Privacy notice

  1. Introduction
  2. What we mean by personal data
  3. When we collect your personal data
  4. The type of personal information we collect and keep
  5. The legal bases we use for handling your personal information
  6. When we send marketing communications and how to unsubscribe
  7. How we store and keep your personal data safe
  8. How long we retain your personal data
  9. Who we share your personal data with
  10. Correcting inaccurate personal data
  11. Right to erase your personal data or to stop processing your personal information
  12. Obtaining a copy of your personal data
  13. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data

  1. Introduction

    This privacy notice explains in detail the types of personal data that Simpson Travel (trading name for Far & Wide Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 04392264 having its registered office at 26 Oriel House The Quadrant, Richmond, England, TW9 1DL (Simpson Travel) may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we collect it, what we use it for, how we store it, who we share it with, and how we keep it safe.

    We want you to be fully informed about your rights and hope the following sections answer any questions you may have but, if not, please do get in touch with us. Our contact details are at the bottom of this notice.

    We may need to update this privacy notice from time to time - the date this notice was last updated is at the end of this privacy notice. We may also notify you of any significant changes made to this privacy notice.

  2. What we mean by personal data

    Personal data means information which identifies you or could be used to identify you, such as your name and contact details, your travel arrangements or your booking history. It may also include information about how you use our website.

  3. When we collect your personal data

    - When you make a booking on our website, or where a booking is made on your behalf by the lead passenger or an agent, and we are provided with your details
    - When you register and update your details on the My Account section of our website (including your marketing preferences)
    - When you request a brochure on our website
    - When you search for a holiday on our website or otherwise interact with our website
    - When you obtain a holiday quote from us over the telephone
    - When you book a holiday with us over the telephone, or where a booking is made on your behalf by the lead passenger or an agent, and we are provided with your details
    - When you engage with us on social media
    - When you enter a competition
    - When you download or install, or otherwise use our app
    - When you are on holiday with us and discuss your preferences or requirements with our staff locally
    - When you contact us by any means, including for example with a query or a complaint
    - When you choose to complete customer service questionnaires we send you

    CCTV: Please note that we do not operate CCTV at our offices/premises.  However, some of our properties featured for booking may have CCTV installed for security purposes.  This would be operated and accessed only by the property owner and we are not provided with this information or any footage of the CCTV (unless required for legal reasons).  We ask property owners to not operate CCTV internally at the property during your staff (if installed) and that it is only external CCTV that is operated on entry and exit of the property (not including the pool, so this is not observed).  If you have any further questions on this, please let us know and we can confirm what is in place at a property of interest to you.  If CCTV is used by a property owner, then we also ask for appropriate notices to be provided, as applicable.

  4. The type of personal information we collect and process

    When you call us…
    We record all incoming and outgoing calls to our sales, pre-departure, and customer service teams. When we make or receive a call to/from you, we collect a recording of the conversation and your phone number. Call recordings are used to assist in quality monitoring of our staff, for training purposes with our staff and to investigate and resolve a complaint. We do not share this call recording with any third parties. You may request that your call is not recorded, in this instance we will usually ask that you send us an email instead. Call recordings and details of your telephone number are kept for 12 months.

    When you ask us for a holiday quote…
    We will take and retain your title, gender, name, email address, home address, contact numbers together with additional information in relation to your booking, including the number of guests and the ages of any children or babies who will be guests. This allows us to send you all the relevant information you need and keep in contact with you about your holiday plans.

    When you go on to make a booking with us…

    We take the title, gender, name and date of birth of all travellers from the lead passenger. We also take and retain passport details and insurance policy details for everyone travelling. We take and retain driving licence information for those hiring a vehicle, and next-of-kin details for the lead passenger only. We may also take and retain information relating to your personal preferences to provide you with a tailored holiday experience, for example dietary requirements. We retain this personal data in accordance with our retention policy, which would usually be for a period of 7 years (to comply or deal with legal obligations), unless we no longer have a need to hold onto such personal data.

    It is the lead passenger’s responsibility to ensure that they have the authority of other travellers in the party to act on their behalf.

    Why do we keep the information that you share with us when you ask for a quote or book a holiday?
    Any information we keep when making a booking for you allows us to fulfil our contract to you. After your holiday, we retain this data so we have a better understanding of your holiday needs the next time you contact us, or to comply or deal with legal obligations.

    When you make a payment…
    Where you make a payment through your credit/debit card this takes place via a secure third-party payment system and these details are never retained by us.

    When you book airport parking with us…
    We take your car registration number which we pass on to the provider of this service. We do not retain this information.

    When you use our website…
    Our website uses Google AdWords & Facebook remarketing service to advertise on third party websites to previous visitors to our website. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who haven’t completed a task on our website, for example using the contact form to make an enquiry. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, a website in the Google Display Network, or somewhere on Facebook. Third-party vendors, including Google and Facebook, use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the Simpson Travel website. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy notice, as well as Google and Facebook privacy policies.  Please see our cookie policy for further details

    For Google 

    For Facebook

    For more information on the data we collect and how we use it, please view our cookie policy.

    When you interact with us on social media…
    We use your social media username to allow us to interact with you including responding to your comments, questions or feedback. We will not send you unsolicited marketing communications through social media.

    When you respond to our customer service questionnaires…
    We use your comments to improve our services.

    During your holiday…
    We may take and retain information relating to your personal preferences to provide you with a more tailored holiday experience

    If you have an accident or make a complaint…
    We take and retain information relating to the incident, to deal with a complaint and comply or deal with legal obligations.

    If you choose to provide comments on your holiday for our website reviews…
    We will display your surname as well as the month and year of travel alongside the property or destination you stayed in and by submitting your review comments you agree that we may do this.

    Special category personal data
    Certain categories of personal information, such as race, ethnicity, religion, health, or sexuality are special categories of data requiring additional protection under the law and are referred to as “sensitive personal data”. If you choose to share this type of information with us, which you may do so we know your access or dietary requirements, we will only use it to improve your holiday experience and/or provide you with the services included in your booking.  We will retain it securely after your holiday so that we can continue to provide you with the right services if you choose to travel with us again. For example, you may request wheelchair assistance. We will pass this information on to the airline you are travelling with and also notify our overseas representatives.

    You may request a special meal or inform us of a dietary requirement and this may indicate your religious beliefs or a health condition.

  5. The law on data protection sets out a number of different legal bases under which a company can collect and use someone’s personal data. Simpson Travel generally relies on the following legal bases, for its processing of personal data: contract, legal obligation, consent and legitimate interests.

    Contract
    We need your personal information so that we can provide you with the correct quote for your proposed holiday and fulfil our contractual obligations to you to provide you with your chosen holiday once you have booked.

    Legal obligation
    We may use your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to. We will identify the relevant legal obligation when we rely on this legal basis.

    Consent
    We rely on consent only where we have obtained your active agreement to use your personal information for a specified purpose. In some cases we will ask for your consent before emailing you Simpson Travel holiday offers, news and promotions that we think you might be interested in. We never sell our mailing list and you will only hear from Simpson Travel.

    Legitimate Interests
    We may use your personal information where it is necessary to conduct our business and pursue our legitimate interests, for example to prevent fraud and enable us to give you the best and most secure customer experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights (both positive and negative) before we process your personal information for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). If you have interacted with us previously (whether by making or enquiring about a potential booking), we may mail and email Simpson Travel holiday offers, news and promotions that we think you might be interested in, where we have a legitimate interest to do so.

  6. When we send marketing communications and how to unsubscribe

    You may receive marketing communications from us if you have expressly opted in to receiving such communications or if you have requested information from us or purchased goods or services from us and you have not opted out of receiving the marketing.

    We may also analyse your personal information to form a view which products, services and offers may be of interest to you so that we can then send you relevant marketing communications.

    Through the My Account section of our website, you will be able to update and indicate your preferences for receiving direct marketing communications from us.

    We will get your express consent before we share your personal data with any third party for their own direct marketing purposes.

    You can ask us to stop sending you marketing communications at any time by logging into the My Account section of our website and checking or unchecking relevant boxes to adjust your marketing preferences  or by following the opt-out links within any marketing communication sent to you or by contacting us at enquiries@simpsontravel.com, or on 020 8392 5858 or by writing  to the Privacy Officer at Simpson Travel, Oriel House, 26 The Quadrant, Richmond, London, TW9 1DL.

    If you opt out of receiving marketing communications, you will still receive service-related communications that are essential for administrative or customer service purposes, for example information about a booking you have made.

  7. How we store and keep your personal data safe

    We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

    We are committed to keeping your personal information safe and secure. Your information is stored in our computerised reservation system, which is hosted by ATCORE Technology Group Ltd. Traverse Associates Ltd assist us in database management and Hubspot with marketing communications.

    We secure access to the transactional areas of our website using ‘https’ technology. We work with data processors who do the same.

    Card payments are made through a secured site hosted by Braintree Payments.

    We have engaged a dedicated IT service provider who makes it possible for us to monitor our systems continually for possible vulnerabilities.

  8. How long we retain your personal data

    If you have booked with us, we will retain all your personal data for so long as we have a legal basis to do so, including where we may need such personal data to comply or deal with our legal obligations.

    Where you have joined our Loyalty Club, this is based on lifetime spend and we would therefore hold your personal data in connection with the Loyalty Club indefinitely, unless you request for your Loyalty Club membership to cease and we therefore no longer need your personal data for that purpose. We may still need to hold onto it for another legal purpose. Further information regarding Loyalty Club membership can found on our website here.

    If you have enquired with us, we will retain your personal data for six years, or unless we have to hold onto the personal data in order to comply with other legal obligations.

    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 business planning.

  9. Who we share your personal data with

    Far & Wide Ltd trading as Simpson Travel acts as the data controller.

    We may share your personal data with other companies within our group of companies, for the purposes set out in this privacy notice and in order to provide our services to you.

    We also share your data with third parties who help us fulfil your holiday requirements, namely credit and charge card companies, airlines, airports, immigration officials, flight aggregators, car hire and transfer companies, boat operators and property owners or their appointed representatives.

    If you are travelling to Turkey, we need to send your personal data to our own staff and third parties outside of the UK and European Economic Area so that we can provide you with your holiday.  By making a booking to this destination, you consent for us to pass your personal data and that of your party to this destination, in order to provide the holiday booked.

    In some countries, the law requires passport details to be lodged with the local police. In some instances, we will share them directly with the police, in others we may be required to transmit them to the property owner or their appointed representative to pass on to the police. Please note failure to provide this information where there is a legal requirement to do so, may impact the provision of the service provided to you.

    If you have raised a complaint, we may share your data with ABTA or legal bodies.

    We may share your personal data with companies known as data processors who handle your data on our behalf. These include ATCORE Technology Group Ltd, Force24, Braintree Payments, Hubspot and Qualtrics, and Epsilon.

    Qualtrics hosts data in the USA and complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.

    Epsilon International UK Ltd (trading as Epsilon Abacus) assists us with marketing in reaching those individuals who have opted-in to receive marketing materials from third parties, to connect individuals with goods or services that may be of interest to them.  Epsilon manages the Abacus Alliance on behalf of UK retailers and charities. The participating retailers are active in the clothing, collectables, food & wine, gardening, gadgets & entertainment, health & beauty, household goods, home interiors and travel categories. These retailers and charities share information about their customers and supporters and what they buy or donate. Epsilon Abacus processes this information as a processor on behalf of these companies to help them understand individuals’ behaviour and preferences. Epsilon combines information provided by participating retailers and charities with third party data. From this combined information, these companies can tailor their communications, sending individuals suitable offers and appeals that should be of interest to them.  We would obtain your consent to receiving such third party materials and will not share your personal data with Epsilon or other third parties unless you have provided such consent.  You can learn more about how Epsilon Abacus processes your personal information in their Privacy Policy, which is available here: https://www.epsilon.com/abacus/services-privacy-policy.

  10. Correcting inaccurate personal data

    We endeavour to keep your personal information up to date. If you find that the information we hold on you is incorrect, or if there has been a change, please let us know so that we can update our records and those of any other parties who have received the inaccurate information.

  11. Right to erase your personal data or to stop processing your personal information and other rights of data subjects
    You have a number of rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You have the right to:

    - Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
    - Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
    - Request erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
    - Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) as the legal basis for that particular use of your data. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your right to object.
    - You also have the absolute right to object any time to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (see further above for details of how to object to receiving direct marketing communications).
    - Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
    - Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in one of the following scenarios:

    - If you want us to establish the data's accuracy;
    - Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it;
    - Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
    - You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

    If, at any time, you wish us to erase your personal data from our records, known as ‘the right to be forgotten’, please send your request to us at enquiries@simpsontravel.com, call us on 020 8392 5858 or write to the Privacy Officer at Simpson Travel, Oriel House, 26 The Quadrant, Richmond, London, TW9 1DL.

    Similarly, if you wish us to stop processing your personal information, please let us know. For example if you want to limit the way we use your data, we will do this as long as we are able to fulfil our contractual obligations to you.

  12. Obtaining a copy of your personal data
    As mentioned above, you have the right to obtain a copy of your own personal data. To do so, please write to the Privacy Officer at Simpson Travel, Oriel House, 26 The Quadrant, Richmond, London, TW9 1DL.  We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

  13. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data

    We are working hard to put the systems and processes in place that are required to look after your personal data and these are under continual review. If you are unhappy in any way at all, please contact us so that we can put matters right.

    Email: enquiries@simpsontravel.com

    Tel: 020 8392 5858

    Privacy Officer
    Simpson Travel
    Oriel House,
    26 The Quadrant,
    Richmond, London, TW9 1DL.

    If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Last updated September 2024