Please read this privacy policy carefully as it sets out how Osprey Holiday Cottages and companies in our group (“Osprey Holiday Cottages”) use your personal information when you visit our website, make a booking, visit or supply us.
If you have any questions about this policy or do not agree with it, please contact us via our website or by email at [email protected].
Please note, this policy does not apply to employee/contractor personal information. For further information on how we handle this information, or to exercise any of your employee privacy rights, please get in touch with us.
We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure you are happy with any changes. If we propose to make any material changes and you have an account with us, we will send you an email notifying you of such changes. Otherwise, we will display a notice on our website identifying the changes.
What does this policy apply to?
This policy applies to personal information we hold about you, however we obtain it. We collect information at different points during our relationship with you, for example, when you browse our website, create your account on the website, when you book accommodation or experiences, if you contact us, if you sign up to our marketing communications and if you enter any promotions or competitions that we run, and if you are a sole trader or partnership that provide goods or services to us.
What information do we collect about you and why?
We collect different information depending on what you want to do and how you interact with us. We need to tell you what we use your information for and the legal grounds we have to use it.
What we may collect when you use our websites, call us or opt in for marketing communications
| When we might collect your data | What information is collected | What is it used for | Our legal grounds for collecting this information |
| Browsing our website, via cookies | Information about your computer, such as which browser you are using, your network location, the type of connection you are using, your IP address and if you are logged into your account its unique reference. This is done through cookies. See our Cookie Policy for more details. |
Improving content and functionality on our website and to enable us to communicate with you. | Legitimate interests of Osprey Holiday Cottages to improve its services. |
| Sign up for digital marketing communications, such as e-mails | The digital communications we send to you, whether you open them and click on any links contained within them. | Sending electronic communications to you and digital marketing advertisements. You can update your preferences at any time through your account or via the unsubscribe link on all of the marketing emails we send. We will use the unique account reference collected by cookies to send more relevant emails based upon your browsing or items you have placed in your basket. | Legitimate interests of Osprey Holiday Cottages to improve its services and guest experiences. You can choose to restrict cookies in our Cookie Policy. |
| Searching for a stay | If you search for holiday accommodation with us, then we will collect the following information:
1. Number of guests |
All the information we request from you is needed in order to provide availability and pricing details in relation to your search. | Taking steps at your request prior to entering into a contract. To ensure we can complete the performance of our contract with you we require you to provide the stated information. We cannot fulfil your request or accept your booking without this information. |
| Making a customer service enquiry | If you make an enquiry before, during or after a stay, we may collect all or some of the following information:
1. Your name |
All of the information that we request from you is required in order to respond to your enquiry. | Legitimate interests of Osprey Holiday Cottages in responding to queries and providing customer service. |
| Enter a competition, and optionally if you consent to receive marketing |
If you enter a competition, we may collect all or some of the following information:
1. Your name |
Administration of the competition and to contact you if you have been successful, and if you consented – sending direct marketing communications to you. |
Legitimate interests of Osprey Holiday Cottages in running competitions and other promotional activites. If you opted to receive marketing, this on the basis of Consent – you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, although this could take up to 28 days to take effect. |
| Opting in to marketing communications | If you sign up or request marketing communications, we may collect all or some of the following information as a minimum:
1. Your name |
Sending direct marketing communications to you and digital marketing advertisements. You can update these at any time through your account or via the unsubscribe link on all emails. | Consent. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, although this could take up to 28 days to take effect. |
What we may collect when you book a stay…
| When we might collect your data | What information is collected | What is it used for | Our legal grounds for collecting this information |
| When you book accommodation with us | If you book a stay and/or experience, we need the following information from you as a minimum:
1. Name |
All of the information we request from you is needed in order to book and provide your stay. You should know that we cannot provide your accommodation without it.Lead booker email addresses will be used for direct marketing purposes, unless you have opted out at the point of booking. Please see the marketing activities privacy information on this page for further details.
Guests whose email addresses are registered by the lead booker may be sent emails relating to their specific break in order to improve their guest experience. |
Performance of a contract to provide your accommodation or experience. To allow us to complete your booking, we require you to provide the stated information. We do not ask for further details of your specific requirements or disability unless you provide us with additional information so that we can make special arrangements during your stay.
Legitimate interests to inform guests about Osprey Holiday Cottages and any services we offer. |
| Registering for an online account | To book a stay directly with us, you will need to set up an account. To enable this we will need the following information as a minimum:
1. Name |
All of the information we request (other than anything that is marked optional at the time of registration) from you is needed in order to set up an account. We cannot provide a log in or a booking without it. | Performance of a contract with you to provide your account.
Accounts are not intended to be used by anyone under the age of 18 years. |
| Booking and taking part in experiences | When experiences are booked before arriving with us, and sometimes during your stay, the following information is collected as a minimum:
1. Name |
It is sometimes needed to provide the experiences you want and to help assess that it is safe to fulfil the experience. We also retain some of the information to understand the patterns of bookings to improve the range of experiences and services available to you. | Performance of our contract with you to comply to Health & Safety legislation, where applicable.Legitimate interests of Osprey Holiday Cottages to continue to better our customer service. |
What information we may collect if you supply us…
| When we might collect your data | What information is collected | What is it used for | Our legal grounds for collecting this information |
| When you register to be a supplier of ours | If you supply goods or services to Osprey Holiday Cottages, the following information may be collected as a minimum:
1. Name |
The information is need in relation to your supply contract with us, and to facilitate payments. | Performance of our contract with you to supply goods and/or services. |
More about our Marketing activities
So that you are the first to hear about our exciting news, offers, activities and facilities, we may provide you with information through online digital services – for example, advertising or social media communications, or by direct marketing including by phone, e-mail, text or by post, unless you have asked us not to do so.
When, as a booking guest, you create an account – we ask them to tick the box the gain consent (as we use Consent as the legal basis for processing personal data for direct marketing purposes).
However, it should be noted that in order to send direct email marketing to those who have booked a stay at any of our accommodation we use the legal grounds of Legitimate Interest. We also comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR). This law allows businesses to contact customers, using a soft opt-in exemption like this, as long as they have the opportunity to opt-out again. This is why we ask during booking processes if you want to opt out and you can unsubscribe from marketing emails using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email.
Unsubscribing won’t prevent you from receiving essential or service messages about your booking going forward. If you have issues opting out, please contact us for help.
We also use the personal information you provide in your registered account to tailor the marketing communications we send to you or display in your account when you are logged in.
We do not, and will not, provide your personal information to external organisations for their own marketing purposes.
Personalisation of marketing
So that we can inform you and help you to have a better experience at your chosen accommodation, we will use the information you provide at the time of booking to personalise the communications we send to you. We may also use any information you provide optionally about your guests to personalise the content of email communications. This tool can be particularly suited to guests making us aware of any celebrations while they are staying at one of our properties.
When the booker provides one of their guests email addresses during the booking and registration process, we will send the guest emails to help them prepare for arrival and improve their guest experience. This will include providing them with information about the check-in times and how to get into one of our properties.
When do we use Cookies?
We use cookies and other similar technologies (for example, pixel tags or links) to remember you when you visit our websites and so we can improve your online experience to suit your needs. These help us understand how you and others use our websites, view our services and respond to our advertising, so we can tailor direct marketing and enhance our overall service offering. This also saves you from re-inputting information when you return to the websites.
When you receive direct marketing from us via email, we may use technology to determine your use of and interest in our direct marketing. For more information about the cookies and other similar technologies that we use, the purposes we use them for, and how to disable them, please read our cookies policy.
Who we share information with…
Our own company – your personal information may be shared within our own company based in the UK. We may also share your personal information with a purchaser or potential purchaser of our business but will always comply with the applicable data protection laws and keep your personal information secure.
Third parties – we may share your personal information with selected third parties. Such as our suppliers, including businesses who provide IT services, operate experiences on our behalf, marketing partners, property managers, printing and fulfilment agencies, marketing, research and communications agencies. Other third parties include insurance companies, banks, payment processors, credit reference agencies, auditors and other professional advisers, along with third party companies who are co-hosting a competition, where you have consented to that transfer.
They only use the personal information we give them to provide their services. We only give them the personal information that they actually need in order to provide the services to us and all suppliers we engage are contractually required to ensure that they also comply with applicable data protection laws and keep your personal information secure.
Social media partners – we share certain personal information about you with social media partners, such as Facebook and Twitter to participate in their Custom Audience and/or Lookalike Audience programs. This helps us to communicate with you more effectively and ensures that when you are on those platforms, you are more likely to see adverts from us if you are likely to be interested in them. In order to do this, we will share your email address or phone number with the relevant social media partner. If you do not want us to use your personal information in this way please contact us.
Legal requirements – in some circumstances, we may have to disclose your personal information by law, because the police or other law enforcement agency or public authority has requested it using the appropriate channels.
Where we store your information…
Your data may occasionally be processed and held by third parties outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Whereas in the UK and EEA, we implement a high standard of data protection law, some parts of the world do not implement such stringent laws. As a result, if we do send personal information overseas we will make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure it is protected in accordance with European data protection laws.
These might include: –
– Sending personal information only to countries that European Authorities have approved as having adequate data protection laws in place, for example, the US, Canada or Switzerland;
– Entering into a standard form of contract with the recipient which European Authorities have approved as providing adequate protection.
How long we keep your information…
We only hold your personal information for as long as is necessary to provide services to you unless there is a requirement to hold that information for a longer period – for example, we may be subject to a statutory obligation to keep hold of your information.
As a result, the length of time that we keep your information for will vary depending on the purposes for which we have it. In any event, we will review what information we need on an ongoing basis and will only retain it for the minimum amount of time that we need it for, or are legally obliged to keep it for.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
Don’t worry, we website is encrypted using the same TLS technology used by UK banks for their online banking systems. All the data you provide is held securely in encrypted form and in the case of payments is only handled by the payment providers Stripe and PayPal. We continue to review and amned our security policies to protect your data in an ever-changing landscape.
What are my data protection rights?
You have the right to request that we do not send marketing material to you and you can do this at any time by clicking the unsubscribe option in any communication we send you, by calling us on 01305 818118 or by sending us a message. Please note it may take up to 28 days for the change to take effect.
We will try to keep your personal information up to date but rely on you telling us promptly if your name, address, telephone number or any other details change. You can correct or amend your personal information by logging into your account or by contacting us. If you have a future booking please call us on 01305 818118 and we will update your details on the booking. Equally, if you think any information we have about you is wrong or incomplete, please let us know by contacting us in the same way.
You also have the right to access your personal information and to receive a copy of it. You can exercise this right by emailing us at [email protected], or by writing to us.
Data protection laws also give you a number of additional rights including the right to request to have your personal data erased or transferred either to you or a third party in a commonly structured format and to have your personal information restricted. Please be aware that these latter rights only apply in limited circumstances and therefore even if you wish to exercise them, we may not always be required to comply.
When you exercise an individual right we may request further information to allow us to verify your identity. This is to ensure that the individual right is been exercised by the correct individual and ensures we continue to protect individual’s personal data. We may ask you to confirm certain pieces of information which we hold about you or in some cases ask you to provide proof of identification or of parental responsibility if you are making the request on behalf of a child.
For further information about how these rights apply, or to exercise your rights, please contact us on 01305 818118 or by getting in touch.
How do I make a complaint?
If you do not think that we have processed your data in accordance with this privacy policy, please contact us by email at [email protected].
If you are in the UK you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Information about how to do this is available at www.ico.org.uk.
Last updated: 25 January 2021