING

Payment details you provide will be encrypted using secure sockets layer (SSL) technology before they are submitted to us over the internet. Payments made on the Site are made through our payment solutions provider. You will be providing credit or debit card information directly to our provider which operates a secure server to process payment details, encrypting your credit/debit card information and authorising payment. Information which you supply to our provider is not within our control and is subject to our provider’s Privacy Policy and terms and conditions.

HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

We place great importance on the security of all personally identifiable information associated with our users. We have security measures in place to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal information under our control. For example, our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorised personnel have access to personal information. Whilst we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of information will never occur, we use all reasonable efforts to prevent it.

You should bear in mind that submission of information over the internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via the Site whilst it is in transit over the internet and any such submission is at your own risk.

It is advisable to close your browser when you have finished your user session to help ensure others do not access your personal information if you use a shared computer or a computer in a public place.

WHERE WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION

Information that you submit via the Site is sent to and stored on secure servers located in the United Kingdom. This is necessary in order to process the information. This data is stored for 10 years unless otherwise stated.

Information submitted by you may be transferred by us to our other offices and/or to the third parties mentioned in the circumstances described above, which may be situated outside the European Economic Area and may be processed by staff operating outside the European Economic Area. This may involve transferring your personal information between different countries where controls on data protection may not be as strict as the legal requirements in the United Kingdom. By submitting information via the Site, you agree to this storing, processing and/or transfer.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

The Site may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of such sites.

YOUR RIGHTS

You have a legal right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to a copy of all the personal information about you held by us. On request, we will provide you with a copy of this information. You also have a right to correct any errors in that information. As mentioned above, you have a right to prevent the use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

COOKIE POLICY

This policy explains what cookies are and how we use them on this website. You should read this policy so you can understand the type of cookies that we use, the information we collect using them and how we use that information. By using our website you are agreeing that we can use cookies as described in this policy.

WHAT ARE COOKIES?

Cookies are files which contain small amounts of information. The files are stored in your browser or on the hard drive of your computer or device.

HOW DO WE USE COOKIES?

We use cookies to help personalise your browsing experience and to make our website easier to use. Cookies are used by us so that our website can remember what you have done while browsing, for instance, what you have searched for, and how far you have progressed when making a booking.

WHAT TYPE OF COOKIES DO WE USE?

There are two types of cookie: session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies are deleted from your computer or device when you close your web browser. Persistent cookies remain stored on your computer or device until they are deleted or they reach their expiry date. We use the following cookies:

Analytical/performance cookies. These cookies allow us to count the number of individual visitors to our website and to see how they move around the website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by making it easier to find things.

Functionality cookies. These cookies are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, such as remembering your holiday search preferences. It also allows for live chat support during your browsing experience.

Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, pages you have visited and links that you follow. We use this information to make the advertising shown on our website more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties to make our advertising on their websites more relevant to your interests. These cookies also allow you to share and send information to other websites.

WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT WITH OUR COOKIES?

When you visit our website, we may collect the following types of information from you: your IP (internet protocol) address, operating system, browser and device type, time zone setting, your country, the URL you came from, search details that you enter in our website, products you viewed or searched, page response times, website errors, length of time spent viewing pages, page interaction information, and the methods used to browse away from the page.

HOW DO YOU BLOCK COOKIES?

Most web browsers allow you to refuse cookies. You can block our cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse some or all cookies. To find out more about cookies and how to delete and control them, click help in your browser menu or visit www.aboutcookies.org.

If you block our use of cookies, you may be unable to access certain areas of our website and certain functions and pages may not work correctly. For example, you will not be able to make a booking online.

HOW WE CAN CHANGE THE COOKIE POLICY

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes in technology, legislation and authorities’ guidance may require us to inform you of the activities we undertake where it affects your privacy rights. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are familiar with any changes.

CONTACTING US

If you have any questions, concerns or comments about this Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy or any requests concerning your personal data, please contact us by telephone on 01294 559949, or write to us at: dataprotectionofficer@thornetravel.com, Thorne Travel Group, 153 Main Street, KA13 6EQ