| Travelmate’s Privacy Policy |
This policy addresses personal privacy matters. Its purpose
is to explain, in general terms, what sort of personal information Travelmate
holds and why we hold it, and how Travelmate collects, uses and discloses that
information. In this policy, where we refer to “you” or “your”, we are
referring specifically to natural persons as opposed to other entities such as
partnerships, trusts and companies.
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Travelmate is committed to safeguarding the privacy of any
personal information individuals are required, or may choose, to give to us.
This policy represents Travelmate’s position on the management of personal
information. It also reflects the requirements of the Privacy Act and has been
prepared with the assistance of publications issued by the Office of the
Federal Privacy Commissioner.
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| How does Travelmate collect personal information? |
Travelmate
will only ask for the personal information it reasonably requires to do
business with you. Most information is obtained through online forms at our
websites www.travelmate.com.au and www.needitnow.com.au. We may also
collect personal information via phone or through hardcopy forms.
Travelmate
will not collect non-publicly available personal information about you without
your consent and will not buy, rent or otherwise acquire information about you
from third parties (such as marketing agencies) without your prior express
consent.
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| What information do we collect? How do we
use it? |
The personal information Travelmate may collect about you is dependent, to some
extent, upon your relationship with Travelmate. The following are some examples
of the types of personal information that Travelmate may collect from
individuals:
(a) When you sign up for our newsletter, we need only
an email address, which we use to send the newsletter you requested.
(b) When you submit any suggestion, game, suggested
link, recommendation, or comment we also ask for your email address although we
will not publish your email address without your prior approval. We may use
this information to contact you in clarifying any issues you raised.
(c) When you enter a contest or other promotional
feature, we may ask for your name, address, and email address so we can
administer the contest and notify winners. Travelmate may also use the
information collected to market certain services or products to the
contestants. Where Travelmate intends to do this, it will advise the contestant
of this in the contest’s terms and conditions
(d) When you make a booking enquiry we will ask for
your name, address, phone number and email address. We may use this information
to contact you regarding your enquiry.
(e) When you confirm an accommodation or other
booking through Travelmate we will provide your name, address and phone number
to the accommodation (or other service) provider. We may also provide your
credit card details to the accommodation provider in order to secure your
booking. If you do not wish to supply your credit card details to Travelmate it
is possible to advise these details directly to the accommodation provider.
(f) We may also use the information we collect to
notify you about important functionality changes to the website, new Travelmate
services, and special offers we think you'll find valuable.
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An overview of how
Travelmate uses and discloses personal information
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Subject to the exceptions set out in the National Privacy
Principles (for example, the disclosure of personal information when allowed or
required by law), Travelmate will only use and/or disclose your personal
information for:
(a) the primary purpose for which it is collected; or
(b) a related purpose, where you would reasonably expect that it be
used and/or disclosed without your further consent.
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Will Travelmate send you
marketing material in the mail and email and what can you do to stop that?
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A related purpose for which Travelmate collects personal information may be
marketing. However, if this is not the case, Travelmate is entitled to send marketing material to you provided it
gives you a chance to stop or “opt-out” of receiving this material.
Travelmate
will set out in all its standard marketing material details of simple steps
that you can take to stop receiving marketing material. Travelmate will not charge you any
additional cost or in any way disadvantage you if you choose to opt out of
receiving marketing material.
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When does Travelmate share information?
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Travelmate generally will only disclose your personal information to the accommodation
(or other service) provider following confirmation by you of a booking for accommodation or other services or products.
Travelmate will not disclose your personal information to a third
party for marketing purposes unless Travelmate has obtained your express
consent or you have “opted-in”, that is, you have expressly agreed to your
personal information being disclosed to a third party.
Travelmate may provide aggregate statistics about our customers,
sales, traffic patterns, and related site information to reputable third-party
vendors, but these statistics will include no personally identifying
information.
Travelmate may release personal information when
we believe, in good faith, that such release is reasonably necessary to comply
with law or to protect the rights, property or safety of Travelmate, our users,
or others.
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Functionality on some parts of the Travelmate web site are provided
by a third party. Personal information submitted in forms on these parts of the site are subject to
the Privacy Policies of the relevant third parties. These include:
Tour bookings provided by Viator - Read the Viator Privacy Policy
Booking hostels and backpacker accommodation provided by Hostel World - Read the Hostel World Privacy Policy
Purchasing items from TravelStore provided by Menda - Read the Menda Privacy Policy
Car Hire provided by Europcar - Read the Europcar Privacy Policy
Travel Insurance provided by Columbus Direct Travel Insurance - Read the Columbus Direct Travel Insurance Privacy Policy
Travelmate may disclose your personal information to a likely or actual buyer of the whole or part of the
Travelmate business, if reasonably necessary for such a sale.
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Security measures Travelmate adopts to protect personal information
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Travelmate stores personal information in a range of paper-based and electronic forms:
(a) Paper Security – Where personal information is stored in physical form, Travelmate
will use access control measures such as keyed access and security alarms to
deter and detect unauthorised access.
(b) Computer and
Network Security – Travelmate adopts a number of security measures to protect
information from unauthorised access to its computer systems which include:
* access control for authorised users such as user passwords and screen saver passwords;
* limiting access to shared network drives to authorised staff;
* virus checking;
* specialised IT support to deal with security risk.
(c) Communications Security – Transmission of personal information may involve insecure
telecommunications lines. Security of this personal information is enhanced by:
* checking facsimile numbers before sending personal information, and confirming receipt;
* passwords required for some internet transmissions;
* checking identity before giving out any personal information; and<
* encryption of data for high risk transmissions, including credit card details.
Personal information in Travelmate’s possession may be
retained in archival storage. Generally Travelmate will destroy personal
information after a period of seven (7) years following its collection unless
it is required, or may be required, to be kept for a longer period because of
the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected. |
Access to your personal information held by Travelmate
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If you want access to your personal information held by
Travelmate, you should put your request in writing and clearly identify the
personal information you seek access to. This is important to ensure that the
information can be retrieved quickly and cheaply. All requests for access must be addressed to The Privacy
Compliance Officer (see contact details below).
Depending on the circumstances, Travelmate reserves the
right to charge you a reasonable administrative fee. For example, Travelmate’s
reasonable administrative costs might include:
* reasonable staff costs in locating and collating the information;
* reasonable reproduction or photocopying costs; and
* reasonable costs involved in having someone explain the information to you.
In some instances, Travelmate may not release the personal
information. For example, if the information reveals a formula or the fine
details of a commercially sensitive decision-making process, then, in these
instances, Travelmate may decide to give you an explanation of the
commercially-sensitive decision rather than direct access to the information.
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Alteration of records containing personal information
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Travelmate will take reasonable steps to correct any
personal information that is inaccurate.
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Travelmate’s use of "cookies"
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"Cookies" are small
pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer’s hard drive
for record-keeping purposes. Our cookies do not contain any personally
identifying information, but they do enable us to track site traffic patterns.
Travelmate uses this information to improve our design, layout and service to
users. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can change your
browser settings to prevent that. Even without a cookie, you can still use all
of the features on our site.
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Accountability and complaints handling
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If you wish to make a complaint to Travelmate about a possible breach of privacy, the
complaint should be in writing and clearly set out the nature of the complaint. The complaint should be addressed to The
Privacy Compliance Officer (see contact details below).
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Individuals inquiring about their rights and remedies for
breaches of privacy can access detailed information at the Australian Privacy
Commissioner’s website, www.privacy.gov.au.
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How changes to this policy will be notified
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Travelmate may amend the Travelmate Privacy Policy from time
to time. Amendments to the Travelmate Privacy Policy may be necessitated by a
variety of factors, including, but not limited to, operational and procedural
changes and/or the changing legal environment in which Travelmate operates.
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When changes are effected, the Travelmate Privacy Policy
will be updated with the amendments highlighted. The change will be effective
on and from the date the amended Travelmate Privacy Policy is posted on the
websites.
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Linked websites
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Travelmate contains links to other sites not affiliated with
Travelmate. These sites have their own policies and practices about on-line
privacy, and Travelmate cannot be responsible for the privacy practices or the
content of these unaffiliated websites.
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Other Privacy issues
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Whenever you post unprotected personal information on-line in areas
accessible to others - eg chat areas and message boards- that information can
be collected and used.
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Ultimately you are the one who can
best control the secrecy of your passwords and account details. You should be
careful when you are online.
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How to contact us
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If you have any questions about the Travelmate Privacy
Policy, our privacy practices or your personal information dealings with
Travelmate, you can send an email to service@travelmate.com.au
or write to:
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| The Privacy Compliance Officer |
| Australian Online Travel Pty Ltd |
Export House
Level 4
18 - 22 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia |
