Suitcase Escapes operated as Suitcase Escapes ABN 77 303 398 792 and found at https://www.suitcaseescapes.com (also referred to within as “Suitcase Escapes”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or “Website”) is governed by the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information (“Personal Data”) we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.

Suitcase Escapes is owned by John and Raeleen Ronan (also referred to as the “owner(s)”).

Information You Voluntarily Submit to our Website

Wherever possible, you can elect to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym in interacting with us e.g. when making an enquiry.

We may collect Personal Data from you such as, but is not limited to, your name and email address, or your website URL and name, when you voluntarily submit information to Suitcase Escapes by leaving a comment, subscribing to our newsletter, joining us on social media or when contacting us for enquiries.

The following are situations in which you may provide Personal Data to us:

• When you fill out forms or fields through Suitcase Escapes.
• When you sign up for any newsletters or other materials through Suitcase Escapes.
• When you provide information to us through a third-party provider, service or website.
• When you communicate with us or request information about us or our products and services, whether via email, hard copy document or other means.
• When you participate in online surveys, polls or market research.
• When you participate in any of our marketing initiatives, including, contests, events, or promotions.
• When you participate in forums, submit comments, and provide user-generated content or submissions.
• Other circumstances where collecting personal information is reasonable and permitted by the laws of Queensland, Australia.
• How we collect, store, use and secure Personal Data is in line with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘Privacy Act’).

Our legal basis for processing this information is your consent, and by voluntarily providing us with Personal Data, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data to us, you acknowledge and agree that such Personal Data may be transferred and stored from your current location to the office and servers of Suitcase Escapes and the authorised third parties referenced below.

Contact Forms

Information submitted through the contact forms on our Website is sent to our Suitcase Escapes email account, hosted by Gmail, in accordance with Google and its EU “Privacy Shield” policy.

We keep these submissions for customer service purposes only. They are never used for marketing purposes or shared with any third parties.

Sensitive Personal Information

At no time are you to submit sensitive personal information to this Website. Furthermore, under no circumstances will we request any information from you that may disclose your:

• political, religious or philosophical opinions, beliefs, associations or affiliations
• health and sexuality
• racial or ethnic origin
• membership of a trade union, or a professional or trade association
• criminal records.

If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect from Others

We may receive information about you from other sources, such as from social media websites (i.e., Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or others), blogs and other users. Suitcase Escapes utilises social media commenting systems. Therefore, if you choose to comment on a Suitcase Escape post, shared on social media, your comment may appear on the blog post as well.

Automatically-Collected Information

We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access Suitcase Escapes. For example, when you use Suitcase Escapes, your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed our Website may be logged. We may also collect information about actions you take when using Suitcase Escapes, such as links clicked.

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a piece of text that is saved to your browser by a website to enable that website to save certain information to your machine so that it can later be retrieved. We do not use cookies to collect Personal Data about you.

We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by Suitcase Escapes. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalised experience on our Website. For more information about our use of cookies, please see the Cookies section below.

If you leave a comment on our Website you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles on Suitcase Escapes may include embedded content (e.g. YouTube videos). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Suitcase Escapes may use your personal information in the following ways:

• To operate and maintain our Website.
• To create your account, identify yourself as a user of our Website, and customise our Website to your account.
• To send you promotional information, such as newsletters and ad-hoc notifications. Each email newsletter will provide information on how to opt out of future mailings by unsubscribing.
• To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts.
• To respond to your comments or enquiries.
• To provide you with user support.
• To track and measure Website performance.
• To process payment for purchases, you make through Suitcase Escapes.
• To protect, investigate, and deter unauthorized or illegal activity.
• To review the effectiveness of our marketing programs and analyze other general demographic trends.

How Comments are Managed

Comments are welcomed and encouraged on this Website, but there are some instances where comments will be edited or deleted as follows:

• Comments deemed to be spam or solely promotional in nature will be deleted. Including a link to relevant content is permitted, but comments should be relevant to the post topic.
• Comments including profanity will be deleted.
• Comments containing language or concepts that could be deemed offensive will be deleted. Note this may include abusive, threatening, pornographic, offensive, misleading or libellous language.
• Comments that attack an individual directly will be deleted.
• Comments that harass other people will be deleted. Please be respectful toward other contributors.
• Anonymous comments will be deleted. We only accept comments from people who identify themselves.

Suitcase Escapes reserves the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to our Website without notice. This comment policy is subject to change at any time. If you have any questions about the commenting policy, please let us know by contacting us.

When visitors leave comments on our Website we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service, in accordance with the Gravatar service policy. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorise us to share your information.

Additionally, Suitcase Escapes may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of our Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your Personal Data is dictated by their respective privacy policies.

Our Third-Party Partners

Our Third-Party Partners who may place cookies and tracking technology on your computer or device include:

Google Analytics and MonsterInsights

These services track Suitcase Escapes usage and provides information such as referring websites and visitor actions on this Website. Google Analytics and MonsterInsights may capture non-personally identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. But no other Personal Data is captured by Google Analytics or MonsterInsights, in accordance with Google Analytics’ privacy policy and MonsterInsights’ Privacy Policy.

MonsterInsights Google Analytics application uses the Google Analytics Reporting API to gather analytics about our Website.

Google Analytics Opt-Out. To provide Website visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being used by Google Analytics, Google has developed the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on for the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js).

If you want to opt-out, download and install the add-on for your web browser. The Google Analytics opt-out add-on is designed to be compatible with Chrome, Internet Explorer 11, Safari, Firefox and Opera. In order to function, the opt-out add-on must be able to load and execute properly on your browser. For Internet Explorer, 3rd-party cookies must be enabled. Learn more about the opt-out and how to properly install the browser add-on.

Newsletters

Suitcase Escapes uses Vision6 as its email service provider. Through Vision6, we collect contact information, distribute our newsletter, and track actions you take that assist us in measuring the performance of our Website and newsletters. Upon subscription, we also track the pages you visit on our Website through Vision6.

Our newsletters contain tracking pixels. This pixel is embedded in emails and allows us to analyze the success of our newsletters. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email, which links within the email you click, and the pages you visit on our Website. This behaviour is not passed on to third parties. All data submitted at the time of subscription to our newsletter is stored on Vision6’s servers. Access Vision6’s privacy policy and anti-spam policy. At any time, you may be removed from our newsletter list by clicking on the unsubscribe link provided in each email.

Comments

Suitcase Escapes uses Akismet and its anti-spam service to make it easy for you to leave comments on our Website blog posts. Personal information that you enter for comments is securely stored on Akismet’s server, in accordance with Akismet’s privacy policy.

Surveys and Polls

We may also conduct surveys, polls or market research and may seek other information from you on a periodic basis. These surveys will provide us with information that allows improvement in the types and quality of services offered to you, and the manner in which those services are offered to you.

Periodically, Suitcase Escapes may invite you to complete a voluntary survey. These surveys may be completed through Survey Monkey or Vision6. All survey responses may be submitted anonymously and only your IP address is stored. You may voluntarily enter your name and email address. All data submitted through Survey Monkey and Vision6 are stored on their servers and are subject to the Survey Monkey privacy policy and Vision6 privacy policy.

Anonymous Data

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

Publicly Visible Information

If you leave a comment on Suitcase Escapes, the name you choose may be publicly visible. Your email address will never be available publicly.

Cookies

Suitcase Escapes uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, and customise Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics or Affiliate Program Participation, as described herein.

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by our Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in their Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

At this time, your Personal Data is not shared with any other third-party applications. This list may be amended from time to time at Suitcase Escapes’ sole discretion.

Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other Personal Data without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer Personal Data collected through Suitcase Escapes to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganisation proceeding brought by or against us.

Display Ads

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve content, and advertisements and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our Website. These companies may use non-Personal Data (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this Website and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioural advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit networkadvertising.org.

Remarketing Ads

From time to time, Suitcase Escapes may engage in remarketing efforts, using remarketing tracking cookies and conversion pixels from third-party providers, such as Google, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market our Website. These providers use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to our Website. This allows us to present special offers for our products and services to you via Facebook and Google. However, your Personal Data is not used by any remarketing service other than to present you with special offers from us. We use the following third-party service providers for remarketing: Facebook: Opt-out of Facebook remarketing Google: Opt-out of Google remarketing

Affiliate Program Participation

In some instances, Suitcase Escapes may include affiliate links in posts where we recommend specific products and services we deem to be travel-related, such as gear, tours, or activities. If you purchase something through one of our affiliate links, we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These links are always disclosed.

Newsletters

On our Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and enables us to analyse the success of any of our online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. This allows our Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behaviour will not be passed on to third parties.

Suitcase Escapes does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that our Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately and we will remove such information from our records as soon as possible.

Suitcase Escapes is strongly opposed to spam. We will only send emails to users that have explicitly requested to receive an email from Suitcase Escapes. Examples may include:

• Opt-in subscribers to the Suitcase Escapes Newsletter.
• Users that complete a contact form.
• All communications that are related and relevant to what you have requested.

Suitcase Escapes may contain hyperlinks and other pointers to other websites operated by third parties (“Linked Websites”). We do not control Linked Websites and are therefore not responsible for the content of any Linked Website or any hyperlink contained in a Linked Website.

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on this Website.

Suitcase Escapes, therefore, has no responsibility or liability for the content, activities and privacy practices of these Linked Websites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our Website to read the privacy policies of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by Suitcase Escapes. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of this Website and welcome any feedback about these websites.

If you send us an email with questions or comments, we may use your personally identifiable information to respond to your questions or comments, and we may save your questions or comments for future reference.

For security reasons, we do not recommend that you send non-public personal information, such as passwords, social security numbers, or bank account information, to us by email.

You may opt-out of receiving future commercial email communications from us by clicking the unsubscribe link included at the bottom of most emails we send, however, we reserve the right to send you transactional emails.

Suitcase Escapes may use social media and social networking services in order to market our Website and its products and services. These applications require the use of third-party service providers. Notably, we have a Facebook page, Facebook private group page, Twitter feed, Instagram feed, TikTok channel and YouTube channel.

The Facebook page and Facebook Private Group page are administered by Facebook, in accordance with Facebook’s Data Policy, and is accessible by Facebook users who have already consented to Facebook’s Data Policy. The Facebook Group page is administered and moderated by Suitcase Escapes. We do not export information about our followers from the Facebook platform.

The Twitter account we use is administered by Twitter, in accordance with Twitter’s Privacy Policy.

The Instagram account we use is administered by Instagram (as one of Facebook’s products), in accordance with Instagram’s and Facebook’s Privacy Policies.

The TikTok account we use is provided and controlled by TikTok Pte. Ltd, in accordance with TikTok’s Privacy Policy.

The YouTube channel is administered by YouTube, in accordance with YouTube’s privacy policy.

Suitcase Escapes may use direct messaging over social media on occasion when users contact us on Facebook by leaving messages in our Inbox or by sending us Direct Messages on Twitter. We aim to delete these messages as soon as we have responded to the enquiries.

Suitcase Escapes ensures Personal Data is retained only for as long as necessary in accordance with the above purposes and applicable laws. We may be required to retain your Personal Data for a number of years in order to satisfy legal or contractual obligations, or in order to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. When your Personal Data is no longer necessary for these purposes, the Personal Data will be deleted.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

If you subscribe to our Website newsletter, your Personal Data will be retained until you unsubscribe or are removed from the third-party service provider database, at the administrative discretion of Suitcase Escapes.

For users that register on our Website (if any), we also store the Personal Data they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

If you have left comments on this Website, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any Personal Data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. Refer to our Comments section above.

Opt-out
You may opt-out of our newsletter subscription service and future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also contact us to be removed from our mailing list.

Access
You may access the personal information we have about you by contacting us.

Amend
You may contact us to amend or update your personal information.

Forget
In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal information. To do so, please submit a request via our contact us form.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes or to complete transactions, or when required by law.

Visitor comments may be checked through our third-party service provider automated spam detection service.

We protect your Personal Data with the following site features:

• We use an SSL/HTTPS certificate throughout this Website. This encrypts our user communications with the servers so Personal Data is never captured by third parties without authorisation.
• This Website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit as safe as possible. We use regular Malware Scanning.

No personal information is stored on the site or its backend at any time.

If you have any questions, concerns or ideas about how we could improve our Privacy Policy, please contact us. Where you provide suggestions, materials or feedback it is considered non-confidential and we may, at our complete discretion, use it to improve our Website, service and/or how we handle personal information without any obligation to compensate you regardless of how we use, implement, copy, modify, display, distribute and/or otherwise benefit from your suggestions, materials or feedback.

We are obligated to regularly review and update this Privacy Policy. We, therefore, reserve the right to amend this Website Privacy Policy at any time.

At a minimum, we will update this Privacy Policy once per year. We reserve the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time and from time to time without prior notice.

Please review this policy periodically, especially before you provide any Personal Data. Your continued use of our Website after any changes or revisions to this Privacy Policy shall indicate your agreement with the terms of such revised Privacy Policy.

Last updated: 02 December 2022