PRIVACY POLICY
Effective 08.03.2012
Juan de Fuca Cottages, L.L.C. (“Cottages”, “our”, “us” or “we”) is a small Inn that provides transient accommodations to our customers (“Customers”) for hotel and lodging-related services, reservation collection and online advertising purposes (collectively, “Services”). We provide this privacy policy to inform you of our policies and procedures related to the collection, use and disclosure of information we receive from end users of or visitors to (“End Users”) our website. This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on the Customer Sites. You are advised to consult this policy regularly for any changes. As used in this policy, the terms “using” and “processing” information include using cookies on a computer, subjecting the information to statistical or other analysis and using or handling information in any way, including, but not limited to collecting, storing, evaluating, modifying, deleting, using, combining, disclosing and transferring information within our organization or among our affiliates within the United States or internationally.
Information Collection and Use
Our primary goals in collecting information are to provide and improve the Customer experience, our Services, features and content, to administer your use thereof and to enable users to enjoy and easily navigate the website. Personally Identifiable Information In the course of your use of the Customer Sites, we may ask you for personally identifiable information. This refers to information about you that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Information”). Personal Information includes, but is not limited to, your name, email address, postal address and telephone number. If you choose to make a reservation via a Customer Site, we will also collect billing information such as your credit card number and billing address. We also collect the other information that you provide as part of your use of the Services (e.g., without limitation, zip code (on its own) and individual preferences) (“Non-Identifying Information”).
We use your Personal Information (in some cases, in conjunction with your Non-Identifying Information) mainly to provide the Customer Sites, complete and process your reservations, if applicable, and administer your inquiries. Certain Non-Identifying Information would be considered a part of your Personal Information if it were combined with other identifiers (for example, combining your zip code with your street address) in a way that enables you to be identified. But the same pieces of information are considered Non-Identifying Information when they are taken alone or combined only with other non-identifying information (for example, your viewing preferences). We may combine your Personal Information with Non-Identifying Information and aggregate it with information collected from other End Users (defined below) to attempt to provide you with a better experience, to improve the quality and value of the Services and to analyze and understand how the Customer Sites are used. We may also use the combined information without aggregating it to serve you specifically, for instance to deliver a product to you according to your preferences or restrictions. We also use your Personal Information to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive such communications from us, please follow the unsubscribe instructions provided in any of the communications. (See “Changing or Deleting Information,” below.)
Log Data
When you visit a Customer Site, as an End User, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type or the webpage you were visiting before you came to a Customer Site, pages of a Customer Site that you visit, the time spent on those pages, information you search for on Customer Sites, access times and dates, and other statistics. We use Google Analytics to collect, monitor and analyze this information in order to increase our Customer Sites’ functionality and user-friendliness, and to better tailor the Customer Sites and Services to visitors’ needs. Accordingly, Log Data is shared with Google, which has its own privacy policy addressing how it uses such information. We also use this information to verify that visitors to the Customer Sites meet the criteria required to process their requests. We do not treat Log Data as Personal Information or use it in association with other Personal Information, though we may aggregate, analyze and evaluate such information for the same purposes as stated above regarding other Non-Identifying Information.
Cookies
Like many websites, we use “cookies” to collect information. A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies for two purposes. First, we utilize persistent cookies to save your login information for future logins to the Customer Sites. Second, we utilize session ID cookies to enable certain features of the Customer Sites, to better understand how you interact with the Customer Sites and to monitor aggregate usage by End Users and web traffic routing on the Customer Sites. Unlike persistent cookies, session cookies are deleted from your computer when you log off from a Customer Site and then close your browser. You can instruct your browser, by changing its options, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all portions of the Customer Sites.
Phishing Identity theft and the practice currently known as “phishing” are of great concern to the Juan de Fuca Cottages. Safeguarding information to help protect you from identity theft is a top priority. We do not and will not, at any time, request your credit card information, your login information, or national identification numbers in a non-secure or unsolicited e-mail or telephone communication. For more information about phishing, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website. Information Sharing and Disclosure Customers. If you choose to make a reservation via our website your identifiable information is used only by the Cottages. Aggregate Information and Non-Identifying Information. We may share aggregated information that does not include Personal Information and we may otherwise disclose Non-Identifying Information and Log Data with third parties for industry analysis, demographic profiling and other purposes. Any aggregated information shared in these contexts will not contain your Personal Information. Service Providers. We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate the Customer Sites, to provide the Services on our behalf, to perform Customer Site and Services-related services (e.g., without limitation, maintenance services, database management, payment processing, web analytics and improvement of the Customer Sites’ features) or to assist us in analyzing how the Customer Sites are used. These third parties have access to your Personal Information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose. Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement. The Cottages cooperates with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We will disclose any information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas), to protect the property and rights of a third party, to protect the safety of the public or any person, or to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, unethical or legally actionable activity.
Business Transfers
The Cottages may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of its assets, including your Personal Information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets or in the event of bankruptcy. Changing or Deleting Your Information All End Users may review, update, correct or delete the Personal Information provided in the course of using the Customer Sites by contacting us. If you would like us to delete your account in our system, please contact us at juandefucacottages@gmail.com with a request that we delete your Personal Information from our database. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to honor your request. We may retain an archived copy of your records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.
Security
The Cottages is very concerned with safeguarding your information. The security of your personal information is important to us. But remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number or social security number) on our reservation forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). In some cases, we also encrypt sensitive information where it is stored on our systems. We will make any legally required disclosures of any breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of your unencrypted electronically stored “personal data” (as defined in applicable state statutes on security breach notification) to you via email or conspicuous posting on the Customer Sites in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, insofar as consistent with (i) the legitimate needs of law enforcement or (ii) any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the data system.
Links to Other Sites
Our Customer Sites contain links to other websites. If you choose to visit a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s website. The fact that we link to a website is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party websites. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you. Other sites follow different rules regarding the use or disclosure of the personal information you submit to them. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites you visit. Our Policy Toward Children This Customer Sites are not directed to persons under 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should contact us at juandefucacottages@gmail.com. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with Personal Information, we will delete such information from our files.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at juandefucacottages@gmail.com or at: 182 Marine Drive Sequim, WA 98382.