Privacy Policy

Travelzone AG ("We") is the data controller responsible for the collection and processing of your personal data in connection with its services and activities. Our mission is to provide our customers with a comprehensive range of travel services.

In this privacy policy, we explain how we process your personal data, what rights you have and how you can control and manage them. Our data processing may be covered by other data protection notices, in particular those contained in the General (Travel) Terms and Conditions, or may be apparent from the circumstances or regulated by law.

This Privacy Policy complies with the requirements of Swiss data protection law and - if and insofar as applicable - the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.

1. ARE YOU AFFECTED BY THIS NOTICE?
This Privacy Policy applies to you if you:
  • are one of our customers or have a contractual relationship with us;
  • are a fellow traveler of one of our customers;
  • are interested in our products or services and therefore provide us with your personal data (e.g. in an agency, on our websites and apps or at events) so that we can contact you.

If you provide us with personal data of other people, please ensure that you inform them about the disclosure of their personal data and ask them to read this privacy policy. We will ensure that we do the same whenever possible (e.g. if we have the contact details of the person concerned).
2. FOR WHAT PURPOSE AND ON WHAT LEGAL BASIS DO WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA?

2.1 Contract processing and legitimate interest

In this section, we explain the purpose for which we process your personal data and the legal basis for doing so. First and foremost, we use your personal data to perform a contract to which you are a party or to carry out pre-contractual measures at your request. However, we may also process your personal data in order to fulfill our legitimate interest or that of third parties.

In particular, your personal data will be processed if this is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract in order to

  • enter into a (travel) contract with you. We may process personal data in order to register you as a new customer, enter into a contract and perform this contract with you;
  • provide you with products and services that you have purchased under the relevant contract
  • carry out billing, invoicing and debt collection;
  • to provide you with services in connection with the preparation and execution of a trip
  • for insurance purposes;
  • to provide consultancy services;
  • to be able to provide assistance in the event of difficulties during the trip;
  • to provide you with access to our digital platforms. We may process personal data when you use our digital platforms for various purposes (e.g. to manage your personal information or to access travel information);
  • to provide access to our premises and facilities. We may process personal data when you visit our premises in order to carry out appropriate access and security checks;
  • to communicate with you. We may process personal data if you wish to contact us, if you ask us for information about our company or our services or if the contract needs to be updated;
  • to respond to your queries and support you;
  • manage the termination of the contract.

Where we base a processing activity on a legitimate interest, we will balance that interest against your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms to ensure that they are proportionate. As part of our business activities as a travel provider, we also use your personal data to

  • further develop our products and services;
  • improve cyber security, manage our platforms and websites and ensure business continuity
  • Implement the introduction of IT solutions;
  • carry out maintenance of IT systems during operation;
  • improve the automation and efficiency of our operations and customer services (e.g. automatically filling complaints, tracking your requests and improving your satisfaction based on personal data collected during our interactions with you, e.g. phone records, emails or chats)
  • enable the assertion of legal claims and defense in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings
  • organize competitions, promotions and conduct opinion polls and customer satisfaction surveys.

2.2 Advertising and marketing

If you are a customer and unless you object, we may send you offers for our products and services. We will ensure that these commercial offers relate to products or services that are relevant to your needs and complement the offers you have already taken advantage of. You can object to this at any time

2.3 Consent

For certain processing of personal data, we will inform you specifically and ask for your consent. You can of course withdraw your consent at any time.

In particular, we will ask for your consent for

  • The transfer of particularly sensitive personal data to third parties;
  • Tailoring our offers and products or services on the basis of a complex profile in order to predict your needs and behavior;
  • any electronic offers for products and services that are not similar to those you have purchased or for products and services from our trusted partners.

If necessary, we may ask you for further consent to process your personal data, but this will not affect any data processing that has already taken place.

3. WHAT TYPES OF PERSONAL DATA DO WE COLLECT?

We collect and use your personal data, i.e. any information that identifies you or makes it possible to identify you.

Depending on the type of product or service we provide to you and the interactions we have with you, we collect different types of personal data about you:

  • Contact information, (private and/or professional) postal address, e-mail address, telephone number;
  • Personal details, e.g. gender, birthday and age, marital status, nationality, passport details, etc.;
  • Lifestyle, e.g. hobbies and interests, travel;
  • Travel details, such as travel dates, itinerary/destination, airline, hotel, price, customer preferences, information about your fellow travelers, frequent flyer programs, etc;
  • Health data, e.g. information about health-related special needs or illnesses and accidents during a trip;
  • Financial data, e.g. payment information, credit card number, account details;
  • Data about your habits and preferences in relation to the use of our products and services (e.g. food preferences);
  • Data from our interactions with you, e.g. your comments, suggestions, needs collected during our exchanges with you in person at our locations and during telephone communication (call note or call recording), communication via email, chat, chatbot, exchanges on our social media and any complaints you may have. Your connection and tracking data (e.g. collected via cookies for non-advertising or analytical purposes on our websites), online services, other applications;
  • Data about your devices (cell phone, computer, tablet, etc.), such as IP address, technical data and unique identifiers;
  • Personalized login data or security features used to connect you to our website and apps.
4. WHO DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL DATA FROM?

We usually collect personal data directly from you. However, we may also collect it from other sources.

Sometimes we collect data from public sources:

  • Publications/databases provided by official authorities or third parties (e.g. the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce or the Commercial Register);
  • websites/social media presences of legal entities or corporate clients that contain information that you have disclosed (e.g. your own website or social media presence)
  • public information, e.g. information from the media.

We also collect personal data from third parties:

  • From our customers (e.g. as fellow travelers);
  • from our business partners (e.g. tour operators, service providers abroad);
  • from third parties such as credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies;
  • from address research service providers who are themselves responsible for ensuring that they collect the relevant information in a lawful manner.
5. WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA WITH AND WHY?

In order to fulfill some of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, in particular the provision of a trip, we may share your personal data with others. This may include the following:

  • Our service providers in the country of travel (e.g. agencies, tour guides, hotel reservations, transfer and excursion services), transportation service providers (airline, train, car rental, etc.) and accommodation operators (hotel, hostels, etc.);
  • processors who provide services on our behalf (e.g. IT services, logistics, printing services, telecommunications, debt collection, consulting and sales and marketing)
  • certain regulated professions such as lawyers, notaries or auditors, if this is necessary in certain circumstances (legal disputes, auditing, etc.) and to our insurers;
  • Partners to conduct advertising, market and opinion research;
  • Partners to assist in the investigation of criminal offenses (e.g. fraud), assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims;
  • Authorities and official bodies (e.g. tax authorities, embassies of the destination country) in the event of a legal or official obligation (e.g. retention obligations, obtaining visas, obtaining entry requirements).
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF PERSONAL DATA

In the case of international transfers from Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA) to a non-EEA country (third country), your personal data may be transferred across borders. In particular, you must expect your data to be transferred to the countries you are traveling to. But also to countries in Europe, the USA and worldwide, where the service providers and service providers we use are located. If the FDPIC or the European Commission has recognized that a third country offers an adequate level of data protection, your personal data may be transferred on this basis.

For transfers to a third country whose level of protection has not been recognized as adequate by the FDPIC and the European Commission, we will either rely on a derogation applicable to the particular situation (e.g. if the transfer is necessary for the performance of our contract with you) or apply one of the following appropriate safeguards to ensure the protection of your personal data:

  • Standard contractual clauses approved by the FDPIC and the European Commission;
  • binding internal data protection rules.

To obtain a copy of these safeguards or information on where to obtain them, you may submit a written request in accordance with section 8.

7. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA?

We will retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill our contractual obligations and to comply with applicable laws and regulations, or for such other period as is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as proper record keeping and responding to legal claims or regulatory requests.

HOW CAN YOU CONTROL OUR PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA?

You have rights that allow you to effectively control your personal data and the way we process it. We explain your rights in relation to your personal data below.

If you wish to exercise the rights listed below, please submit a request by e-mail to info@travel-zone.ch or by post to the following address: Zeughausstrasse 14B, 8853 Lachen SZ, Switzerland

If you have any questions about the use of your personal data in the context of this privacy policy, please send them to the following address: info@travel-zone.ch

7.1 You can request information about your personal data

If you request information about your personal data, we will provide you with a copy of the personal data you have requested and information about its processing.

Your right to information may be restricted in the cases provided for by law.

7.2 You can request the correction of your personal data

If you believe that your personal data is incorrect or incomplete, you can request that this personal data be amended or completed accordingly. In some cases, the submission of supporting documents may be required.

7.3 You can request the deletion of your personal data

If you wish, you can request the deletion of your personal data to the extent permitted by law.

7.4 You can object to the processing of your personal data on the basis of legitimate interests

If you do not consent to processing based on a legitimate interest, you can object to this on grounds relating to your particular situation. In this case, please inform us in detail about the relevant processing and the reasons for your objection. We will stop processing your personal data unless there are compelling legitimate grounds for doing so or the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

7.5 You can object to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of direct marketing

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes at any time. This also applies to profiling insofar as it is associated with such direct advertising.

7.6 You may request the restriction of the processing of your personal data

If you dispute the accuracy of the personal data we use or object to the processing of your personal data, we will review or revise your request. You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data while we review your request.

7.7 You have rights against an automated individual decision

In principle, you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing - including profiling - which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you. However, we may automate such a decision if it is necessary for the conclusion or fulfillment of a contract with us, if it is permitted by law or if you have given your consent.

In any case, you have the right to contest the decision, to express your point of view and to request the intervention of a competent person to review the decision.

7.8 You can withdraw your consent

In cases where processing is based on your consent, you can withdraw this consent at any time.

7.9 You can request the portability of part of your personal data

You may request a copy of the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. Where technically feasible, you may request that we transfer this copy to a third party.

7.10 Complaint to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner

In addition to the rights mentioned above, you can lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. In Switzerland, this is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern.

8. DATA SECURITY

We use suitable technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data stored by us against manipulation, partial or complete loss and against unauthorized access by third parties (e.g. encryption of data transmission, access controls, etc.). Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments.

We take appropriate precautions to protect your data. The transmission of information via the Internet and other electronic means always involves certain security risks and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted in this way.

9. DATA PROCESSING THROUGH USE OF THE WEBSITE

By using the Website, you consent to your data being stored and/or processed in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Policy.

9.1 SSL ENCRYPTION

This website uses SSL encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from "https://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

9.2 SERVER LOG FILES

The provider of this website automatically collects and stores information in so-called "server log files", which your browser automatically transmits to Travelzone AG. These are in particular

  • Browser type and browser version;
  • Operating system used;
  • Referrer URL;
  • Host name of the accessing computer;
  • Time of the server request;
  • IP address.

This data is not assigned to specific persons. This data is not merged with other data sources. Travelzone AG reserves the right to analyze this data retrospectively and, if possible, to allocate it if specific indications of unlawful use become known.

9.3 USE OF COOKIES

Definition Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you use our website.

Mandatory and non-mandatory cookies

Mandatory cookies are data that are sent to the browser on your computer's hard disk so that we can offer you certain functions.

We use non-mandatory cookies to collect information about visits to the website. In addition, we use non-mandatory cookies to improve the user-friendliness of the website, for example to adapt our offer to customer requirements and to make surfing the website as convenient as possible for you. We also use cookies to optimize our advertising. Cookies allow us to present you with advertising that may be of particular interest to you based on your use of our website. Our aim here is to make our website as attractive as possible for you and to present you with advertising that matches your areas of interest.

Session cookies and permanent cookies

So-called "session cookies" are automatically deleted at the end of your visit.

We also use permanent cookies. These remain stored on your computer or mobile device after the end of the browser session until you delete them. When you visit our website again, it will then automatically recognize which inputs and settings you prefer. Depending on the type of cookie, these cookies remain stored on your computer or mobile device for between one month and ten years and are automatically deactivated after the programmed time has expired. They are used to make our website more user-friendly, effective and secure. Thanks to these cookies, for example, you will be shown information on the site that is specifically tailored to your interests.

Web analysis tools

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC (USA) and/or Google Ireland Limited (Ireland), in order to continuously improve and optimize the website.

These web analysis and web optimization services provide Travelzone AG with data, evaluations, statistics and graphics that provide information about the use of this website. The data on the use of this website is transmitted to the server used for this purpose, which may be located abroad, in particular in the USA.

Apart from IP addresses (which are only transmitted to these services in full form in exceptional cases), no personal data is stored in the cookies used by these services.

Activation, deactivation and deletion of cookies

All web browsers offer the option of activating, deactivating or deleting the use of cookies by configuring the browser settings or options accordingly. If cookies are completely or partially deactivated or deleted, not all functions of the website may be available.

Cookies and personal data

Apart from IP addresses (which may constitute personal data), no personal data is stored in the cookies we use. The cookies we use are not assigned to any specific person. When a cookie is activated, it is assigned an identification number.

9.4 SCRIPT LIBRARIES

In order to deliver content correctly, we use script libraries and font libraries (e.g. Google Web Fonts) on our website. Calling up a script or font library triggers a connection to the provider of the library. It is possible that the provider of the library collects data from this connection.

9.5 GOOGLE MAPS

We use an interface to geo-specific data from Google to visualize location-based information. Google records and uses data about the use of the map function.

9.6 SOCIAL MEDIA PLUG-INS

We also use plug-ins from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram on our websites. This is visible to you in each case (typically via corresponding icons). We have configured these elements so that they are deactivated by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operators of the respective social networks can register that you are on our website and where and can use this information for their purposes. The processing of your personal data is then the responsibility of this operator in accordance with its data protection provisions. We do not receive any information about you from them.

10 NEWSLETTER

It is possible for you to register for the Travelzone AG newsletter using a form or by e-mail. To send the newsletter, we will use software designed for this purpose, which guarantees compliant data protection (see section 5).

You have the option of unsubscribing from newsletters at any time. There is a corresponding unsubscribe link in every newsletter. If this link is missing, please contact the data protection officer on our website (see section 9). Our newsletter may contain a tracking pixel. A tracking pixel is a miniature graphic that is embedded in such emails to enable log file recording and log file analysis. This allows a statistical evaluation of the success or failure of online marketing campaigns to be carried out. The analysis can be carried out anonymously or with inference to personal data.

11. HOW YOU CAN FOLLOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

In a world where technology is constantly evolving, we regularly review this Privacy Policy and update it as necessary.

The latest version published on our website applies. We recommend that you consult the latest version of this document online. We will inform you of any changes via our website or via our usual communication channels.

The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Schwyz, Switzerland.