Courtesy
of MapQuest.com
DISCLAIMER
| SECURITY POLICY | PRIVACY POLICY
Privacy of personal information is an important
principle to TOURS OF DISTINCTION INC. Travel. We
are committed to collecting, using and disclosing
personal information responsibly and only to the
extent necessary for the travel products and services
we provide. We also try to be open and transparent
as to how we handle personal information. This document
describes our privacy policies.
What is personal information? Personal information
is information about an identifiable individual.
Personal information includes information that relates
to their personal characteristics (e.g., gender,
age, income, home address or phone number, ethnic
background, family status), their health (e.g.,
health history, health conditions, health services
received by them) or their activities and views
(e.g., religion, politics, opinions expressed by
an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual).
Personal information is to be contrasted with business
information (e.g., an individual’s business address
and telephone number), which is not protected by
privacy legislation. In addition, due the nature
of the travel agency business, we also include in
our policies and staunchly protect therein an individual’s
financial information including checking account
information and credit card information.
Who we are? Our travel agency, TOURS OF DISTINCTION
Inc. , is a full service agency business, and we
arrange travel products and services for our clients
with a wide spectrum of industry suppliers. Accordingly,
we deal with a number of consultants and third parties
that may, in the course of their duties, have limited
access to personal information we hold. These include
airlines, railroads, cruise lines, tour operators,
computer reservations system providers, and other
travel-related vendors. We restrict their access
to any personal information we hold as much as is
reasonably possible. We also have their assurance
that they follow appropriate privacy principles
in accordance with their own policies under the
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents
Act (PIPEDA). We collect personal information for
the following purposes: Like all travel agencies,
we collect, use and disclose personal information
in order to serve our clients. For our clients,
the primary purposes for collecting personal information
are as follows: to make and secure reservations,
to issue transportation documents and vouchers,
and to provide travel suppliers with information
to complete the necessary purchasing arrangements
for a wide array of travel and tourism products.
Examples of the type of personal information we
collect for those purposes include the following:
name, address, telephone, age, credit card information,
passport or visa information, Social Insurance Number,
web site cookies, and similar personal information
necessary to properly identify our clients and their
entitlement to the services we arrange. We also
collect personal information from our employees
and contractors to assure our proper compliance
with employment laws, remuneration, tax payments,
and other employee/contractor functions.
Protecting personal information: We understand the
importance of protecting personal information. For
that reason, we have taken the following steps:
Paper information is either under supervision or
secured in a locked or restricted area. Electronic
hardware is either under supervision or secured
in a locked or restricted area at all times. In
addition, passwords are used on computers. All of
our cell phones are digital, which signals are more
difficult to intercept. Paper information is transmitted
through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by
reputable companies. Electronic information is transmitted
either through a direct line or is anonymized or
encrypted. Staff are trained to collect, use and
disclose personal information only as necessary
to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our
privacy policy. External consultants and agencies
with access to personal information must enter into
privacy agreements with us or acknowledge that the
abide by PIPEDA. Retention and destruction of personal
information: We need to retain personal information
for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions
you might have about the services provided and for
our own accountability to external regulatory bodies.
However, we do not want to keep personal information
too long in order to protect your privacy. We keep
our client files for about 7 years. Our client and
contact directories are much more difficult to systematically
destroy, so we remove such information when we can
if it does not appear that we will be contacting
you again. However, if you ask, we will remove such
contact information right away. We keep any personal
information relating to our general correspondence
with people who are not our clients, newsletters,
seminars and marketing activities for about 6 months
after the newsletter, seminar or marketing activity
is over. We destroy paper files containing personal
information by shredding. We destroy electronic
information by deleting it and, when the hardware
is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically
destroyed. Alternatively, we may send some or all
of the client file to our client.
You can look at your information: With only a few
exceptions, you have the right to see what personal
information we hold about you. Often all you have
to do is ask. We can help you identify what records
we might have about you. We will also try to help
you understand any information you do not understand
(e.g., various industry forms, technical language,
etc.). We will need to confirm your identity, if
we do not know you, before providing you with this
access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal
fee for such requests. If there is a problem, we
may ask you to put your request in writing. If we
cannot give you access, we will tell you within
30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason,
as best we can, as to why we cannot give you access.
If you believe there is a mistake in the information,
you have the right to ask for it to be corrected.
This applies to factual information and not to any
professional opinions we may have formed. We may
ask you to provide documentation that our files
are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake,
we will make the correction and notify anyone to
whom we sent this information. If we do not agree
that we have made a mistake, we will still agree
to include in our file a brief statement from you
on the point and we will forward that statement
to anyone else who received the earlier information.
Do you have a concern?
Our Privacy Policy Manager, Ana Jacinto, can be
reached at 416-232-0000 to address any questions
or concerns you might have. If you wish to make
a formal complaint about our privacy practices,
you may make it in writing to our Privacy Policy
Manager. S/he will acknowledge receipt of your complaint,
ensure that it is investigated promptly and that
you are provided with a formal decision and reasons
in writing.
For more general inquiries, the Information and
Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversees the administration
of the privacy legislation in the private sector.
The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman
for privacy disputes.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner can be
reached at: 112 Kent Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A
1H3
