Open Doors Travel Concepts Ltd. (“Open Doors Travel”) is committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of the information entrusted to us.  This Privacy Policy is designed to explain how we use and safeguard the Personal Data, and Anonymous Information provided to us. Just like you, we wish to understand how data may be stored, sent, and used by companies and are committed to complying with all data protection laws.  Open Doors Travel wants you to feel confident in our measures to uphold your data privacy rights.

If you have any questions or problems with any aspect of our Privacy Policy, please get in touch with our privacy officer.  For more information about data protection and other laws in Canada, refer to https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/

We collect two basic types of information: “Personal Data” and “Anonymous Information.” Personal Data lets us know the specifics of who you are, or as otherwise defined under applicable law, and might include names, ages, dates of birth, addresses and contact information. Anonymous information is information that does not identify you but is a collection of information related to a collective of users, such as technical information about users’ computers or anonymous statistical information about groups of our users.

This Privacy Policy applies to the Personal Data, and Anonymous Information collected when using our Website or sending us emails, texts or other electronic messages.  We use Personal Data and Anonymous Information you provide to us, for example, by subscribing to our e-newsletter/mailing list, filling out pre and post trip surveys, signing up for an upcoming tour or making trip inquiries.  The types of information collected when accessing and using our Website or sending us emails, texts or other electronic messages, includes but is not limited to:

Personal Data: Names, dates of birth, emails, addresses and contact information.

Anonymous Information: We may also collect and aggregate information on how the Website is accessed and used.  This Anonymous Information may include information such as your computer’s internet protocol address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our Website that you visit, the time, and date of the visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Tracking & Cookies Data: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Website and hold certain information.  Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a Website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service. Examples of Cookies we use: session cookies (we use these cookies to operate our Service) and preference cookies (we use these cookies to remember your preferences and various settings). 

Identified Purposes: We may use the information collected or submitted on our Website and in emails, texts or other electronic messages for various purposes such as to identify you, communicate with you, notifying travellers about changes to our Website, allow travellers to participate in interactive features when chosen to do so, provide customer support, improve our customer service, respond to your questions or comments, gather analysis or valuable information so that we can maintain and improve our Website, monitor the usage of our Website, detect, prevent and address technical issues, provide travellers with news, marketing materials, promotional materials, special offers, and general information about other Services we offer that are similar to what a traveller has already booked or enquired about (unless the traveller has opted not to receive such information) or that may otherwise be of interest to a traveller, share your Personal Data with unaffiliated companies or individuals that perform Services on our behalf, with our professional advisors in connection with our Services and business transactions and with third parties that we have your consent to share such information with, perform our obligations under this Policy, comply with legal or regulatory obligations and for other reasonable purposes as permitted by law.

Analytics: We may use a third-party service provider to monitor and analyze the use of our Website and booking platform.

Mailchimp: We may use Mailchimp for marketing commuications to provide you with marketing materials, promotional materials or special offers. For more information on the privacy practices of Mailchimp, visit their Privacy & web page here.

Google Analytics: We use a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic.  Travellers can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

Our Website may contain links to other sties that are not operated by us.  If travellers click on a third-party link they will be directed to that third-party site.  Open Doors Travel has no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services and we strongly advice you to review the privacy policy of every site visited.

This Privacy Policy also applies to the Personal Data and Anonymous Information collected when you make trip bookings or use any of our other Services.  The types of information collected when making trip bookings or using any of our other Services include, but is not limited to:

Personal Data: Names, dates of birth, citizenships, special needs of travellers, disabilities, dietary requirements, emails, addresses, contact information, travel schedules and preferences, payment information, school affiliations and tour theme choices. 

Anonymous Information: We may also collect and aggregate information on travelling preferences and trends.  This Anonymous Information may include information such as travel destinations chosen, length of travel and tour themes chosen.

Identified Purposes: We may use the information you provide to us when making trip bookings or using any of our other Services to communicate with you, notify you of upcoming travel arrangements or changes, complete trip reservations and/or bookings, complete transactions, improve our services, improve our customer service, share your Personal Data with unaffiliated companies or individuals that perform Services on our behalf, with our professional advisors in connection with our Services and business transactions and with third parties that we have your consent to share such information with, perform our obligations under this Policy, comply with legal or regulatory obligations and for other reasonable purposes as permitted by law.

Travel Partners, Suppliers, Service Providers and Customs: When you book travel services with Open Doors Travel, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Data by Open Doors Travel — and the corresponding collection and use by our relevant travel partners and suppliers — for the purposes of administering and delivering the travel services you booked. This includes the use of information for completing transactions or communicating back to you. Open Doors Travel relies on domestic and international service providers, and we provide certain Personal Data to our service providers for the purposes of completing your travel arrangements and delivering your experience. For example, hotel bookings, flights or train tickets on your behalf will require providing certain Personal Data for the purposes of securing your space. This information may also be provided to public authorities, such as customs/immigration if required by law. Your Personal Data may be maintained and processed by our service providers in other countries and jurisdictions in compliance with local laws, regulations, and immigration requirements.

Online Registration/Booking Site: We provide a custom portal for travellers and trip organizers (group leaders).  If you are part of a group trip, you, or your parent or guardian if you are a minor, understand and agree that your trip group leader can access your contact information and your account status.  You can also access your personal profile.

Credit card numbers are used only for payment processing and are not used for any other purpose.  Open Doors Travel does not directly collect personal financial information such as credit card numbers over the Internet.  When processing transactions, Open Doors Travel directly sends travellers a secure link that they can click to a third-party vendor’s payment processing server. This information is provided directly to our third-party payment vendor whose use of your Personal Data is governed by their privacy policy.

The payment vendor we work with is Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”).  Stripe is used for all credit card payment transactions. When it is your preference that we enter the credit card payment for you, we take your card information only over the phone and enter the details directly into Stripe’s secure system. Your information is immediately destroyed as soon as it is entered.

Stripe adheres to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.

For more information on Stripe’s privacy policy, please see its website statement.. https://stripe.com/privacy

The Personal Data collected will be limited to those details necessary for the purposes identified by us. With your consent, we may collect Personal Data from you in person, over the telephone or by corresponding with you via mail, facsimile or the Internet. Personal Data may only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected unless you have otherwise consented or when it is required or permitted by law.

Knowledge and consent are required for the collection, use or disclosure of Personal Data except where required or permitted by law. Providing us with your Personal Data is always your choice. However, your decision not to provide certain information may limit our ability to book your travel arrangements or otherwise provide you with our Services. We will not require you to consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of information as a condition to the supply of any Services, except as required to be able to supply such Services.

We may share your Personal Data with any member of our business, which includes without limitation our directors, officers, owners, employees, contractors, agents, partners and affiliates, as necessary to perform the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

We do not sell or rent Personal Data to marketers or unaffiliated third parties nor do we provide any third-party access to our mailing list.

We will not use or disclose your Personal Data except in accordance with this Privacy Policy or under the following circumstances:

a) as necessary to book your travel arrangements or provide any of our other Services to you;

b) as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy or to which you have consented;

c) as required by law;

d) to auditors which agree to keep the data confidential;

e) as necessary to enforce and other policies and regulations in accordance with the Website and Services; and

f) as necessary to maintain, safeguard and preserve all our rights and property.

Contests and other Promotions: From time to time we may feature contests or other promotions on our Westie or marketing platforms. These promotions may require you to provide Personal Data to join and we may use this information to administer the promotion. With your consent, we may also use the information you provide to market our products and services to you.

Marketing Communications: We may, from time to time, contact you with e-newsletters and information on offers of goods and services, brochures, new products and forthcoming tours. You can sign up for these communications when you register to use the Website, complete a transaction on the Website, or wherever we offer you the opportunity to sign up. You may opt-out of our mailing list to stop receiving these marketing communications at any time by following opt-out instructions in our marketing e-mails or by contacting us via email as described in the Contact Us section below using the subject line “Unsubscribe”. Please allow us a reasonable time to process unsubscribe requests.

We retain Personal Data in accordance with applicable Canadian law.  We will not retain Personal Data if such data is no longer needed for the purpose that it was collected.

We may retain Personal Data for a longer period if:

a) you provide us with such consent; or

b) we are required to do so for the performance of a legal obligation.

We will also retain the Anonymous Information for internal analysis purposes or for any of the other purposes identified in the Privacy Policy.  Anonymous Information is generally retained for a shorter period.

We will delete your Personal Data when it is no longer required for its intended purpose or when we are not legally obligated to retain such data. Your right to access, request erasure, request rectification and data portability cannot be enforced once we delete such data.

The security of your data is important to us.  However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Once the information is in our system, it is accessible to authorized Open Doors Travel personnel only.  We strictly enforce our privacy policies with our employees and contractors and any breach of this Privacy Policy can result in termination and the pressing of criminal charges where there are grounds.

We will use our best efforts to ensure that unauthorized parties will not access or obtain collected Personal Data in contravention of this Privacy Policy. However, due to the potential for interception, loss, or alteration of information transmitted over the Internet, we cannot and do not guarantee the complete confidentiality and security of your Personal Data. You acknowledge and agree that any information you communicate to us over the internet is at your own risk.

The security of your Personal Data is important to us. Please advise our privacy officer immediately of any incident involving the loss of, unauthorized access to, or disclosure of Personal Data that is in our custody or control.

Employees and contractors of Open Doors Travel will immediately report any breach of privacy, or suspected breach of privacy, to the Open Doors Travel’s privacy offer on the disocvery of the same. A breach of privacy includes unauthorized external or internal access to our physical records or electronic records; misdirected communications, including mail, fax, and electronic communications; and the loss or theft of physical records or electronic records stored on data storage devices.

The Open Doors Travel privacy officer will coordinate a review of the matter with our management team and investigate all reported privacy breaches or suspected privacy breaches. If we become aware of a privacy breach concerning your Personal Data, we will notify you in accordance with our obligations under the Personal Information Privacy Act, SBC 2003, c. 63 as amended from time to time, and may report the breach to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia or to the appropriate authorities, including the police, as the case may be.

Personal Data will be maintained in as accurate, complete and up-to-date form as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is to be used.

A child’s parent or guardian may provide a child’s Personal Data for the purposes of completing travel bookings on their behalf. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18 on our Website. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us using the subject line “Personal Data Collection”. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without parental or guardian consent, we take steps to remove that Personal Data from our servers.

You have the right to the following data protection rights:

a) to request access to your Personal Data;

b) to request copies of your Personal Data;

c) to request a correction to your Personal Data if you reasonably believe it is inaccurate;

d) to request completion of the information you believe is incomplete;

e) to withdraw your consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of Personal Data at any time, except where that withdrawal would prevent or hinder the performance of a legal obligation by us;

f) in certain situations, to request that we delete your Personal Data;

g) in certain situations, to request that we restrict the processing of your Personal Data;

h) in certain situations, to object to our processing of your Personal Data; and

i) in certain situations, to request that we transfer the Personal Data that we have collected directly to you.

In order to exercise these rights, you may email us as described in the Contact Us section below using the subject line “Data Protection Request”. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding to any requests. We will comply with your request to the extent possible and as required by applicable law

California Privacy Rights: If you are a California resident, then you may request that we not share your Personal Data and Anonymous Information with third parties for direct marketing purposes. We do not sell your Personal Data. We will not discriminate against any user for exercising their rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act. California residents that wish to opt-out should email us as described in the Contact Us section below using the subject line “California Consumer Privacy Request” and provide us with 30 days to process the request.

Notice to European Union Users: This Privacy Policy and its enumerated policies are intended to comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (the “General Data Protection Regulation” or “GDPR”) and provide appropriate protection and care with respect to the treatment of your Personal Data in accordance with the GDPR. We will not process your user information without a lawful basis to do so, as such basis are defined in Article 6 of the GDPR. In general, we will process your information on the legal basis of consent, contract (if you have entered into an agreement with us and such processing is a necessary part thereof), or legal obligation (as noted above). We may also process certain information on the basis of the following legitimate interests, provided that such interests are not overridden by your privacy rights and interests: developing and improving the Website and/or Services and conducting research from your behaviour on the Website (e.g., analyzing traffic, and providing a stable, consistent and secure experience in connection with the Website).

Notwithstanding the foregoing and any other provision in this Privacy Policy, while we make reasonable efforts to comply with various international regulations and legislation applicable to its users, you acknowledge and agree that the Website and Services are provided by a Canadian company, and primarily targeted to a Canadian userbase. If you are not a Canadian resident, while your access and use of the Website is at your own risk, we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your privacy concerns and requests. Please get in touch with us with questions or concerns by emailing us as described in the Contact Us section below with the subject line “EU Privacy Request”.

Transmitting Personal Data via email poses several risks you should be aware of. We use reasonable means to protect the security and confidentiality of email information but cannot guarantee the security and confidentiality of email communications.  You should not communicate with us via email without understanding and accepting these risks.

If you communicate with us by email, you acknowledge and agree that there are risks with email communication, and you accept such risks, which may which include but are not limited to, the following:

a) third-party service providers inspecting emails that are transmitted through their system;

b) the potential falsification of emails;

c) introduction of viruses into a computer system which could potentially damage or disrupt a computer;

d) forwarding, interception, circulation, storage or modification of email(s) without your or our knowledge or consent; and

e) emailing an incorrect email address results in it being sent to one or more unintended and unknown recipients.

Email may not be easily or completely erased or shredded (i.e., even when deleted by both sender and recipient, backup copies may exist on a computer or ).

You acknowledge and agree that any emails concerning Services you request or receive will be kept by us as part of your record.

If an email you send to us requires a response and you have not received a response within a reasonable time frame, it is your responsibility to follow up to determine whether the intended recipient received the email and when you can expect a response.

We are not responsible for information lost due to technical failures associated with your email provider or the services offered by your internet service provider.

From time to time, it may be necessary for Open Doors Travel to update our Privacy Policy.  If we make a change to the Privacy Policy, the revised version will be posted on our Website. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page. Last updated October 16, 2022.