Privacy Policy & Cookies
Privacy Policy & Cookies
Privacy Policy & Cookies
1. Introduction
Please read this privacy policy carefully as it explains how RouteTrip USA (“we”, “our” or “us”) uses the personal information that you provide or that we have obtained from you. The personal data that you provide (referred to as your “information” in this privacy policy) is data which by itself or with other data available to us, can be used to identify you.
Route Trip USA is registered in England and Wales (Company number 11392763) and our registered office address is 38 Mill Street, Bedford MK40 3HD
From time to time, we may need to update or amend this privacy policy but we’ll let you know of any changes to this privacy policy beforehand so you understand how your information is being used.
The website privacy policy on the website describes how RouteTrip USA uses the information collected about you (your “personal information”) when you visit the website (the “website”). Your personal data is date which by itself or with other data available to us, can be
used to identify you.
2. What Information do we collect?
When you enquire or book a trip with us, it’s important that you provide accurate information.
We’ll only process personal data you provide to us in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, (as updated from time to time) and other applicable privacy laws as amended from time to time. Whether you become a customer or not, we’ll use your personal data for the reasons set out below and if you do become a customer, we’ll use it to manage your booking. Most of this information is directly collected when you make an enquiry. We may also collect details about the best time to contact you as well as what prompted you to contact us and any other requests or comments that you may make.
The categories of information that we may collect about you during your enquiry when booking with RouteTrip USA are as follows: gender, title, full name (including and middle names), address, email address, telephone number and date of birth. When you book a trip with us we will also ask you to provide passport information, emergency contacts, travel insurance arrangements, preferences and special requirements, frequent flyer club membership, visa requirements, flights (if you arrange your own flights) and payment details. We will also require details of any other friends or family members who are accompanying you as part of your booking. Please confirm that you have obtained consent from the relevant third parties to do this. Please also tell them about this privacy policy and if they have any queries or would like to speak to us directly, (either about the trip or about our use of their data) they can get in touch either by phone, email or post.
Providing some personal data is optional, such as any health conditions. We only ask for this optional information so that we can plan your trip around any special requirements you might have. The mandatory and required information that we need from you is indicated by a star (*). If you don’t want to provide us with the required information then we will not be able to proceed with the booking. We may also collect and use certain especially sensitive personal information about you, namely specific details of any relevant health conditions, disabilities, access requirements and special dietary requirements that you may have. We collect this information directly from you to ensure that your trip is appropriate for your needs and to try and keep you safe during any trip that you plan through us. We will always ask for your explicit consent in order to process this information.
We may also collect information such as the date and time you used our services, website information, voice recordings made to our customer service team and any other information or documentation you provide. We may also receive information from Third Parties named in this Privacy Policy – about the products and services you have purchased.
We may also collect other information such as information you provide through customer surveys, feedback, complaints and correspondence or communications. Some information is required information but other information is optional and if you do not want to give it to us, you do not need to. We are always grateful for information you do provide though because this helps us to improve our products and services.
We will never knowingly accept information or data from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe that we have received personal data from a minor, then please contact us and we will securely dispose of such information on our systems or, in some circumstances we will obtain parental consent to retain the information already provided.
3. What do we do with the information we collect?
The purpose for which we use your information and the legal basis under data protection laws on which we rely to do this are as follows:
• It is necessary for the performance of the contract with you or to take steps to enter into one with you. This includes when we organise your trip, make bookings on your behalf and ensure that you (and any other friends or family accompanying you) receive the products and services set out in your itinerary.
• It is necessary for our legitimate interests or that of a Third Party. This includes:
- Creating a profile to offer tailored products and services, to ensure we look after regular customers we may retain some personal
information so that we can use it when you next book a trip with us.
- Contacting you prior to the start of your trip to discuss arrangements
- Identifying trends to develop new products and services
- Advising you about the products and services that we provide to you in response to a request about this;
- In some cases we may use automated methods to analyse, combine and evaluate information that you have provided to us.
- Collecting and analysing information so that we can deliver the most appropriate customer experience to you by tailoring and making relevant all of our services and communications;
- Preventing fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity, in order to protect our business and to comply with the laws that apply to us;
- For product development, statistical analysis and market research including customer surveys so that we can better understand you as a customer and provide tailored offers, products and services that we think will be of interest to you (we may contact you from time to time for market research, however you can ask us not to contact you for this purpose at any time).
- Providing you with customer support and services, including answering questions and responding to feedback and complaints.
- Monitoring communications between us (calls, letters, emails and texts) to prevent and detect crime, to protect the security of our communications, systems and procedures, and for quality control and training purposes;
- For management and audit of our business operations including accounting and analysis of booking made with us;
- To verify the accuracy of the information that we hold about you and create a better understanding of you as our customer;
- For network and information security purposes i.e: in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss, damage, theft or unauthorised access;
- To comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights and;
- For improving our process, systems, operations and services (including testing).
We only collect information which is necessary, relevant and adequate for the purposes you are providing it for.
• It is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation, this includes when you exercise your legal rights under data protection law, to verify your identity, for the establishment of defence of our legal rights, for activities relating to the prevention, detection and investigation of crime, to conduct fraud prevention and anti-money laundering checks and for compliance with our legal and regulatory responsibilities. We may process your personal information to comply with our other legal requirements.
• We rely on your consent to contact you directly about our offering. In other scenarios in carrying out efficient and appropriate marketing and advertising for our services, we will rely on our legitimate interests, whilst always ensuring that your rights are protected. You can withdraw your consent or opt out of our direct marketing at any time by calling us or through the 'unsubscribe' option in any marketing email. We may also collect your contact details when you enter into competitions or promotions, or complete surveys.
We may collect certain other information that you give us, for example, when you contact us for a particular reason other than those set out above such as to report problems with our website.
4. Automated decisions and profiling
We do not make automated decisions or profile you using your personal information.
5. Data anonymization and use of aggregated information
Your information may be converted into statistical or aggregated data in such a way as to ensure that you are not identified or identifiable from it. Aggregated data cannot be linked back to you as a natural person. We might pass on this information to companies we work with (such as advertisers) for analytical or statistical purposes to use for our business and research purposes.
6. Who do we share your information with?
We may share your information with:
• Companies and consultants providing services to us (for example, we are required to provide airlines with a passenger mobile phone number and email contact details under IATA Resolution 830d for the airline to inform the passenger of any operational difficulties). We make every effort to ensure that these companies and consultants providing services to us will only use your information to provide those services to us.
• Third Party suppliers who fulfil business activities for us (for example, when you book a trip, we will 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 our local partners who host you during your RouteTrip USA experience.
• Selected partners who help us to provide you with the information, products and services that you request.
• A purchaser or potential purchaser of our business or otherwise in the event of a merger, acquisition, re-organisation or similar event.
• A Third Party involved in the funding, liquidity, capital or treasury and/or related services.
• Third Party insurance or service providers.
• The police, fraud prevention and identity authentication entities, other law enforcement agencies and government in the United Kingdom or abroad in order to detect, investigate and prevent crime (please note that fraud prevention agencies may also enable law enforcement agencies to access and use your information to detect, investigate and prevent crime).
• The Courts in the United Kingdom or abroad as necessary to comply with a legal requirements, for the administration of justice, to protect vital interest and to protect the security or integrity of our business operations.
• Our legal and other professional advisors.
• Anyone else where you have given consent or as required by law.
Please be advised that we may engage with third party agencies, who on occasion, may contact customers by post, email, phone, SMS message on our behalf (for example, to discuss customised offers based on information we hold about you). Any information that you provide to these agencies or any requests that you make for further information will be passed on to RouteTrip USA and we will deal with your query. Please be assured that any information you provide to the agency will be kept secure and confidential.
7. How we share your personal information/ Transfers to third countries
We’ll only ask you for personal information directly or, with your permission, gather it by tracking how you navigate our website. We won’t share your personal information with third parties for any marketing activities.
When we do share your personal information, it’s always so we can provide you with a better service when you’re travelling with us.
Sometimes our service providers may be located in other countries and in which case we may send your personal information to countries which have different standards of data protection than the UK. From time to time we may process (or ask a third party to process) your personal information also outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) where local laws may not provide legal protection for your information in the same way as is applicable in the EEA. Whenever we send (or permit a third party to send) your personal data outside of the EEA, we will ensure necessary steps are taken to protect your data as required by applicable laws. For example, we may require the overseas recipient to enter into particular contract terms, or we’ll ensure that the information provided is limited to what is needed to perform our contract with you.
We have put in place protections to ensure that your information is always safeguarded.
8. Marketing Communications
We would like to contact you with exciting and relevant information about RouteTrip USA’s events and promotions as well as information on products and services which may be of interest to you. We may do this by post, email, SMS and/ or telephone, unless you have told us not to contact you specifically for this purpose.
We may also share your personal details with our recommended third party partners, so that they can contact you with marketing information about their products and services.
You can change your marketing preferences at any time by getting in touch with us. For email and SMS, please follow the unsubscribe instructions in those communications.
9. Where we store your information
We store your information on servers located within the European Economic Area (EEA). We may change the location of the servers in the future to improve services to you but we shall always ensure that we put in place protections to ensure that your information is safeguarded. Due to the international nature of our business, there may be some instances where you information is processed or stored outside of the EU. In those instances, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place for that transfer and storage as required by applicable law.
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of information we have implemented a number of physical, electronic and managerial controls to protect your personal information as required by law. We regularly review these measures to make sure they remain appropriate.
10. How long we keep your information
We keep your information for as long as necessary to deal with any ongoing quarries you may have and/ or compliance with laws and regulations. We will not hold your personal information in an identifiable format for any longer than is necessary. If you proceed with a booking, we hold your information for a maximum of 6 years.
The only exceptions to the above mentioned period are where:
• The law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner;
• Where you have raised a complaint or concern regarding a product of service offered by us, in which case we will retain your complaint information for a period of 7 years following the data of that complaint or query;
• You exercise your right to have the information erased (where it applies) and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law.
At the end of the retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised, for example by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning.
11. Your rights
Under data protection laws, you have the following rights in respect of your information:
• To be informed about the processing of your personal information (this is what this Privacy Policy sets out to do);
• To have your information corrected if it’s inaccurate and to have incomplete information completed. It is important that you give us accurate information and that you keep it up to date;
• To object to processing of your information provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process the information. When we do rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal information for direct marketing, we will always comply with your right to object;
• To withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on it to process your information;
• To restrict processing of your information provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process that information;
• To have your information erased provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process that information;
• To request access to your information and information about how we process it;
• From May 2018 only, to move, copy or transfer your information; and
• Rights relating to automated decision making, including profiling.
You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information as mentioned above. In respect of most rights, we will ask you for information to confirm your identity in order to protect the confidentiality of your personal information and, where applicable to help us search for your personal information. With the exception of rare cases, we will respond to your request within 30 days. The information will be supplied free of charge unless the request is manifestly unfounded or deemed excessive, particularly if it is repetitive.
The way we process your information and the legal basis on which we rely to process it may affect the extent to which these rights apply. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.
You do have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office where your information had or is being used in a way that you believe does not comply with data protection laws. We encourage you to contact us before making any complaint and we will seek to resolve any issues or concerns you may have. You can also contact our Data Protection Officer with any data protection concerns. We’ve included how to contact them below.
12. Safeguarding your personal information
The Data Controller for this website is RouteTrip USA Ltd
Any data collected will be held securely and in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018 as is necessary for the performance of a contract, i.e. to fulfil travel arrangements on your behalf or in order to comply with any legal obligations and statuary requirements.
Please email us at privacy@routetripusa.co.uk
If you have any comments regarding this privacy policy or the way we handle your personal information, you can also contact the UK Information Commissioner on telephone number 0303 123 1113 or by visiting https://ico.org.uk/
13. Changes to our policy
From time to time, we might review our privacy policy and make changes to it. If we do this, we’ll always highlight it on our website and, where appropriate, let you know by email.
We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy from time to time – for example, if we need to reflect changes to the way that we use your personal information. Any changes we make in the future will be posted on this website and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. You should check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.
14. Contact and Complaints
We would like to hear from you if you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding our privacy policy, website and/or our use of your personal information, you can address it to our Data Protection Team at privacy@routetripusa.co.uk
Cookies Policy
Like many websites, we use “cookies” to store and collect information regarding your usage of our website. Cookies are small files placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit our website. Your computer or mobile decive will only share the information in the cookie with the website that provided it, and no other website can request it. Cookies only identify a computer or mobile device browsing a website, not an individual. Cookies can be “session” and “persistent” cookies. Session cookies only last while your web browser is open, when you close your browser, the cookie disappears. Persistent cookies store information on your computer or mobile device for longer periods of time. Our website may use both types of cookies.
We use cookies for the following purposes: to enable certain functions of the Service, to provide analytics and to store your preferences
At no time is your private information, whether stored in persistent cookies or elsewhere, shared with third parties who have no right to that information. If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies stored on your machine, you can turn them off in your browser.
If you'd like to delete cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser.
Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.
Google Analytics
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to help us improve our website. The cookies collect information anonymously, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come from and which pages they visited.
To find out more about how Google uses this data, please visit their website: www.google.co.uk
All per person prices (pp) shown on this website are based on two adults sharing. Where hotel ratings are shown, these are US ratings, half stars are rounded up to the next full star. RouteTrip USA and RouteTrip are registered trademarks of RouteTrip USA Ltd. *T&Cs Apply. **On most full packages subject to availability. ***Free mobile data is included for most packages during your USA or Canada holiday and subject to usage limits.