Alphafares

Privacy Policy – Alphafares Travel (OPC) Private Limited

INTRODUCTION:

Alphafares Travel (OPC) Private Limited (hereinafter “Alphafares”, “we,” “us,” or “our”)) recognizes the importance of privacy of its users and also of maintaining confidentiality of the information provided by its users as a responsible data controller and data processer.

This Privacy Policy provides for the practices for handling and securing user’s Personal Information (defined hereunder) by Alphafares and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

This Privacy Policy is applicable to any person (‘User’) who purchase, intend to purchase, or inquire about any product(s) or service(s) made available by Alphafares through any of Alphafares’s customer interface channels including its website, mobile site, mobile app & offline channels including call centers and offices (collectively referred herein as “Sales Channels”).

For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, wherever the context so requires “you” or “your” shall mean User and the term “we”, “us”, “our” shall mean Alphafares. For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, Website means the website(s), mobile site(s) and mobile app(s).

By using or accessing the Website or other Sales Channels, the User hereby agrees with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the contents herein. If you disagree with this Privacy Policy please do not use or access our Website or other Sales Channels.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to any website(s), mobile sites and mobile apps of third parties, even if their websites/products are linked to our Website. User should take note that information and privacy practices of Alphafares’s business partners, advertisers, sponsors or other sites to which Alphafares provides hyperlink(s), may be materially different from this Privacy Policy. Accordingly, it is recommended that you review the privacy statements and policies of any such third parties with whom they interact.

This Privacy Policy is an integral part of your User Agreement with Alphafares and all capitalized terms used, but not otherwise defined herein, shall have the respective meanings as ascribed to them in the User Agreement.

USERS OUTSIDE THE GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS OF INDIA

Please note that the data shared with Alphafares shall be primarily processed in India and such other jurisdictions where a third party engaged by Alphafares may process the data on Alphafares’s behalf. By agreeing to this policy, you are providing Alphafares with your explicit consent to process your personal information for the purpose(s) defined in this policy. The data protection regulations in India or such other jurisdictions mentioned above may differ from those of your country of residence.


If you have any concerns in the processing your data and wish to withdraw your consent, you may do so by writing to the following email id: care@alphafares.com. However, if such processing of data is essential for us to be able to provide service to you, then we may not be able to serve or confirm your bookings after your withdrawal of consent. For instance, if you want to book any international holiday package in fixed departures (group bookings), then certain personal information of yours like contact details, gender, dietary preferences, choice of room with smoking facility, any medical condition which may require specific attention or facility etc. may have to be shared by us with our vendors in each city where you will stay, and they may further process this information for making suitable arrangements for you during the holiday. Such sharing and processing of information may extend to the hotel where you will stay or the tour manager who will be your guide during the travel.

A withdrawal of consent by you for us to process your information may:

  • severely inhibit our ability to serve you properly and in such case, we may have to refuse the booking altogether, or
  • unreasonably restrict us to service your booking (if a booking is already made) which may further affect your trip or may compel us to cancel your booking.


PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal Information We May Collect

“Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable person, including, for example:

  • Name
  • Postal addresses
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • Credit and debit card number and related information
  • Social media account ID
  • Passport number
  • Number assigned by a transportation agency, such as a Transportation Security Administration known traveler number
  • Any other information you provide when you communicate or book travel with us (e.g., your dietary and other preferences or needs), as well as information about your bookings (e.g., points of departure and destinations)
  • Demographic information
  • Analytics/Advertising Data (such as where tied to a user/device ID)
  • Inferences about you


If you submit any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.How We May Collect Personal Information

We and other third parties may collect Personal Information in a variety of ways, including:

  • Through the Services: We may collect Personal Information through the Services (e.g., when you provide it to us or where such information is collected automatically), such as when you make a booking, register for a promotion, or provide a preferred means of communication or special travel requests (e.g., in connection with a disability or dietary restriction).
  • Offline: We may collect Personal Information from you offline, such as when you contact customer service.
  • From Other Sources: We may receive your Personal Information from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, social media platforms (including from people with whom you are friends or otherwise connected), and other third parties, to the extent permitted by applicable law.


Analytics/Advertising Data

As is true of many digital properties, we and our third-party partners may automatically collect or process information you provide to us and information about your device and visit/use of the Services. The type of information may include the following (collectively, “Analytics/Advertising Data”):

  • Browser and device information (e.g., IP address, device or other digital user IDs, browser or device type and version, other user agent string data, geolocation information).
  • Services usage data (path taken to, through, or when exiting our Services, what page you are on or have visited, links clicked, videos or other content viewed, email open rates, mouse movements, scrolls, clicks, keystroke activity, browsing, search, or purchasing behavior, chat function usage).
  • Advertising/advertising measurement data: data associated with your view of, or clicks on, advertisements served on our Services, cookie IDs or other digital or proprietary IDs (e.g., iOS IDFA, Google AAID) assigned to such device, the types of information described above, purchases or other conversions in relation to ads served on other properties, hashed emails or phone numbers.


In some cases, the above may not be by itself considered “Personal Information” under applicable law and we will use such data as we see fit subject to applicable law. However, we may combine Analytics/Advertising Data with Personal Information and then shall treat such combined information as Personal Information subject to this Privacy Policy.How We May Collect Analytics/Advertising Data


We and our third-party service providers may collect Analytics/Advertising Data in a variety of ways, including:

  • Through your browser or device: Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (e.g., Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version, and the name and version of the Services (such as the App) you are using.
  • Through your use of the Websites or Apps: When you download and use an App or Website, we and our third-party partners may track and collect App/Website usage data, such as the date and time the App/Website on your device accesses our servers, and what information and files have been downloaded to or from the App/Website based on your device.
  • Using cookies: Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer that you are using. Generally, cookies allow us to collect or read information such as browser type, time spent on the Services, user identifiers, pages visited, language preferences, and other anonymous or pseudonymous traffic data. Please see our Cookie Policy here for more information.
  • Using pixel tags and other similar technologies: Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) may be used in connection with some Services to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Services (including email recipients), drop cookies, deliver and measure the success of our (or other advertisers’) marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about usage of the Services and response rates.
  • Using Adobe Flash technology (including Flash Local Shared Objects (“Flash LSOs”) and other similar technologies: We may use Flash LSOs and other technologies to, among other things, collect and store information about your use of the Services. If you do not want Flash LSOs stored on your computer, you can adjust the settings of your Flash player to block Flash LSO storage using the tools contained in the Website Storage Settings Panel. You can also control Flash LSOs by going to the Global Storage Settings Panel and following the instructions (which may include instructions that explain, for example, how to delete existing Flash LSOs (referred to as “information” on the Macromedia site), how to prevent Flash LSOs from being placed on your computer without your being asked, and (for Flash Player 8 and later) how to block Flash LSOs that are not being delivered by the operator of the page you are on at the time). Please note that setting the Flash Player to restrict or limit acceptance of Flash LSOs may reduce or impede the functionality of some Flash applications, including those used in connection with the Services.
  • IP Address: Your IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider. An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the Services, along with the time of the visit and the pages that were visited. We may also derive your approximate location from your IP address.
  • Physical Location: We may collect the physical location of your device by, for example, using satellite, cell phone tower, or WiFi signals. We may use your device’s physical location to provide you with personalized location-based services and content. We may also share your device’s physical location with our marketing partners to enable them to provide you with geo-targeted advertising or as part of targeted advertising more generally. You may be permitted to allow or deny such uses or sharing of your device’s location, such as through your device settings. If you do, we or our marketing partners may not be able to provide you with the applicable personalized services and content.
  • By aggregating information: Aggregated Personal Information does not personally identify you or any other user of the Services (for example, we may aggregate Personal Information to calculate the percentage of our users who have a particular telephone area code).


How We May Use Personal Information


We may use Personal Information:

  • To complete and fulfill your booking or purchase, including to process your payment, communicate with you regarding your booking or purchase, and provide you with related customer service. We use passport information for the purpose of travel bookings.
  • To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, such as to send you newsletters.
  • To send administrative information to you, such as information regarding the Services and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
  • To send you marketing communications that we believe may be of interest to you, present products and offers tailored to you, or to otherwise personalize your experience across our Services.
  • To allow you to participate in sweepstakes, contests, and similar promotions and to administer these activities. Some of these activities have additional rules, which may contain additional information about how we use and disclose your Personal Information. We suggest that you read any such rules carefully, as you will be bound by them if you choose to participate.
  • To facilitate social sharing functionality.
  • To allow you to send messages to another person through the Services. By using this functionality, you are telling us that you have the right to provide us with your friend’s name and email address.
  • For our business purposes, such as data analysis, crash or other error remediation and prevention (e.g., “bug” fixes), audits, fraud monitoring and prevention, developing new products, enhancing, improving, or modifying our Services, identifying usage trends, delivering and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns (e.g., ads on our or third-party platforms, marketing emails, and measuring effectiveness and attribution in relation thereto), and operating and expanding our business activities.
  • As we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your state or country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process and to prevent, detect, or suppress abuse, fraud, or criminal activity; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities and self-regulatory organizations, including public and government authorities and self-regulatory organizations outside your state or country of residence; (d) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations, assets, or interests or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, cybersecurity, safety, or property, or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
  • To aggregate such information such that it is no longer Personal Information and thus able to be used for any purpose subject to applicable law.
  • As otherwise disclosed to you upon notice or with your consent.


How Personal Information May Be Disclosed


Your Personal Information may be disclosed or transferred to the following entities. With the exception of our corporate affiliates and service providers, these entities are not controlled by us and Personal Information disclosed to them is subject to the applicable entity’s privacy policy and security practices. Therefore, we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any entity whose products or services you purchase using the Services:

  • To our corporate affiliates, parent companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control with us worldwide for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Alphafares is responsible for the management of the jointly-used Personal Information.
  • To our third-party travel-related suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, and car rental companies, so that they may provide the products and services that you book or purchase using the Services.
  • To other travel-related companies with whom we partner to provide a portion of the Services, such as airline consolidators or aggregators, other travel agencies providing access to their travel-related inventory via the Services, and travel insurance providers.
  • To our business partners, whose products or services may be offered on the Services (such as via advertisements), who may display ads on their own services, who referred you to the Services from another website or online service, or to whose website or online service the Services link. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of each such website or online service.
  • To our third-party service providers who provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, advertising technology services, payment processing, order fulfillment, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing, and other services. The information we provide to third parties service providers is subject to confidentiality obligations and is intended to be used solely for the purpose(s) permitted thereby.
  • To third-party sponsors or operators of surveys, sweepstakes, contests, and similar promotions.
  • To identify you to anyone to whom you send messages through the Services. You may also choose to disclose your Personal Information on message boards, chat, profile pages, blogs, and other services to which you are able to post information and materials. Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public. We urge you to be very careful when deciding to disclose any information on the Services.
  • Subject to your social media account settings, to your friends associated with your social media account, to other website users, and to your social media account provider, in connection with your social sharing activity, such as if you connect your social media account to your Services account or log into your Services account from your social media account. By connecting your Services account and your social media account, you authorize us to share information with your social media account provider, and you understand that the use of the information we share will be governed by the social media site’s privacy policy. If you do not want your Personal Information shared with other users or with your social media account provider, please do not connect your social media account with your Services account, and do not participate in social sharing on the Services.
  • In the event of a merger, reorganization, dissolution, or similar corporate event, or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, we expect that the information that we have collected, including Personal Information, would be transferred to the surviving entity in a merger or the acquiring entity. All such transfers shall be subject to our commitments with respect to the privacy and confidentiality of such Personal Information as set forth in our Privacy Policy.
  • As we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your state or country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process and to prevent, detect, or suppress abuse, fraud, or criminal activity; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities and self-regulatory organizations, including public and government authorities and self-regulatory organizations outside your state or country of residence; (d) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations, assets, or interests or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.


THIRD-PARTY SERVICES


This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third-party supplier or intermediary, any third party operating any site or service to which the Services link, or any third party that includes a widget on the Services (for example, the Facebook Like button or share buttons). The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure, or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider, or device manufacturer, including with respect to any Personal Information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with the Services.


We May Also Use Your Personal Information For Several Reasons Including But Not Limited To:

  • confirm your reservations with respective service providers;
  • keep you informed of the transaction status;
  • send booking confirmations either via sms or Whatsapp or any other messaging service;
  • send any updates or changes to your booking(s);
  • allow our customer service to contact you, if necessary;
  • customize the content of our website, mobile site and mobile app;
  • request for reviews of products or services or any other improvements;


MORE ON ADVERTISING


We, and third-party advertising companies (e.g., advertising technology companies like ad servers, retargeting providers, or measurement providers, social media platforms), use information that we receive about you (e.g., that you provide to us or that is collected about your use of the Services, or that we receive from third parties) to serve advertisements more relevant to your interests, the content on which the ads will appear, or audiences similar to you, to optimize advertising campaigns, as well as provide analytics or advertising-related services such as reporting, market research, and measurement/attribution. More broadly, the information collected may be used by us, and these third parties, to better understand your interests and preferences.

The information used for these advertising-related practices is typically collected through tracking technologies, such as cookies, web beacons/pixels, SDKs, and APIs, and is used to identify you across devices. In some cases, we may also share a common identifier, such as an email address (typically in hashed or encrypted format), to third-party advertising partners as part of such practices.

If you would like more information about your choices in relation to interest-based advertising on web and mobile browsers, please visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp and http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

You may download the AppChoices app at www.aboutads.info/appchoices to learn more about your choices in relation to mobile apps. Further, if you do not want to receive targeted ads on your social networks, you may be able to adjust your advertising preferences through your settings on those networks’ properties. Note that the links in this paragraph reference self-regulatory programs and we may not use companies that participate in such programs. Further, we are not responsible for the effectiveness of, or compliance with, any third parties’ opt-out options or programs, or the accuracy of their statements regarding those options or programs.


SECURITY


We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of your account has been compromised), please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.


OPT-OUT OF MARKETING EMAILS

You will occasionally receive e-mail updates from us about fare sales in your area, special offers, new Alphafares services, and other noteworthy items. We hope you will find these updates interesting and informative. If you wish not to receive them, please click on the “unsubscribe” link or follow the instructions in each e-mail message or email us at care@alphafares.com


COOKIES AND SESSION DATA

Cookies:

Alphafares uses cookies to personalize your experience on the Website and the advertisements that maybe displayed. Alphafares’s use of cookies is similar to that of any other reputable online companies.

Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your device’s hard drive. Cookies allow us to serve you better and more efficiently. Cookies also allow ease of access, by logging you in without having to type your login name each time (only your password is needed); we may also use such cookies to display any advertisement(s) to you while you are on the Website or to send you offers (or similar emails – provided you have not opted out of receiving such emails) focusing on destinations which may be of your interest.

A cookie may also be placed by our advertising servers, or third party advertising companies. Such cookies are used for purposes of tracking the effectiveness of advertising served by us on any website, and also to use aggregated statistics about your visits to the Website in order to provide advertisements in the Website or any other website about services that may be of potential interest to you. The third party advertising companies or advertisement providers may also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of the advertisements. All such information is anonymous. This anonymous information is collected through the use of a pixel tag, which is an industry standard technology and is used by all major websites. They may use this anonymous information about your visits to the Website in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. No Personal Information is collected during this process. The information so collected during this process, is anonymous, and does not link online actions to a User

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. Of course, by changing the options on your web browser or using certain software programs, you can control how and whether cookies will be accepted by your browser. Alphafares supports your right to block any unwanted Internet activity, especially that of unscrupulous websites. However, blocking Alphafares cookies may disable certain features on the Website, and may hinder an otherwise seamless experience to purchase or use certain services available on the Website. Please note that it is possible to block cookie activity from certain websites while permitting cookies from websites you trust.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION


In addition to the circumstances described above, Alphafares may disclose User’s Personal Information if required to do so:

  • by law, required by any enforcement authority for investigation, by court order or in reference to any legal process;
  • to conduct our business;
  • for regulatory, internal compliance and audit exercise(s)
  • to secure our systems; or
  • to enforce or protect our rights or properties of Alphafares or any or all of its affiliates, associates, employees, directors or officers or when we have reason to believe that disclosing Personal Information of User(s) is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing interference with our rights or properties, whether intentionally or otherwise, or when anyone else could be harmed by such activities.

Such disclosure and storage may take place without your knowledge. In that case, we shall not be liable to you or any third party for any damages howsoever arising from such disclosure and storage.

USER GENERATED CONTENT


Alphafares provides an option to its users to post their experiences by way of reviews, ratings and general poll questions. The customers also have an option of posting questions w.r.t a service offered by Alphafares or post answers to questions raised by other users. Alphafares may also hire a third party to contact you and gather feedback about your recent booking with Alphafares. Though the participation in the feedback process is purely optional, you may still receive emails, notifications (app, sms, Whatsapp or any other messaging service) for you to share your review(s), answer questions posted by other users or a. The reviews may be written or in a video format. The reviews written or posted may also be visible on other travel or travel related platforms.

The UGC that Alphafares collects may be of the following kinds:

  • Review and Ratings
  • Question and Answers
  • Crowd Source Data Collection (poll questions).

Each User who posts review or ratings, Q&A, photographs shall have a profile, which other Users will be able to access. Other Users may be able to view the number of trips, reviews written, questions asked and answered and photographs posted.


RETENTION PERIOD


We will retain your Personal Information for the period that we deem necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.


USE OF THE SERVICES BY MINORS


The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we request that they not provide Personal Information through the Services.

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY


We reserve the rights to revise the Privacy Policy from time to time to suit various legal, business and customer requirement. We will duly notify the users as may be necessary.

You may always submit concerns regarding this Privacy Policy via email to us at care@alphafares.com. Alphafares shall endeavor to respond to all reasonable concerns and inquires.


Privacy Policy (EU, UK and US)

Introduction:


Alphafares (OPC) Private Limited (hereinafter referred as ‘Alphafares’ or ‘the Company’ or ‘we’) is committed to our client’s privacy and security and to taking steps designed to secure your personal and financial information. We believe your private details should be kept just that and when you share personal information with us, we will make all reasonable endeavours to keep your details secure and private. We are committed to ensuring that your personal information is protected.

This document describes how we use and process your personal data, provided in a readable and transparent manner. It also tells you what rights you can exercise in relation to your personal data and how you can contact us. Please also read our Cookie Statement, which tells you how Alphafares uses cookies and other similar tracking technologies.

The processing of personal data when using the Services

Alphafares collects and uses information you provide to us. When you make a reservation, you are (at a minimum) asked for your name and email address.

Depending on the reservation, we may also ask for your home address, telephone number, payment information, date of birth, current location (in the case of on-demand services), the names of the people travelling/staying with you and any preferences you might have for your trip/stay (such as dietary or accessibility requirements). In some cases, you may also be able to check-in online with the Booking agency, for which we will ask you to share passport information or a driving license and signatures.

If you need to contact our customer service team, contact your booking agency through us, or reach out to us in a different way (such as social media or via a chatbot) we’ll collect information from you there, too. This applies whether you are contacting us with feedback or asking for help using our services.

You might also be invited to write reviews to help inform others about the experiences you had on your trip/stay. When you write a review on the Alphafares platform, we’ll collect any information you’ve included, along with your display name.

If you create a user account, we’ll also store your personal settings, uploaded photos, and reviews of previous bookings. This saved data can be used to help you plan and manage future reservations or benefit from other features only available to account holders (such as incentives or other benefits).

Personal data you give us about others

Of course, you might not simply be making a reservation for yourself. You might be taking a trip/stay with other people or making a reservation on someone else’s behalf. In both those scenarios, you will provide their details as part of the reservation.

If you have a Alphafares for Business account, you can keep an address book there to make it easier to plan and manage business travel/stay arrangements for others.

In some cases, you might use Alphafares to share information with others. This can take the form of sharing a Wishlist, taking part in a travel community or participating in a referral program, as described when you use the relevant feature.

At this point, we have to make it clear that it’s your responsibility to ensure that the person or people you have provided personal data about are aware that you’ve done so, and that they have understood and accepted how Alphafares uses their information (as described in this Privacy Policy).

Personal data we collect automatically.

Whether or not you end up making a reservation, when you visit our websites or apps, we automatically collect certain information. This includes your IP address, the date and time you accessed our services, and information about your computer’s hardware and software (such as the operating system, the internet browser used, software/application version data and your language settings). We also collect information about clicks and which pages have been shown to you.

If you’re using a mobile device, we collect data that identifies the device, as well as data about your device-specific settings and characteristics, app crashes and other system activity. When you make a booking arrangement using this kind of device, our system registers how you made your reservation (on which website), and/or which site you came from when you entered the Alphafares website or app.

Personal data we receive from other sources.

It’s not just the things you tell us, though – we may also receive information about you from other sources. These include business partners, such as affiliate partners, subsidiaries of the Alphafares corporate group, other companies in the Alphafares (OPC) Private Limited. corporate group and other independent third parties.

Anything we receive from these partners may be combined with information provided by you. For example, Alphafares Reservation services are not only made available via Alphafares and the Alphafares apps but are also integrated into services of affiliate partners you can find online. When you use any of these services, you provide the reservation details to our business partners who then forward your details to us.

We also integrate with third party service providers to facilitate payments between you and booking agencies. These service providers share payment information so we can administer and manage your Booking arrangement, making sure everything goes as smoothly as possible for you.

Additionally, we collect information in the regrettable case that we receive a complaint about you from a Booking agency, for example in the case of misconduct.

Another way we might receive data about you, is through the communication services integrated into our platforms. These communication services offer you a way to contact the booking agency you’ve booked with to discuss your stay. In some cases, we receive metadata about these communication activities (such as who you are, where you called from, and the date and length of the call).


Why do we collect and use your personal data?


We use the information collected about you for a variety of purposes. Your personal data may be used in the following ways:


  • Booking Arrangement: First and foremost, we use your personal data to complete and administer your online booking arrangement– which is essential for us to provide this service for you. This includes sending you communications that relate to your booking arrangement, such as confirmations, modifications, and reminders. In some cases, this may also include processing your personal data to enable online check-in with the booking agency or processing personal data in relation to damage deposits.
  • Customer service: We provide international customer service from our local offices in more than twenty languages, and we’re here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sharing relevant details, such as reservation information or information about your user account with our global customer service staff allows us to respond when you need us. This includes helping you to contact the right booking agency and responding to any questions you might have about your booking arrangement (or any other queries, for that matter).
  • Account facilities: Alphafares users can create an account on our website or apps. We use the information you give us to administer this account, allowing you to do several useful things. You can manage your booking arrangements, take advantage of unique offers, make future booking arrangements easily and manage your personal settings.



Managing personal settings gives you the ability to keep and share lists, share photos, easily see trip/stay Services you’ve searched for and check travel-related information you’ve provided. You can also see any reviews you’ve written.

If you want to, you can share certain information as part of your user account, by creating a public profile under your own first name or a screen name you choose.

If you’re a Alphafares for Business account holder, you can also save contact details under that account, manage business reservations and link other account holders to the same Alphafares for Business account.

Online groups: We give account holders the chance to connect and interact with each other through online groups or forums, such as travel communities.

Marketing activities: We use your information for marketing activities. These activities include:

  • Using your contact information to send you regular news about travel-related products and services. You can unsubscribe from email marketing communications quickly, easily and at any time. All you need to do is click on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link included in each newsletter or other communication.
  • Based on your information, individualised offers might be shown to you on the Alphafares website, in mobile apps or on third-party websites/apps (including social media sites) and the content of the site displayed to you might be personalised. These could be offers that you can book directly on the Alphafares website, on co-branded sites, or other third-party offers or products we think you might find interesting.
  • When you participate in other promotional activities (such as sweepstakes, referral programmes or competitions), only relevant information will be used to administer these promotions.



Communicating with you: There might be other times when we get in touch, including by email, by chatbot, by post, by phone or by texting you. Which method we choose depends on the contact information you’ve previously shared.

We process the communications you send to us. There could be several reasons for this, including:

Responding to and handling any requests you or your booking agency have made. Alphafares also offers customers and booking agencies several ways to exchange information, requests, and comments about Booking agencies and existing booking arrangements via Alphafares.

  • Providing the best price applicable to you, depending on where you are based: When you search our apps or website, for example to find an accommodation, a rental car, or a flight, we process your IP address to confirm whether you are in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in another country. We do this to offer you the best price for the region (EEA) or country (non-EEA) where you are based.
  • Customer reviews and other destination-related information: During and after your trip/stay, we might invite you to submit a review. We can also make it possible for the people you’re travelling/staying with or whom you’ve booked a reservation for to do this instead. This invite asks for information about the booking agency or the destination.
  • Call monitoring: When you make calls to our customer service team, Alphafares uses an automated telephone number detection system to match your telephone number to your existing reservations. This can help save time for both you and our customer service staff. However, our customer service staff may still ask for authentication, which helps to keep your reservation details confidential.
    • During calls with our customer service team, live listening might be carried out or calls might be recorded for quality control and training purposes. This includes the usage of the recordings for the handling of complaints, legal claims and for fraud detection.
    • We do not record all calls. In the case that a call is recorded, each recording is kept for a limited amount of time before being automatically deleted. This is unless we have determined that it’s necessary to keep the recording for fraud investigation or legal purposes. You can read more about this below.
    • Promotion of a safe and trustworthy service: To create a trustworthy environment for you, the people you bring with you on your trip/stay, Alphafares’s business partners and our booking agencies, we continuously analyse and use certain personal data to detect and prevent fraud and other illegal or unwanted activities.
    • Legal purposes: Finally, in certain cases, we may need to use your information to handle and resolve legal claims and disputes, for regulatory investigations and compliance, to enforce the Alphafares online reservation service terms of use or to comply with lawful requests from law enforcement.



Data sharing with third parties



In certain circumstances, we’ll share your personal data with third parties. These third parties include:

The booking agency you booked: To complete your booking arrangement, we transfer relevant reservation details to the booking agency you have booked. This is one of the most essential things we do for you.

Depending on the booking arrangement and the Booking agency, the details we share can include your name, contact and payment details, the names of the people accompanying you and any other information or preferences you specified when you made your booking arrangement.

In certain cases, we also provide some additional historical information about you to the Booking agency. This includes whether you’ve already booked with them in the past, the number of completed bookings you’ve made with Alphafares, a confirmation that no misconduct has been reported about you, the percentage of bookings you’ve cancelled in the past or whether you’ve given reviews about past bookings.

If you have a query about your trip/stay, we may contact the booking agency to handle your request. Unless payment is made during the booking process, via the Alphafares website, we will forward your credit card details to the booking agency for further handling (assuming you’ve provided us with those details).

In cases of Booking arrangement-related claims or disputes, we may provide the booking agency with your contact details and other information about the booking process, as needed to resolve the situation. This can include, but might not be limited to, your email address and a copy of your reservation confirmation as proof that a booking arrangement was made or to confirm reasons for cancellation.

For completeness, booking agencies will further process your personal data outside of the control of Alphafares. Booking agencies may also ask for additional personal data, for instance to provide additional services, or to comply with local restrictions. If available, please read the Privacy Statement of the booking agency to understand how they process your personal data.

  • Connectivity Providers: Please note that certain booking agencies may need us to share your personal data with a contracted Connectivity Provider to be able to finalise and administer your reservation. Connectivity providers act on behalf of booking agencies and help them to manage their reservations.
  • Your local Alphafares office: To support the use of Alphafares services, your details may be shared with subsidiaries of the Alphafares corporate group, including for customer service.
  • Third-party service providers: We use service providers from outside of the Alphafares corporate group to support us in providing our services. These include:
    • Customer support
    • Market research
    • Fraud detection and prevention (including anti-fraud screening)
    • Insurance claims
    • Payment



We use third parties to process payments, handle chargebacks or provide billing collection services. When a chargeback is requested for your booking arrangement, either by you or by the holder of the credit card used to make your reservation, we need to share certain reservation details with the payment service provider and the relevant financial institution so they can handle the chargeback. This may also include a copy of your reservation confirmation, or the IP address used to make your reservation. We may share information with relevant financial institutions if we consider it strictly necessary for fraud detection and prevention purposes.

  • Marketing services: We share personal data with advertising partners, including your email address, as part of marketing Alphafares services via third parties (to ensure that relevant advertisements are shown to the right audience). We use techniques such as hashing to enable the matching of your email address with an existing customer database, so that your email address cannot be used for other purposes. For information on other personalised advertisements and your choices, please read our cookie policy.
  • Advertising partners: We use advertising partners, such as metasearch providers, to allow you to compare our offers with offers from other Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). When you make a reservation on Alphafares after using an advertising partner, we will send the details of the reservation that you made on Alphafares to that partner.
    • Advertisers from Third Parties and Links to Other Websites: The Alphafares Services may have ads from third parties and links to other websites and apps. Advertising partners from outside our site may get information about you when you use their services, ads, and content.
    • Use of Third-Party Advertising Services: We give ad companies information that helps them show you more useful and relevant ads and figure out how well they’re doing. When we do this, we never give out your name or any other information that could be used to find you. We instead use an advertising identifier like a cookie, a device identifier, or a code that we get from encrypting other information, like an email address, in a way that can’t be reversed. Even though we don’t tell ad companies exactly what you searched for, we may give them an advertising identifier and an idea of how much the ads they show you are worth so they can show you more appropriate and effective ads. You may also see ads from other advertisers that are more useful to you from some ad companies.
  • Competent authorities: We disclose personal data to law enforcement to the extent that it is required by law or is strictly necessary for the prevention, detection or prosecution of criminal acts and fraud, or if we are otherwise legally obliged to do so. We may need to further disclose personal data to competent authorities to protect and defend our rights or properties, or the rights and properties of our business partners.
  • Business partners: We work with many business partners around the world. These business partners distribute and advertise Alphafares services, including the services and products of our booking agencies. When you make a reservation on one of our business partners’ websites or apps, certain personal data that you give them, such as your name and email address, your address, payment details and other relevant information, will be forwarded to us to finalise and manage your booking arrangement. If customer service is provided by the business partner, Alphafares will share relevant reservation details with them (as and when needed) to provide you with appropriate and efficient support.



When you make a reservation through one of our business partners’ websites, the business partners can receive certain parts of your personal data related to the specific reservation and your interactions on these partner websites. This is for their commercial purposes. When you make a reservation on a business partners’ website, please also take the time to read their privacy notice if you’d like to understand how they process your personal data.

For fraud detection and prevention purposes, we may also exchange information about our users with business partners – but only when strictly necessary If an insurance claim is made, concerning you and a Booking agency, we may provide the necessary data (including personal data) to the insurance company for further processing.

Partner Offer: We may present you with a ‘Partner Offer. When you book a stay marked ‘Partner Offer,’ your reservation will be facilitated by a booking agency who is separate from the accommodation you’re booking. As part of the reservation process, we’ll need to share some relevant personal data with this business partner. If you book a Partner Offer, please review the information provided in the booking process or check your reservation confirmation for more information about the booking agency and how your personal data will be further processed by them.

Alphafares is a global business. The data that we collect from you, as described in this Privacy Statement, could be made accessible from, transferred to, or stored in countries which may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. In such cases, we will protect your data as described in this Privacy Statement.

This may also be applicable if you are in the European Economic Area (EEA). Countries your data may be transferred to may not have laws that provide the same level of protection for your personal data as laws within the EEA. Where this is the case, we will put appropriate safeguards in place to make sure that these transfers comply with European privacy law.

When your data is transferred to third-party service providers, we establish and implement appropriate contractual, organisational, and technical measures with them. This is done by putting in place Standard Contractual Clauses as approved by the European Commission, by examining the countries to which the data may be transferred, and by imposing specific technical and organisational security measures.

In certain specific cases, we transfer your data outside the EEA because it is in your interest or is necessary to conclude or perform the contract, we have with you. For instance, when you make a reservation on Alphafares or through a business partner, we might need to transfer your data to a booking agency or business partner who is located outside the EEA

How does Alphafares process communications that you and your booked agency may send via Alphafares?

Alphafares can offer you and booking agencies several ways to communicate about the trip/stay Services and existing booking arrangements, directing the communications via Alphafares. This also allows you and your booking agency to contact Alphafares with questions about your booking arrangement through the website, our apps, and the other channels that we make available.

Alphafares accesses communications and may use automated systems to review, scan, and analyse communications for the following reasons:

  • Security purposes;
  • Fraud prevention;
  • Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;
  • Investigations of potential misconduct;
  • Product development and improvement;
  • Research;
  • Customer engagement (including to provide you with information and offers that we believe may be of interest to you)
  • Customer or technical support



We reserve the right to review or block the delivery of communications that we, in our sole discretion, believe might contain malicious content or spam, or pose a risk to you, booking agencies, Alphafares or others.

All communications sent or received using Alphafares communication tools will be received and stored by Alphafares. Booking agencies and Business partners you’ve booked a booking arrangement through might also choose to communicate with you directly by email or through other channels that Alphafares does not control.



How does Alphafares make use of social media?



At Alphafares, we use social media in separate ways. We use it to facilitate the use of online reservation services, but also to promote our booking agencies’ travel-related products and services and to advertise, improve and facilitate our own services.

Note that the use of social media features can result in the exchange of personal data between Alphafares and the social media service provider, as we describe below. You are free not to use any of the social media features available to you.

  • Sign in with your social media account. We offer you the opportunity to sign in to a Alphafares user account with one of your social media accounts. We do this to reduce the need for you to remember different usernames and passwords for different online services. After you’ve signed in once, you’ll be able to use your social media account to sign into your Alphafares account. You can decouple your Alphafares user account from your chosen social media account any time you want to.
  • Integration of social media plugins. We have also integrated social media plugins into the Alphafares website and apps. This means that when you click or tap on one of the buttons (such as Facebook’s ‘Like’ button), certain information is shared with these social media providers. If you’re logged into your social media account when you click or tap one of these buttons, your social media provider may relate this information to your social media account. Depending on your settings, they might also display these actions on your social media profile, to be seen by others in your network.
  • Other social media services and features. We may integrate other social media services (like social media messaging) for you to interact with Alphafares or with your contacts about our services. We may maintain social media accounts and offer apps on several social media sites. Whenever you connect with Alphafares through social media, your social media service provider may allow you to share information with us.



If you choose to share, your social media provider will inform you about which information will be shared. For example, when you sign into a Alphafares user account using your social media account, certain information from that account may be shared with Alphafares. This includes your email address, your age, and the profile pictures you’ve saved – depending on what you authorise in your social media account.

When you register with a Alphafares social media app or connect to a social media messaging service without a Alphafares user account, the information you choose to share with us may include the basic information available in your social media profile (including your email address, status updates and a list of your contacts).

We’ll use this information to help provide you with the service you requested – for example, to forward a message you want to send to your contacts, or to create a personalised user experience in the app or on our websites. It means that if you want us to, we can tailor our services to suit your needs, connecting you and your friends with the best travel destinations and analysing and improving our travel-related services.

Your social media provider will be able to tell you more about how they use and process your data when you connect to Alphafares through them. This can include combining the personal data they collect when you use Alphafares through them with information they collect when you use other online platforms you have also linked to your social media account.

If you decide to connect using your Facebook or Google account, please review the following links for information about how these parties use data they receive: Facebook and Google.

What security and retention procedures does Alphafares put in place to safeguard your personal data?

We have procedures in place to prevent unauthorised access to, and the misuse of, personal data.

We use appropriate business systems and procedures to protect and safeguard the personal data you give us. We also use security procedures and technical and physical restrictions for accessing and using the personal data on our servers. Only authorised personnel are permitted to access personal data in the course of their work.

We’ll keep your personal data for as long as is necessary to enable you to use our services or to provide our services to you (including maintaining any Alphafares user accounts you may have), to comply with applicable laws, resolve any disputes and otherwise to allow us to conduct our business, including to detect and prevent fraud and/or other illegal activities. All personal data we keep about you as a Alphafares customer is covered by this Privacy Statement.

For added protection, we strongly recommend that you set up two-factor authentication for your Alphafares user account. This adds an extra authentication step, to make sure that anyone who gets hold of your username and password (e.g., through phishing or social engineering) won’t be able to get into your account. You can set this up in the Security section of your account settings.

How does Alphafares treat personal data belonging to children?

Our services aren’t intended for children under 16 years old, and we’ll never collect their data unless it’s provided by (and with the consent of) a parent or guardian. The limited circumstances we might need to collect the personal data of children under 16 years old include: as part of a reservation, the purchase of other travel-related services, or in other exceptional circumstances (such as features addressed to families). Again, this will only be used and collected as provided by a parent or guardian and with their consent.

If we become aware that we’ve processed the information of a child under 16 years old without the valid consent of a parent or guardian, we will delete it.


Your rights

You have the following rights with respect to your personal data:



General rights

You have the right to information, access, correction, deletion, restriction of processing, objection to processing, and data portability. If processing is based on your consent, you have the right to revoke it at any time.

Rights to object to processing of data based on legitimate interests

Article 21(1) EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) gives you the right to object at any time for reasons arising out of your particular situation against the processing of personal data relating to you when your data is processed under Article 6(1)(e) or Article 6 (1)(f) GDPR. This also applies to profiling. If you object, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can establish compelling and legitimate grounds for processing that outweigh your interests, rights, and freedoms, or if the processing aids the enforcing, exercising, or defending of legal claims.

Rights to object to direct marketing

If we process your personal data for the purpose of direct marketing Article 21(2) GDPR gives you the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of direct marketing; this also applies to profiling, as far as it is associated with direct marketing.

If you object to processing for the purpose of direct marketing, we will no longer process your personal data for this purpose.

The Data Rights of the Citizens of California

You may have certain data rights under state privacy laws, such as the ability to request information regarding the manner in which Alphafares collects your personal information, to obtain your personal information in a portable format, and to have your personal information amended or deleted.

Additionally, you may have the right to opt out of the processing of your personal data for targeted advertising, by managing your browser settings or by contacting us at care@alphafares.com.

Consent is required for customers under the age of 16 to be exposed to cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not serve cross-context behavioural ads in customers’ child profiles.

If we deny a data request, you to appeal the denial of any of these rights by completing a form that we will furnish you with. Depending on the data options selected, specific services might be restricted or inaccessible. We will typically request that you authenticate your request using the contact information you have already provided in order to safeguard your Alphafares account.

No sale of personal information.

Personal information of consumers, as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Rights Act, has not been sold by Alphafares as of now.

Sensitive Personal Information Disclosure.

Alphafares gathers and divulges certain types of data for some business purposes which includes “sensitive personal information” but this Sensitive personal information is not utilized or disclosed by Alphafares for any purpose that is not explicitly authorized by the California Consumer Privacy Rights Act.

Retention Disclosure

In order to facilitate your ongoing utilization of Alphafares Services, we shall retain your personal information for the duration necessary to fulfil the objectives outlined in this Privacy Notice, in accordance with legal requirements, as otherwise instructed to you.

Non-discrimination Declaration

Any consumer who exercises their rights under the California Consumer Privacy Rights Act will not be subject to discrimination at Alphafares.

How can you exercise your rights and control the personal data you’ve given to Alphafares?

We want you to be in control of how your personal data is used by us. You can do this in the following ways:

  • You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you,
  • You can inform us of any changes to your personal data, or you can ask us to correct any of the personal data we hold about you. As explained below, you can make some of these changes yourself, online, when you have a user account,
  • In certain situations, you can ask us to erase, block, or restrict the processing of the personal data we hold about you, or object to ways in which we are using your personal data,
  • In certain situations, you can also ask us to send the personal data you have given us to a third party,
  • Where we are using your personal data based on your consent, you are entitled to withdraw that consent at any time subject to applicable law, and
  • Where we process your personal data based on legitimate interest or the public interest, you have the right to object to that use of your personal data at any time, subject to applicable law.



We rely on you to make sure that your personal information is complete, accurate and current. Please do let us know about any changes to, or inaccuracies in, your personal information as soon as possible.

If you have a Alphafares user account, you can access a lot of your personal data through our website or apps. You’ll find the option to add, update or remove information we have about you in your account settings.

Contact by e-mail

When you contact us by e-mail, we will store the data you provide (your e-mail address, possibly your name and telephone number) so we can answer your questions. As far as we use our contact form to request entries that are not required for contacting you, we have always marked these as optional. This information serves to substantiate your inquiry and improve the handling of your request. Your message may be linked to various actions taken by you on the Alphafares website. Information collected will be solely used to provide you with support relating to your booking and better understand your feedback. A statement of this information is expressly provided on a voluntary basis and with your consent, art. 6 par. 1a GDPR. As far as this concerns information about communication channels (such as your e-mail address or telephone number), you also agree that we may also, where appropriate, contact you via this communication channel to answer your request. You may of course revoke this consent for the future at any time.

We delete the data that arises in this context after saving is no longer required, or limit processing if there are statutory retention requirements.

Use of cookies

Cookies will be stored on your device during the use of our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard drive assigned to the browser you use, and through which the place where the cookie is set accrues certain information. They serve to make the website more user-friendly and efficient overall. We also use cookies to be able to identify you in subsequent visits.

This website uses the following types of cookies, whose extent and function are explained in the following:

  • Persistent / Permanent cookies:Persistent cookies helps us recognise you as an existing user, so it’s easier for you to return to our sales channel without signing in again. After signing in, the persistent cookies stay on your browser and will be read when you return to our sales channel. These remain on your computer/device for a pre-defined period.
  • Session cookies:Session cookies only last for as long as the session exists, (they are erased when the user closes the browser).



Data transmission

When we use service providers who process data outside the EU/EEA, we use appropriate safeguards such as standard data protection clauses adopted by the EU, or an EU adequacy decision to transfer and process your personal data outside of the EU.



Data security



We have taken extensive technical and operational security precautions to protect your data from being accidentally or intentionally manipulated, lost, destroyed, or accessed by unauthorized persons. Our security measures are reviewed regularly and updated in keeping with technological advances.



Data Storage



We retain your personal data for as long as it is required for you to use our Services, to provide our Services to you, to comply with laws. We will anonymise and/or aggregate your data if we intend to use it for analytical statistical purposes over longer periods.

Data Retention



We will retain the personal information we collect from you where we have a justifiable business need to do so and/or for as long as is needed to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, legal, accounting, or other purposes).



Notice for Individuals Located in Europe



‘If you are in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom and/or Switzerland, the policies in this section are specific to you. They describe how we market to you, our legal bases for processing your information and your rights.’

This section only applies to individuals that access or use our Services while located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom and/or Switzerland (collectively “Europe”). We may ask you to identify which country you are in when you use some of the Services or we may rely on your IP address to identify in which country you are located. When we rely on your IP address, we cannot apply the terms of this section to any individual that masks or otherwise hides their location information from us so as not to appear located in Europe.

We are a controller regarding any personal information collected from individuals accessing or using our Services. A “controller” is an entity that determines the purposes for which and the way any personal information is processed.

  • Marketing. We will only contact individuals located in Europe by electronic means (including email or SMS) based on our legitimate interests, as permitted by applicable law or the individual’s consent. When we rely on legitimate interest, we will only send you information about our Services that are like those which were the subject of a previous offer or negotiations of an offer to you. If you do not want us to use your personal information in this way or to disclose your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. You can object to direct marketing at any time and free of charge. Direct marketing includes any communications to you that are only based on advertising or promoting products and services.
  • Legal Bases for Processing. Our legal bases for the processing activities identified in this Policy are:
    • We rely on our contract with you as our legal basis for processing in relation to the following: to provide and maintain our services, to provide customer support or respond to you, to enforce compliance with our Terms, agreements, or policies, and to share your information with service providers.
    • Depending on the specific circumstances, we rely on your consent or legitimate interest in relation to the following processing activities: to send you marketing and promotional emails, to advise you of other services, and to share your information with business partners, sponsors, or within our corporate organization.
    • We rely on legitimate interest in relation to the following processing activities: to personalize your experience, for research and development, and when we share your information with board members or volunteers or in relation to business transfers or bankruptcy.



How to contact us

Alphafares’s Data Protection Officer is responsible for monitoring compliance with relevant legislation in relation to the protection of personal data. Please contact us care@alphafares.com. You can contact us for any concerns or questions about your personal information, those we process or store.

Our cookie statement may also be updated from time to time. If these updates are substantial, particularly relevant to you or impact your data protection rights, we’ll contact you about them. However, we recommend that you visit this page regularly to stay up to date with any other (less substantial or relevant) updates.