Your Privacy with Odysseys Travel

When you book with us, we want every detail of your journey to feel smooth, personal, and unforgettable. To make that possible, we will ask for some personal details. We understand how important your privacy is, so we will always be clear about how we collect, use, and protect your information.

We may ask for your name, contact details, email address, and, if you travel with us, your passport details, dietary needs, and any relevant medical information. This helps us tailor your trip to you. We may keep this information after your trip so we can support you with future travel plans.

We collect your personal information to:

i. Give you the best possible experience when you use our website or mobile app, based on your preferences and device.
ii. Stay in touch with you by email, phone, or message when needed.
iii. Plan your trip with care, ensuring we make the proper arrangements for you.
iv. Share travel ideas and offers that may interest you, based on your past enquiries or bookings.

We will only ask for your personal information directly or, with your consent, collect it by tracking how you use our digital channels, such as our website.

When we do share your personal information, it is only to give you the best service when you are enquiring or travelling with us. Details on how we share your information are set out in Section 3 of this policy.

Safeguarding your personal information

We store your personal information securely and keep it only for as long as necessary.

Your rights to your personal information

You can contact us at any time by emailing dataprotection@odysseystravel.co.uk if you have any questions, concerns, or requests about our privacy policy or your personal information.

If you wish to stop receiving marketing emails, you can click the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of any marketing email at any time. You may also email unsubscribe@odysseystravel.co.uk with your request. We will process all such requests within 30 days.

If you want us to update or remove your personal information, please email dataprotection@odysseystravel.co.uk

If you have any comments about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal information, you can contact:

The UK Information Commissioner
Telephone: +44 (0)303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/

Updating this privacy policy

We review our privacy policy from time to time and may update it. If we make changes, we will highlight them on our website and, when needed, let you know by email.

1 -  Who are we?

1a. At Odysseys Travel Limited, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy while providing you with the best possible experience when enquiring, booking, and travelling with us. We have systems and processes in place to ensure the personal information we collect and store is accurate, kept to a minimum, and only accessible by those who need it. We also believe it is important for you to understand how we use your personal information.

1b. This privacy policy (and any other documents referred to in it) explains how we collect, use, and store personal information about our clients, potential clients, and visitors to our website. Please read it carefully so you understand how and why we use your data.

1c. We have a legal duty to protect the personal information we collect under the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA”) and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”). For data privacy regulations, Odysseys Travel Limited is the data controller (the organisation that decides how your personal information is used) and is located at:

Odysseys Travel Limited
3 Churchill Court
Manor Royal, Crawley
RH10 9LU

2 - Personal information we collect, how we use it and our lawful basis for processing

We may collect and use various types of personal information about you. Details of this information, together with how we use it and our lawful basis for processing, are set out below.

Enquiries and bookings

2a) We will collect personal information from you when you enquire. This includes your:

i. Name
ii. Contact information
iii. Details about the destinations and countries you are most interested in
iv. Information about your geographic location
v. Any additional details of your travel plans which you voluntarily give to us

We may also collect details about the best time to contact you and any in-person appointments that you request, as well as what prompted you to contact us and any other requests or comments that you may make.

We will use this information to provide you with the details you have asked for or to contact you if you have indicated you wish to hear from us. For example, to help you find the right destination, we may call you once your enquiry has been received. We may also collect personal information when you contact us through one of our partners, agencies, or affiliates. Lastly, we use your personal information to help us better understand, direct, and respond to your enquiries and requests.

2b) If you or another member of your party books a trip with us, we will ask for specific details about your travel arrangements. This may include your passport details, emergency contacts, travel insurance, preferences, special requirements, frequent flyer club membership, visa requirements, flights (if you arrange your own), and any amounts you choose to contribute to offset the carbon for your flights. This will include personal details about you and any other passengers travelling under your booking.

We use this information to organise your trip, make bookings on your behalf, and ensure that you and your fellow passengers receive the services and products set out in your itinerary. We may also contact you by phone or instant message if we need to resolve any queries during your travel.

i. We collect and use this information so we can enter into and fulfil our contract with you and provide the quality of service we aim to deliver.
ii. If you are included on a booking made by another passenger, we have a legitimate interest in collecting and using your information. This helps us fulfil our contracts, provide the service we strive for, and, when necessary, contact you most appropriately and efficiently.

We may keep this personal information so we can use it when you next book with us, to improve your travel experience, manage your bookings, and ensure we look after our regular clients and passengers.

Websites, marketing, and advertising

2c) We will collect certain technical information from you when you visit our website. This may include your IP address or other device identifier, browser type and version (e.g. Chrome or Edge), operating system and platform (e.g. Windows or MacOS), screen resolution of your device, the dates and times you access our website, the complete URLs of the pages you visit, the websites or links you use to access our website, your login information, details of products or services viewed, and the length of visits to certain pages.

We use cookies to collect this information. For more details on what cookies are and how we use them, please see our cookie policy.

We use this information for site management, security purposes (such as troubleshooting and testing), and to help us improve our website.

i. We collect this information so we can fulfil our legitimate interests as a business, ensuring our website is fit for purpose and promotes our services appropriately for our clients, including displaying information that our clients are interested in. We also rely on our legitimate interest in measuring client satisfaction and troubleshooting website issues. Where required by law, we may also seek and rely on your consent.

2d) We may collect and use information from various sources in connection with the marketing and advertising of our services. This may include your contact details (and your marketing preferences) so we can contact you by post, email, SMS, or telephone with information we think may interest you, such as our latest travel news, expert inspiration, and special offers.

We may also use data collected from you (either directly or via our website or advertising) to measure the effectiveness of our advertising and to identify what does and does not interest you. We do not sell or share mobile phone numbers with third parties for their own direct marketing or promotional purposes. Mobile numbers are used only for our business purposes, including customer care communications.

i. Where required by law, we rely on your consent to contact you directly about our services. In other situations, we rely on our legitimate interests in carrying out marketing and advertising, while ensuring your rights are protected. You can withdraw your consent or opt out of direct marketing at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any marketing email, replying “STOP” to any SMS, or emailing dataprotection@odysseystravel.co.uk

2e) We may collect your contact details when you enter competitions, promotions, or complete surveys.

i. We will rely on your consent or our legitimate interests, depending on whether we are marketing or carrying out market research, while always ensuring that your rights are protected.

We may also collect details such as your username when you engage with us on social media (for example, by mentioning or tagging us in a post, or by contacting us directly). This helps us respond to your comments and queries.

ii. We rely on our legitimate interests to do this, as we aim to ensure our clients have the best possible experience, while always ensuring your rights are protected.

Business operations and client communications

We may collect and use certain personal information when we correspond with you, whether by telephone, email, instant message, or other means. This can include recording and storing both inbound and outbound calls, video conferencing calls, or collecting information when you use our instant message features to speak with our team.

i. We collect this information to fulfil our legitimate interests as a business, ensuring our team is trained to the highest level so that clients receive the best travel advice.
ii. We may also retain this information, even in the event of a Data Erasure Request, where necessary for establishing, exercising, or defending legal claims, and for responding to and resolving any future queries or concerns.

Additional information you provide

We may collect additional information you choose to provide, for example, when contacting us to report a problem with our website or for any reason not already covered above.

i. It is in our legitimate interests to use your data in this way, as it helps ensure our website works correctly and that we operate our business efficiently. We will always protect your rights when processing your information for these purposes.

We may also collect some personal information from third parties, including Google, HubSpot, and Meta.

We may collect and use certain sensitive personal information about you, such as health conditions, disabilities, mobility and access needs, and dietary requirements, including allergies. In some cases, this may include identification numbers such as your passport number. This information is collected so we can plan your trip with your needs in mind and ensure it can be operated safely. We will only share this information with relevant suppliers where necessary.

Where required by law, including the DPA and GDPR, we will ask for your explicit consent to process this type of information. You are not required to provide consent, but if you choose not to, we may be unable to provide some or all of the services requested. You can withdraw your consent at any time using the contact details in Section 10. In exceptional cases, such as emergencies, we may process this information to protect your vital interests. We also reserve the right to retain and process it where necessary for legal claims.

If you provide us with personal information about other travellers or guests on your trip, you confirm that you have obtained their consent to do so. You should also share our privacy policy with them and give them our contact details for any questions. Please let us know if they would like to speak to us directly.

3 - Who we share your information with?

To run our business efficiently and make sure you receive the service you expect, we may share your personal information, when necessary, with the following third parties:

a) Members of our group, including any subsidiaries, holding companies, and their subsidiaries, where we share operations.

b) Selected trusted third-party business partners, such as local businesses in the destinations our clients travel to, and providers of services needed to deliver our contracts with you.

c) Selected advertising partners, including Google and Meta, to deliver relevant advertisements about our services on online platforms. We may share certain personal information with these providers, such as email addresses in a hashed format that does not directly identify you, to help show ads that match your interests while keeping your information confidential.

d) Prospective buyers of all or part of our business or assets, which may include your personal information.

e) Third parties, when necessary to comply with legal obligations or enforce agreements. For example, we are required to provide airlines with a passenger’s mobile phone number and email address under IATA Resolution 830d to inform the passenger of any operational issues.

f) Third parties when necessary to protect your rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.

g) If applicable, partners, affiliates, or agents who referred you to us so that we can share details of your enquiries or bookings.

4 - Automated decisions and profiling

4a. In performing certain functions, we may use technology that makes automatic and instantaneous decisions based on criteria we determine to be relevant and the personal information we collect about you. We routinely test our software to improve accuracy and to prevent unintended bias.

4b. We may share your details with third-party data services that help us to segment and understand our clients by providing additional information so we can send you the most relevant communications possible.

5 - Where we transfer and store personal information

If you are resident within the UK or EEA, we may, from time to time, process (or ask or permit a third party to process) your personal information outside of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA), where local laws may not provide the same legal protections as in the EEA.

For example, when you book a trip, we may need to provide your information to local accommodation or service providers. In other cases, we may need to share your information with an overseas service provider, such as local partners who host you during your local experiences.

Whenever we send (or permit a third party to send) your personal data outside the UK or EEA, we will take all necessary steps to protect your data as required by applicable laws. For example, we may require the overseas recipient to agree to specific contractual terms, or we will ensure that any information we provide is limited to what is necessary to perform our contract with you.

If you would like to know more about the safeguards we use to protect your personal information when it is transferred outside of the UK or EEA, don't hesitate to get in touch with us using the details in Section 10.

The personal data we collect from you may also be processed by staff operating outside the UK or EEA who work for us, one of our suppliers, or a subcontractor of our suppliers. This includes staff providing support services.

6 - Security of your personal information

We take the security of your information very seriously and have put physical, technical, operational, and administrative strategies, controls, and measures in place to help protect your personal information from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure as required by law and in accordance with accepted industry practice. We will keep these measures under review to ensure they remain appropriate.

7 - Retention of personal information

We will only keep your personal information for as long as necessary, with retention periods linked to the purposes for which we process your data. These periods will vary depending on the type of information. For example, certain transaction information may be kept for several years to meet finance and tax obligations. For more information, please get in touch with dataprotection@odysseystravel.co.uk

8 - Your rights to your personal information

You have certain rights about the personal information we hold about you. These include:

a) Access – You can ask us to confirm whether we are processing and using your personal information. If we are, we will provide you with access to it and to the other details you are entitled to.

b) Rectification – You can ask us to correct inaccurate information and complete any incomplete data we hold about you.

c) Prevention of processing likely to cause damage or distress – You can ask us to stop processing your information in a way that is likely to cause you or others unwarranted damage or distress.

d) Erasure – You can ask us to delete your personal information where there is no good reason for us to keep it.

e) Restriction – You can ask us to limit the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

f) Data portability – You can request a copy of your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, or ask us to send it to a third party.

g) Objection – You can object to the processing of your personal information, including for direct marketing purposes or when we process sensitive personal data.

h) Automated decisions and profiling – You can ask us not to make decisions about you based solely on automated processing, including profiling, if these decisions could have legal or significant effects on you.

i) Targeted advertising – You can ask us to stop or opt out of targeted advertising that involves the sale or sharing of your personal information.

How to exercise your rights

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please email dataprotection@odysseystravel.co.uk

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights. However, certain services may not be available if you ask us to delete information required to provide them.

If you make a request related to personal data about you, we will need to verify your identity. We may ask you to confirm specific details you have previously provided to us. If it is necessary to collect additional information from you, we will only use it for verification purposes and will delete it as soon as possible after completing the request. For particularly sensitive information, we may ask for additional proof of identification. If you request an authorised agent, we will require written proof that they are authorised to act on your behalf. We will process your request within the time required by law.

9 - Changes to our policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time, for example, if we need to reflect changes to how we use your personal information. Any changes will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, sent to you by email. We encourage you to check this page regularly to stay informed about any updates.

10 - Contact and complaints

If you have any questions, concerns, comments, requests, or complaints regarding this privacy policy, our website, or our use of your personal information, please contact dataprotection@odysseystravel.co.uk

If you have any complaints about this privacy policy or the way we handle your personal information, you may also contact the UK Information Commissioner:

The UK Information Commissioner
Telephone: +44 (0)303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/

Effective date: 18th November 2024