Last updated Wednesday, May 30, 2018

We (Essential Travel Limited) are committed to protecting your privacy and the information we collect – for example, your name, address, phone number, email address, credit/debit card details. Below we’ll tell you how and why we acquire your data, and what we do with it. We won’t use it for anything other than we what we list here. We’ll advise you if that changes.

To fulfil a contract Your contact details (name, address, email address, phone number) will be used when generating quotes. Once you make a booking we will need this information to contact you regarding it, such as when sending you an email or postal confirmation. We will need to share this information with our suppliers, e.g. insurance providers or hotels.

We’ll need your payment information to take payment for bookings and issue refunds. Your payment details will be kept in a secure tokenised form, which means that they can’t be reused.

We may be obliged contractually to share some of your booking information with our partners, depending on how you reached our site. This won’t include any personal information. For example, if you are directed to our site by a partner, we will share your booking with them for their reference.

Sensitive information (such as any medical conditions) will be required if you choose an insurance policy that includes any kind of medical cover. We will need to share this information with our underwriters should you make a claim. Any information we collect from you will be used to ensure you have the best standard of care, should you need it, while you’re away.

We’ll remember your contact history so we can provide the best customer service and support.

To achieve legitimate interests for Essential Travel We’ll use your contact details for customer research purposes, allowing us to learn more about you and provide relevant ads and banners. We may ask you for feedback so we can improve our products. If you’ve booked with us before we may contact you with information on relevant products, unless you’ve asked us not to. If you leave a payment or booking page we may email to you to help you continue with your booking. To help manage your information we mate create an account for you.

Information such as your IP address and the device you use will be used to support you with any enquiries, and to protect our site.

We can store your payment information in a secure tokenised form on your online account.

We may analyse your previous booking information to learn more about our most popular products.

We’ll use your contact history to improve our customer service. For example, recording calls for training purposes.

To comply with legal requirements or regulations We’ll use your contact details and booking information to defend any legal claims.

With your consent We’ll use your contact details and contact history to contact you, either by post, text message or email, about our products and any special offers. We may sign you up to competitions or surveys, or invite you to focus groups or research days.

If you like or follow our social media accounts you’ll learn about our products, services and special offers.

We will never knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 16. Parental consent will be required before we can collect information on anyone aged under 16.

As we process your personal data, certain decisions may be made automatically.

For example, we’ll use your data to confirm your identity – if it’s not consistent with your previous bookings or you appear to have intentionally hidden your true identity from us we won’t allow you to book with us.

We use a processor to work out a risk score when calculating premiums for medical cover. The organisation we use is called Verisk, and it’s used across the industry. They will make some automated decisions about you by comparing you to other people.

It’s your right to challenge any decisions made by these automated systems.

Your personal data will only be shared or used for the reasons it was collected in the first place. We will share relevant data with the suppliers who provide the product or products you have booked – for example, we’ll need to share your name and car registration with a car park. We’ll never share more than what’s necessary.

If your make a medical claim on your insurance we will be required to share your medical information with our underwriters.

We may share your data if we have your consent for marketing purposes; where you have agreed for us to do so; in order to respond to a request from you; or if it is required by law.

We have a number of partners who service bookings using our websites, and it’s possible that you were directed to our site by one of these partners (e.g. a tour operator or a comparison site). In this case we may share booking information with them.

We may offer you relevant products to your trip from one or more of our partners. If you go ahead and book any of these products, the relevant partner will collect your relevant personal data and their privacy policy will apply to you. If you make a booking with one of our partners while still an Essential Travel customer, your booking information with them will be shared with us. This helps us to effectively manage our partnerships.

We may share your information with third party service providers who provide services or functions on our behalf. For example, credit card processing, customer service, business analytics, fraud prevention, advertising and to serve you with advertising that is tailored to your interests. But don't worry, these third party service providers are required to protect your personal information in the same way as we do and are not allowed to share or use information for their own purposes.

All necessary measures are taken to keep your personal information protected against loss, destruction, or unauthorised or unlawful use. When you provide your information online it is transmitted to us using a secure, high-grade encryption.

We are PCIDSS approved (the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). This means that your card details are protected to the highest standard.

We will ensure that any company we share your data with has the appropriate measures in place to protect your data, before sharing it.

We will hold your personal data on our systems on our premises, or the premises of an appointed third party. We may allow third parties access to your information if they are acting on our behalf for any reason which we’ve described in this policy, or otherwise approved by you.

If you have an account with us, we will hold your information for as long as you hold that account. We’ll need to hold your data if you have an upcoming booking so that we can continue to provide service to you and offer support should you need it.

Generally, we’ll keep your data for 7 years after your last booking with us. We may be required to keep it for longer due to legal, business or regulatory requirements.

After registering for any of our services, if you haven’t used them for a long period of time we may contact you to ask if you’re happy for us to continue communications with you, or delete your personal data.

If we do delete your personal data, it can remain archived for regulatory, legal or tax reasons.

Our website will use cookies to distinguish you from other users. Cookies are small files that we place on your device when you visit our site. They help us to identify you and personalise your experience.

Cookies support our security features, keeping your log-in details protected.

They can help you fill out forms on our site more efficiently and allow us to provide you with customised content.

Cookies help us to scale the effectiveness of our marketing by limiting the number of times you see ads and showing you relevant products.

Cookies allow us to analyse the performance of our website, understand how you use it and from which devices.

When you visit our site it may generate the following cookies:

First-party cookies

Essential Travel security cookies – These are necessary for you to securely log in to your account.

Essential Travel functionality cookies – These are used to store information regarding previous interactions with our site, and improve your experience by remembering your preferences. You can disable these cookies in your browser.

Essential Travel performance cookies – These collect anonymous informations from users of our site, allowing us to test new ideas and improve the user experience.

Third-party cookies

YouTube functionality cookies – Some of our products feature video content. Youtube cookies remember your interactions with a video, so if you pause it you can continue where you left off.

We will use advertising and marketing cookies from the following companies:

Google services (Google Analytics, Optimise, Tag Manager, AdWords) – Google cookies report on the behaviour and interactions of users. Their advertising cookies can be used for remarketing purposes and provide you with personalised ads. They will never store any personal information. You can disable personalised ads from Google Ads Settings.

Amazon, Criteo and Sojern – We use cookies set by these companies as we use their services. These cookies won’t store any information that can be used to personally identify you. You can turn off third party cookies in your browser settings.

Microsoft – Microsoft may use cookies and web beacons from third party service providers, as well as first party cookies for advertising purposes. You can disable these from their opt-out page.

Facebook – Facebook cookies gather insights and are used to personalise ads based on your interactions, liked pages, apps, devices you use and information from data providers. From Facebook settings you can adjust your ad preferences.

You can delete any cookies stored in your browser. Visit the help page of your preferred browser to find out how. You can also learn more about how to control and delete cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org

Tracking pixels A Pixel is a small image with a unique identifier, that is placed invisibly on emails. We do not classify these as cookies because they do not store any information. We embed pixels in some of the emails we send in order to gather useful information such as whether our emails have been opened, when they were opened and the devices that are used. This information allows us to determine the relevancy and usefulness of our communications. If you do not wish to be tracked in this way, you can choose to disable images from being displayed within HTML emails in your email program or web browser settings.

Email link tracking We track clicks on hyperlinks in the emails we send to determine interest in our products and topics, and the effectiveness of our communications. When a hyperlink in the email is clicked, the request is passed through a separate server before arriving at the destination web page. Hyperlinks from our emails also enable our website to recognise you and provide you with a personalised experience, using cookies. We track website activity from the email, such as whether you made a booking, to understand and improve the relevancy of our communications. If you prefer not to be tracked in this way from the email, do not click on hyperlinks in the email.

You have the right to see what personal information we have about you. This is free of charge, but if the request is extensive we charge a fee.

Requesting information

Send an email with the subject line as My data request to customersupport@essentialtravel.co.uk. The email should contain your full name, a description of the data you are requesting, a date range and all of the email addresses you’ve used in the past to book with Essential Travel. You will also need to attach a copy of your photo ID, such as a driving license or passport photo page.

We aim to complete your request within one month of receiving all of the required information.

You have the right to correct any personal data we hold about you if it is wrong. You can do this through your account if you have one.

Under some circumstances you have the right to ask us to restrict processing your data, such as when you believe the information we have is inaccurate. You can update your personal details through your account if you believe they are incorrect.

Under certain circumstances you have the right to request that we delete the data we have about you. If you want to close your account, please contact us.

Under certain circumstances you have the right to request that we copy, transfer or move the data we hold on you.

Under certain circumstances you are entitled to object to Essential Travel processing your information. For example you can opt out of receiving special offers by email. You can unsubscribe from email marketing from your account or by using the unsubscribe links at the bottom of any email we send you.

You can also contact Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) which is responsible for making sure that organisations comply with the law on handling personal information.

If you have any queries about our policy or would like to talk to us regarding your personal information, please contact:

Essential Travel Limited
Royal Oak Building
Hythe
Kent
CT21 4JA
or
customersupport@essentialtravel.co.uk