Privacy Policy

Introduction

At Ocean Cottages we respect your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. 

This policy provides you with details about the personal information we collect, how it is used and shared, your choices regarding this information and applies to any users of our services.

The information may be gathered through our main website at http://www.ocean-cottages.com, via a telephone conversation or through any normal business activity used to support the provision of holiday rental and any associated services. 

Any reference in this policy to information or personal information is to "personal data" as defined under the General Data Protection Regulations. 

Please read this privacy policy carefully - by continuing to access or browse our websites, or by requesting the provision of services from us, you confirm that you have read and understood this privacy policy.

Who Are We

Ocean Cottages Limited is the data controller of the personal information we collect from you.  We are registered in England and Wales (registration number 08752818), and our registered office is at 69 High Street, Bideford, Devon, EX39 2AT.

Data Controllers

For your reference the data controller is:

Ocean Cottages Limited (company no 08752818) registered office at PO BOX 394, Barnstaple, EX32 3HJ, United Kingdom.

You can contact the Data controller representative, Jane Taylor, Director by email at info@ocean-cottages.com

The Personal Information We Collect About You

We collect the following categories of information:

1. Personal Information You Provide

When you are seeking to rent a property, to obtain further details about a potential holiday, or leave a review on a holiday you have taken we will usually collect the minimum information required to fulfil your needs. This information will probably include your name, contact details including email address and telephone number, payment details, date of birth, details of other members of your party plus information on your specific requirements to customise your holiday and deliver your specific requirements.

If you are letting or are seeking to let your property, the information we will usually collect is your name, contact details including email address and mobile number, bank account details and information on your property required to market it through our site.

If you are a supplier, or an employee of a supplier to Ocean Cottages Limited, then we will collect the minimum amount of specific personal data, which would usually include your name, your function and your business contact details to enable us to manage our business relationship.

2. Information Created When You Use Our Services

When using our services, the following types of information are gathered

Website use information
In order to improve our website and the service we provide to you, we record session data. This could include any holiday searches, shortlisted holidays, dates and times, your booking information and it may also include your device information and IP address.

Automatically recorded information (non-personal data) 
When you access the Ocean Cottages Web site, general non-personal information (Internet browser used, number of visits, average time spent on site, pages viewed) is recorded automatically (not as part of website maintenance). This information is used to gauge our Web site's appeal and to improve its content and functionality. Your data is not processed any further nor is it transmitted to third parties.

3 Information From Other Sources
It may be necessary for us to collect information relating to you or products you purchase from us from other sources, including:

• Marketing service providers including social media and search engines.
• Other businesses through whom we advertise our services
• Businesses which provide marketing lists and database providers who collect, collate and supply information to us.
• Consultants, such as recruitment agencies, who provide services to us.
• Our Business Partners who help us facilitate the services we provide, such as, email service providers, holiday review partners and payment providers
• Sources available publicly

We may combine information in our possession with Information from these sources.

How We Use, Share and Store Your Personal Information

1. Individuals Who Enquire about or Rent a Property

To fulfil your immediate and any potential future holiday booking or enquiry needs, we collect, store and use your personal details for legitimate business interests only. 

This allows you to be contacted about your booking or enquiry and it enables us to keep you updated with any opportunities, offers or developments which could be beneficial to you in the future.

We believe that your rights and freedom will not be unduly prejudiced by the storage and use of your information in this way.

In our capacity as the agent between: hirer and enquirer; and owner and renter of the property, we will only share the relevant personal information with the owner and renter which either secures your holiday booking or answers your holiday enquiry.  Any supplementary information that we pass on to the owner or renter on your behalf, will only be held as part of your booking record.

2. Individuals who seek to let, or let, a property

To market and let your property we collect, store and use your personal details as outlined in section 1 above for legitimate business interests only.

This allows you to be contacted about any current bookings or enquiries, and enables us to update you with offers, opportunities and developments which could be both interesting and beneficial in the future.

We believe that your rights and freedom will not be unduly prejudiced by the storage and use of your information in this way.

In our capacity as the agent between: hirer and enquirer; and owner and renter of the property, we will only share the relevant personal information with the owner and renter which either secures your holiday letting or answers your holiday enquiry.  Any supplementary information that we pass on to the hirer or enquirer on your behalf, will only be held as part of your letting record.

3. Business partners and Contractors

To maintain and manage the business relationship between Ocean Cottages and its business suppliers and customers, we collect, store and use the business contact details of individuals working with our business partners and contractors for legitimate business interests only.

We believe that your rights and freedom will not be unduly prejudiced by the storage and use of your information in this way.

4. Any Other Users Of Our Services And Sites

The purposes for which we collect, store and use your personal information are to provide you with any of your requested services and to make our site available to you.

Occasionally, we may use your personal information for purposes which are supplementary to the running of the sites and services, or which are necessary to make them operate more efficiently.  In those circumstances, we believe that your rights and freedom will not be unduly prejudiced by the storage and use of your information in this way.

These supplementary circumstances could include:

• keeping our websites, products and IT systems secure;
• investigating and improving the information that we collect;
• guaranteeing that our own systems, processes and procedures are as effective as possible;
• determining the effectiveness of our advertising and promotional campaigns and
• preventing and detecting fraud

On occasion we may be required to handle your personal information to comply with legal obligations. This could include:

• a request for information to demonstrate compliance regarding tax and national insurance laws which relate to the payment of personal service company contractors;
• immigration laws;
• a request to disclose personal information to regulatory bodies;

5. Anonymous data

We collect data from visitors to our website to assist with understanding the effectiveness of our marketing and website performance.  This data is anonymous and as such no individual will be identifiable during this process.

Who do we share your personal information with and how do we share it

We will only share your information in the following circumstances:

• Merger or acquisition: If we are merged with or acquired by another company we may need to transfer personal information about you.  You will be notified of any such merger or acquisition via email and our website and informed of any uses of your personal information and the choices you have regarding that information.
• Compliance with Laws and legal proceedings:  In response to legal process or court orders; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; when we have a reasonable belief that there have been illegal activities; violations of our terms of use; potential threats to the physical safety of any person; suspected fraud or as otherwise required by law.
• Third-party service providers: for third party service companies to facilitate or provide services on our behalf including those who track our customers' use of our services and sites and our IT support providers. These companies are contracted to use your personal information only as required to provide the relevant services to us and are required to maintain full security and confidentiality.

How Do We Protect Your Personal Information

We want you to feel confident about using our Online Services and we are committed to protecting the information we collect. While no Online Services can guarantee absolute security, we have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information that we collect and process about you. For example, we use encryption when transmitting your sensitive personal information between your system and ours, and we employ firewalls and intrusion detection systems to help prevent unauthorised persons from gaining access to your information. In addition, only authorised employees are permitted to access personal information, and they may only do so for permitted business functions.

Cookies

Cookies are tiny files that are temporarily stored on your hard disk, enabling our site to recognise your computer the next time you visit the Ocean Cottages web site. Ocean Cottages uses cookies and reserves the right to use Cookies exclusively to collect information concerning the use of our Web site. Cookies contain no personally identifiable data, so the protection of your privacy is ensured. Depending on your settings, your Internet browser will automatically accept Cookies. However, you may change your browser settings at any time and choose to access Ocean Cottages web site without accepting Cookies.

How Do We Retain Your Data

We will only retain your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure or your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

What Are Your Rights

In accordance with applicable law, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information.  Please find below more details and information on how and when you can exercise your rights. We will respond to your request within one month but have the right to extend this period to two months.

• The right to request access to any personal data we hold about you. This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

• The right to update your personal information if the data is inaccurate. You may also make additions to any incomplete data we have, according to the purposes of the processing.

• The right to restrict the processing of personal data, if:

• The right to request deletion of your personal data if:

• The right to object to the processing of your personal data. We will comply with your request, unless we have a compelling overriding legitimate interest for processing or we need to continue processing your personal data to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

• The right to data portability. You may make a request to receive your personal data. You may also request that we send this personal data to a third party, where feasible. You only have this right if it regards personal data you have provided to us, the processing is based on consent or necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us or the processing is done by automated means.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, you can do so by emailing a request to info@ocean-cottages.com.

We will not charge an initial fee to access your personal data or to exercise any of the other rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and verify your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Links to other Web sites 

This statement on privacy protection applies to www.ocean-cottages.com hosted by Ocean Cottages. The Web pages in this homepage may contain links to other providers within and outside the Ocean Cottages website, to which this privacy protection statement does not extend. When you leave the Ocean Cottages Web site, please be aware of and read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information.

Online Payments and Transactions 

All online payments made on this Website are handled by SagePay. Please contact us to find out more information.

Adverts and Sponsored Links

This website may contain sponsored links and adverts. These will typically be served through our advertising partners, to whom may have detailed privacy policies relating directly to the adverts they serve.

Clicking on any such adverts will send you to the advertisers' website through a referral program which may use cookies and will tracks the number of referrals sent from this website. This may include the use of cookies which may in turn be saved on your computer's hard drive. Users should therefore note they click on sponsored external links at their own risk and this website and it's owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.

Social Media Platforms

Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and it's owners participate on are custom to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively.

Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and communicate / engage upon them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. This website nor it's owners will ever ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and encourage users wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact them through primary communication channels such as by telephone or email.

This website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. Users are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track and save your request to share a web page respectively through your social media platform account.

Notification of changes 

Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted to this privacy statement, the homepage, and any other places we deem appropriate. 

Enquiries

All enquiries relating to our processing of personal information should be directed to Jane Taylor via info@ocean-cottages.com