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Privacy Statement/Policy

This privacy statement covers information collected from the website address www.knowhowtravel.com.au ("website") and also to information lawfully stored by Australian Discount Travel & Tours as part of its legal obligations under Australian Travel Agency Audit Law as a result of clients making bookings either directly from, or arising from a visit to the aforementioned website, or to clients who contact us via means other than our website i.e. by phone, fax, email, proxy visit or in person at one of our branches either in Australia, or in CA USA.

We deeply respect your right to privacy and as such, Australian Discount Travel & Tours does not sell, give away, rent, lease or swap personal information collected at the site to any third-parties, neither do we share this information with third parties other than those such as legal authorities lawfully able to access information for the purposes of lawful audit/review of our company accounts.

Australian Discount Travel & Tours needs to provide limited passenger information to various third parties involved directly in the travel itineraries of those passengers. These third parties include: airlines (domestic & international) providers of accommodation such as motels, car hire companies, tour operators and the like. Essential information will be provided in these cases unless we are specifically directed by individual clients to provide other information outside of what would be considered normal business practical necessity. In cases where clients request us to proffer additional information to third parties, this will be noted on the client's private file for the client's own security and record-keeping purposes.

Australian Privacy Act 1988

Essentially, The Australian Privacy Act 1988 is legislation that when adhered to, ensures that companies dealing with clients do not unnecessarily breach personal privacy by deliberately or inadvertently sending to third parties personal/private information other than information lawfully required for a particular business transaction. (see legislation for full explanation).

What does this mean about YOUR private information?

If you become part of our website Virgin blue specials or holiday specials data base, then we hold your name and email address in a database that is protected by security code. This is not accessible by third parties and will not be made available to third parties other than at your specific direction to us (in writing).

If at any time, you wish to have your details removed from our database, you only need to call us and we will remove your name and email details from our database.

At Australian Discount Travel & Tours we do not have to power to prevent others from maliciously or accidentally placing your name and/or email address on our database. If for some reason your name and/or email address results in you receiving from us an offer regarding discount fights, discount specials or other travel matters please advise us by phoning us on 03 6231 3844 and we will take immediate action to remove your name/email address from the database.

Personal client information is maintained in a secure building with 24 hour monitored professional security. Any information held on computer files (such as emails) is protected under sophisticated firewall software programs. While this in no way guarantees that a computer hacker could not access our email account, it makes it highly unlikely that this would occur.

If users have questions, comments or concerns regarding our privacy policy then we would be delighted that you contact us.

Data Collection, Data Use & Data Sharing

Australian Discount Travel & Tours is the sole owner of the information collected on www.knowhowtravel.com.au/. Australian Discount Travel & Tours collects information from its clients (web users) at various points on our website. We do this for statistical purposes and information such as the entry and exit points, the point from which hits are made etc are all collected and analysed on a group data basis. No single client can be identified through this process. We use global figures ONLY are used to analyse trends so that we can provide better, discounted travel package for our valued customers and clients.

Online Enquiry Form and Telephone Hotline Enquiries.

We request information from our clients on our Online Enquiry Form and if you call on our hotlines 03 6231 3844. All clients who wish to be provided with the very best service must provide us with valid, up-to-date information about themselves, their travel plans and their fellow passengers. Dates of travel, budget information, hotel star rating preferences and the like are all used to specifically tailor our discounted package tours to YOUR specific needs. Clients who provide the most replete information will be given priority as to service since the more information you provide us, the easier it is for us to formulate a discount travel plan that will best meet your budget and other needs. This means that sometimes we ask for medical information. This is asked for only if it specifically relates to issues like forward planning of diet, exercise, or personal comfort issues. It is left up to you whether or not or how much of this medical information is provided. Obviously, standard client contact information (such as name, address, email, and phone number) is essential if we are to be able to respond to your travel quote requests. Please note, that our exceedingly tight margins mean we reserve the right not to respond to clients who only provide mobile (cell phone) phone numbers.

Payments and Receipt Privacy

To receive payments, Australian Discount Travel & Tours collects credit card information and in the majority of cases, we collect CC information via telephone, or occasionally via mail. We advise clients NEVER to place CC deals on our online enquiry form or on our Booking Reservations form (Spirit of Tas/TT Line) because these are not secure. Neither should clients place CC details or similar on emails.

Secure Bookings: Our ONLINE BOOKING ENGINE IS ENCRYPTION SECURE. This means that we use the most sophisticated advanced encryption to secure your Online Bookings via our website. Likewise, booking direct our Travel Insurance, Car Hire, Hotel/Motels and/or airfares online is very safe. We use the best highest-level web encryption for our online booking engines.

Please note: that when ever you are at a secure site a locked padlock icon will appear (usually on the bottom of your web browser page in either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator). No padlock means NO SECURITY.

We will receipt CC/payment information by sending receipts via email, or land based/air mail (snail mail). CC details are not sent back to a client unless specifically requested (i.e. if you wish to have posted to you a CC EFTPOS transaction slip, then this will be done at your request, understanding that there is no guarantee of security with ordinary land/air mail.

Cookies and Log Files. What do they mean? What are they?

A cookie is a piece of data stored on a net-surging computer (client) that relates to information about the client. On our website at www.knowhowtravel.com.au/ cookies do not track you in a way that can identify you or any of your personal information. These cookies are used purely for statistical analysis/marketing purposes but on global format only. For added security, once your web-browsing session terminates (at your instigation), the cookie simply expires and is not re-activated unless you re-visit our site. We analyse web hits on an hourly basis in order to determine our marketing windows and procedure, in effect, to create bigger discounts for our valued clients.

Most Web site servers use log files of some sort. These are used to determine internet protocol (IP) addresses, internet service provider (ISP), entry/exit pages, platform types, date/time data, number of clicks made per visit etc. As discussed, this is all used to create for you, better discounts as we perform sophisticated analysis of daily, hourly, monthly access patterns and the like. All data analysed in this manner is analysed in Global format (aggregate data only) and is never individually attributed in any way to an individual client. None of this aggregate data can be split into fragments that in any way could identify an individual or their personal information.

Limited Legal Disclaimer

Though we make every effort to ensure client privacy and personal data is preserved, we may be required by lawful order (threatened terrorist acts, acts which threaten to breach Australian or International Law, Family Court Orders and/or Child Protection Orders etc) to disclose personal information when we are advised that it is lawful for us to do so. In effect, due legal process MIGHT (although to date we have not been ordered to comply with any such lawful order or requirement) mean that we are forced to share personal information that otherwise we would not share or disclose to any third party.

Lawful business transitions such as takeovers, mergers, and/or expansion.

We are a rapidly expanding business with a number of shareholders. This being the case, we are constantly managing business growth opportunities with the possibilities of mergers, takeovers, various collaborative relationships & expansion.

If any such changes occur, then any transaction could obviously involve the transfer of necessary private information. In the event that assets are sold or transferred, then client data may well be deemed to be part of that lawful transfer of assets. Our policy is that clients will be notified wherever possible of the transfer of information prior to changes such as those mentioned above.

Online News and Special Deals

As a respected travel agency, we do not send nor do we have the need to send any unsolicited correspondence, newsletters or information commonly referred to as Internet Spam. If you desire us to send you information on specials etc, then you may add your information to our database on our website. At any time, you may choose to subscribe to our online specials, weekly specials, cruise specials and/or travel tips. If you do so, we ask for your first name, surname and email address. We utterly respect your right to privacy and your right to refuse to be on our database. For this reason, if you wish to amend or delete your information please advise us by phone and we will take immediate action to meet your requirements.