Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Dorset Council (DC) is strongly committed to safeguarding your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains our policy for the collection and use of information about you and your transactions with us.

We reserve the right to make changes to this Policy at any time. Your continued use of our products, applications, services and websites that are subject to this Policy will signify your acceptance of any and all changes to this Policy made by us.

DC is the data controller in connection with any personal information collected or received by us arising from your use of any of our products, services, applications, websites and customer support communications.

2. How we use your personal data

In this section we have set out:

the general categories of personal data that we may process
the purposes for which we may process personal data; and
the legal basis for the processing

We will process your personal data in accordance with the [United Kingdom's Data Protection Legislation]. We maintain strict security standards and procedures with a view to preventing unauthorised access to your data by anyone, including our staff. We use leading technologies such as (but not limited to) data encryption, fire walls and server authentication to protect the security of your data. For all staff working on Visit Dorset activities and whenever we hire third parties to provide support services, we will require them to observe our privacy standards and to allow us to audit them for compliance.

2.1 Online Bookings

When you book accommodation our booking form asks you to give us information specific to that booking, including your billing address, credit card information and email address. The information that you provide is processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased goods and services and keeping proper records of those transactions. We also use the information to contact you if there is a problem with your booking. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract and our legitimate interests, namely our interest in the proper administration of our website and business.

All of our transactions automatically take place on a secure server. All of your personal information is encrypted before it is transmitted over the Internet.

By completing a booking on our website you consent to your information being shared with the accommodation provider.

2.2 Marketing

We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of visitor registration, brochure requests, e-newsletters subscriptions and competition entry. This data may be processed for the purposes of sending you the relevant notifications and media.

E-newsletters - by completing our e-newsletter signup page you are agreeing to receive email marketing communications. These can be unsubscribed from at any time, simply by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
Brochure requests - by completing our Brochure Request form you are agreeing to receive brochures from us.
Visitor Registration - by completing our Visitor Registration/Itinerary Planner page and opting in to receive information via email you are agreeing to receive email marketing communications. These can be unsubscribed from at any time, simply by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
Competitions - please check the individual terms and conditions associated with each competition. By entering our competitions and opting in to receive information via email you are agreeing to receive email marketing communications. These can be unsubscribed from at any time, simply by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
Online Booking – By booking accommodation via our website and opting in to receive information via email you are agreeing to receive email marketing communications. These can be unsubscribed from at any time, simply by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

The legal basis for this processing is consent.

2.3 User Generated Content

2.3.1 Social Media

If you use any of our social network pages or applications or you use one of our products or services that allow interaction with social networks, we may receive information relating to your social network accounts. For instance:

If you click on a ‘like’, ‘+1’ or ‘tweet’ or similar button in one of our websites or services, we may record the fact that you have done so. In addition, the content that you are viewing may be posted to your social network profile or feed. We may receive information about further interactions with this posted content (for example, if your contacts click on a link in the posted content), which we may associate with the details that we store about you
If you ‘like’, ‘+1’ or similar one of our pages on a social network site, we may receive information about your social network profile, depending on your social network account privacy settings.

For more information and for details about how you can control access to your social network profile, you should view the privacy policy and other guidance available on your social network’s website.

2.3.2 Reviews, comments and content

Where you have uploaded product reviews, comments or content to our websites or services and made them publicly visible, we may link to, publish or publicise these materials elsewhere including in our own advertisements.

The legal basis for processing in 2.3.1 and 2.3.2 is legitimate interest.

2.4 Legal Obligation

In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this section, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with regulatory and legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

3. Providing your personal data to others

We may use other third party service providers to provide certain data processing services for us (acting as our authorised data processors). Examples of authorised data processors could include billing and fulfilment partners, IT solution providers, data analytics providers who process information on our behalf for the purposes outlined above. For example, we may use the services of third parties to personalise content, fulfil orders, deliver packages, send postal mail and emails, send text messages (SMS), provide marketing assistance, process credit card payments, provide fraud checking services and provide customer services.

When acting as our authorised data processors, our service providers are required to only process data in accordance with our instructions, in line with this Policy, and are subject to appropriate confidentiality and security obligations.

In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this section, we may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

4. International transfers of your personal data

We store your data on our secure servers in the United Kingdom and retain it for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires.

5. Retaining and deleting personal data

This Section sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.

Personal data that we process shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
Your personal data will be retained if you consent to receive further information by email. You can request to be removed at any time.
If you book accommodation via the website we will hold your data but will not use it for any purpose unless you have already consent. We will retain this data for 5 years.
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 6, we may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.

6. Links to third party sites

Some of our websites may contain links to other third party websites that are not operated by us. While we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, security or privacy practices of those third party websites. We strongly encourage you to view the privacy and cookie policies displayed on those third party websites to find out how your personal information may be used.

7. Amendments

We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.
We may notify you of changes to this policy by email or through private messaging system or via our website.

8. Your Rights

In this Section we have summarised the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights.

Your principal rights under data protection law are:

(a) the right to access;

(b) the right to rectification;

(d) the right to restrict processing;

(e) the right to object to processing;

(f) the right to data portability;

(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority; and

(h) the right to withdraw consent.

You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you; provision of such information will be subject to the supply of appropriate evidence of your identity. For this purpose, we will usually accept a photocopy of your passport certified by a solicitor or bank plus an original copy of a utility bill showing your current address.

In practice, you will expressly agree (opt in) in advance to our use of your personal information for marketing purposes. We will provide you with an opportunity to opt out of the use of your personal information for marketing purposes.

To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.

9. About Us

The website is owned and operated by Dorset Council.

Our principle place of business is County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XJ.

Contact us:
County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XJ
tourism@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
01305 252241

Data Protection Officer
data.protection@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
01305 838125
Information Compliance Team, County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XJ.

Dorset Council is the accountable body for the partnership.

Date of publication: 21st January 2020