Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how Connecting France (the “Company”, “We”, “Us”) receives, collects, uses and protects any personal data that you give Connecting France when you use our services through this website (https://www.connectingfrance.fr). Connecting France is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. Connecting France may update this privacy policy from time to time. You should check this page periodically to ensure that you keep yourself informed about any changes. 

Information that we collect about you 

We want you to understand the types of information we collect as you use our services
It is your sole and only decision whether you decide to provide us with any such Personal Data, but if you refuse to provide Personal Data we may not be able to provide you the services offered on the Site. All mandatory information that must be given to place an order on the Site are identified with an asterisk mark.

As you navigate through our website, we may also use automatic tools to collect certain information about your actions on the Site. This includes information such as which links you click on, which pages or content you view and for how long, and other similar information and statistics about your interactions with the Site. This information is captured using automated technologies such as cookies (browser cookies, flash cookies) and web beacons, and is also collected through the use of third party tracking services (such as Google Analytics).

In addition, when you use the Site, certain non-personally identifiable information may be automatically gathered about your IP address, mobile device, browser type, browser language or operating system. We may use third party contractors to collect and aggregate this information. Please see our cookies policy below for more information on this purpose.

We collect information to provide better services to all our users — from figuring out basic information like which language you speak, to more complex like which Connecting France products you might like. 

For this purpose we may collect the following information:

• Name and date of birth
• Contact information including email address and phone number.
• Demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
• Other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers
• details of the products and services you have purchased from us or which you have enquired about, together with any additional information necessary to deliver those products and services and to respond to your enquiries; and
• any additional information relating to you that you or a third party has provided to us directly or indirectly phone enquiry lines, websites, online presence, customer surveys or to our in-store or other representatives.
• If you visit our website we may also collect information that is not personal information to improve the experience for our customers. This information may include the pages you visit, your IP address, browser type and language, and the date and time of your visit. We cannot identify you individually from this information. Some of this information is collected using cookies.
• When you are traveling with us, we may take video and images of you that may be used in brochures, in our advertising or on our website. All participants authorize us to use his/her image (such as a photograph, videotape, film or pictorial representation or recorded voice). If you do not wish for this to happen, please notify us in writing using the contact details.

For the exhaustive list of cookies we collect see the List of cookies we collect section.

What we do with the collected information?

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• Provide our services: We use your information to deliver our services, like processing the terms you search for in order to return results
• Maintain & improve our services: We also use your information to ensure our services are working as intended, such as tracking outages or troubleshooting issues that you report to us. And we use your information to make improvements to our services.
• Develop new services: We use the information we collect in existing services to help us develop new ones.
• Provide personalized services, including content: We use the information we collect to customize our services for you, including providing recommendations, personalized content.
• Measure performance: We use data for analytics and measurement to understand how our services are used. 
• Communicate with you: We use information we collect, like your email address, to interact with you directly. For example, we may let you know about upcoming changes or improvements to our services. And if you contact Connecting France, we’ll keep a record of your request in order to help solve any issues you might be facing.
• Protect Connecting France, our users, and the public: We use information to help improve the safety and reliability of our services. This includes detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, abuse, security risks, and technical issues that could harm Connecting France, our users, or the public.

How do we collect personal information?

We use different technologies to process your information for these purposes. We use automated systems that analyze your content to provide you with customized search results, personalized ads, or other features tailored to how you use our services. The Personal Data may be processed when using our Site or when completing the forms included on the Site to place orders or inquire bookings. 

Then we analyze your content to help us detect abuse such as spam, malware, and illegal content. 

You may give us this information when you request information directly from us, contact us (and vice versa), make a booking, register interest for and/or enter a competition, subscribe to one of our newsletters, use our website, link to or from our website, connect with us via social media, by speaking to one of our agents, tour guide or any other engagement we or our business partners have with you.

We may also receive the information from a third party, for example:

• from people making travel bookings on your behalf;
• from market research and data companies contracted by us to obtain information so that we may improve and market our products and services;
• from partners performing services on our behalf; and

We will update your information whenever we can to keep it current, accurate and complete.

You represent and warrant to us that you have obtained all required consents and are fully authorized to disclose all personal information you provide to us including without limitation personal information of your friends and family members provided in connection with making travel bookings.

Why do we collect, use, hold and disclose your information?

We collect personal information about you so that we can perform our business activities and functions and to provide the best possible quality of customer service as described in the section 2 of this Privacy Policy.

When you provide your email address to make an online booking, your contact details may be retained even if the transaction is not completed. These details are captured using a secure service. This is so we can assist you in future with online bookings, and as a result of this you may receive a follow up enquiry email. This email will contain information on what action, if any, you can choose that will direct us to cease any further contact with you or destroy the personal information we have collected about you.

We are only permitted to store your personal information for as long as necessary having regard to the purposes for which it was collected or a related or ancillary purpose (our need to answer queries or resolve problems, provide improved and new services and comply with legal requirements under applicable law). We may therefore delete your personal information after a reasonable period of time and, if you have not used our services for some time, you may have to re-enter or re-supply your personal information to us.

We will not disclose your personal information otherwise than as described in this Privacy Policy without your consent unless we reasonably believe that disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a threat to life, health or safety or for certain action to be undertaken by an enforcement body (e.g. prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offenses), disclosure is authorized or required by law or disclosure is otherwise permitted by applicable privacy laws.

Who do we disclose your information to?

We may disclose your personal information as follows:

• We may disclose your personal information to our employees, contractors or third party service providers for the purposes of the operation of our website or our business, fulfilling requests by you, managing your bookings, responding to your enquiries and to otherwise provide products and services to you, including, without limitation, to airlines, tour companies, travel agencies, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants.
• We may disclose your personal information to external parties for research purposes and to identify other services you may be interested in, in accordance with our ‘Marketing and Privacy’ statement below.
• We may share aggregated non-personal information with third parties, such as our travel industry partners to analyze trends and further improve our service to you.
• We may share information with third parties in limited circumstances without your consent where we reasonably believe the disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a threat to life, health or safety, or for certain action to be undertaken by an enforcement body (e.g. prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offenses), where disclosure is authorized or required by law or disclosure is otherwise permitted by applicable privacy laws.
• Where you provide us personal information for the purposes of booking travel related services on your behalf or on behalf of another person, we must provide such personal information to the travel providers you have selected for the purposes of completing the booking. We have no control over how travel providers use, disclose or store personal information. Please ensure you agree with the privacy practices of the travel providers you select prior to providing us your personal information for the purposes of booking travel related services with such travel providers. You acknowledge and agree that we provide your personal information to such travel providers solely as your agent and not as the principal holder and we will not be required to ensure their compliance with applicable privacy laws, this privacy policy or otherwise be liable or accountable for your personal information including without limitation their use and disclosure of your personal information.
• The storage as well as the processing of your Personal Data may require that your Personal Data is transferred and/or stored in a destination outside of your country of residence. By accepting the terms of this Privacy Policy, you agree to such transfer including in countries offering a lower level of protection that your county of residence.

Marketing and privacy

We may from time to time use your personal information to identify new or existing products that we believe may be of interest to you. We may communicate this via email, phone or your postal address. If you no longer wish to receive these updates via email, you may opt-out by clicking the unsubscribe link contained in the message. You can contact us using the contact details to opt-out of receiving phone and postal updates. You can opt-in in future if you wish to receive these updates again.

We do not share, sell or rent information to any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing. We will not share your personal data with third parties, unless you have previously given your express permission or unless the transmission is required or permissible by law. We will in particular not sell or otherwise market your data to third parties. Transfers of data to government institutions and authorities is done only within the scope of mandatory national legal requirements. We are obligated to maintain secrecy and to comply with legal data protection regulations.

Based on your declaration of consent, we process and use your personal data when applicable for marketing activities, such as for sending emails with general information or advertising information (newsletters).
We wish to obtain the following declaration of consent from you:
I agree that from time to time, Connecting France will send me travel tips, city guides and offers by email. You may revoke this consent with Connecting France at any time without observing any form (for example, by telephone or by email).
You can revoke your declarations of consent with us with future effect at any time. Additionally, if we use your personal information as permissible by law, for example for marketing activities by mail, you may object to this use.
All that is necessary in both cases is to send an email to the following address: contact@connectingfrance.fr

Right of Access, Rectification, Deletion

You have the right at any time to receive information free of charge about your personal data stored with us. If your data is stored incorrectly or wrongly by us, we will correct, block or delete it. Please inform us of any changes to your data immediately.
Please direct requests for information, questions, complaints or suggestions to the following address:
Connecting France
189 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin
75010 PARIS – FRANCE

Or via email: contact@connectingfrance.fr

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Following are our commitment concerning the credit card security

• All online bookings and payments are transmitted over our booking system.
• Credit card information is transmitted immediately to Stripe,a payment gateway solution via an encrypted port. Stripe https://stripe.com/docs/security/stripe
• We do not store your credit card number in any of our systems, it is used only within the context of the transaction then destroyed upon receipt from an acquiring bank.
• All credit card payments receive an identification number that is proof of the transaction’s acceptance into the banking system. This identification number can be used to trace any transaction back to the credit card issuer (for example, the bank that issued the MasterCard, or VISA credit card).
• Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed.

Whilst we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is secure, as the internet is inherently insecure, any personal information or other information you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk.

How we use cookies?

If our contact and dealing with you is via our website, we may use cookies. By using our website, you consent to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyze data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

By using our websites, you agree to us using cookies as set out in this statement.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

• Storing what’s in your shopping basket: This allows you to book trips with us
• Collecting information: This means we can learn more about how you use our website so we can improve our products and online experience.
• Tailoring your experience: Cookies allow us to provide you with information, products and services that we think you’ll find interesting
• Making our marketing relevant: We can show you relevant offers and promotions on our own websites and through our advertising networks.

We use cookies to find out more about how you use our website — like the searches you make and your preferences. We use this information to:

• Make it possible for you to use our website
• Show you information and offers that are relevant to you
• Find out more about how our customers use the site

Buying our products online

• When you’re buying something on our website, we need to use cookies to keep track of what you’re booking as you move through each stage of the booking process. We use cookies to keep track of your searches and preferences.
• Your recent searches and shortlisted holidays are recorded using cookies. If you’ve made a shortlist but you haven’t saved it by entering your email address, we’ll store your shortlisted holidays using a cookie, so you’ll be able to see it when you visit us again using the same computer or device.

Types of cookies we use

• Third party vendors use cookies to help us evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing and deliver more tailored advertisements to you on other sites. When you visit certain sections of the website, Google Analytics, a website analytics service provided by Google Inc (“Google”), will place cookies on your computer’s browser. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the website is transmitted to Google. This information is then used for the purpose of compiling statistical reports to enable us to measure and analyse the number of visits to the site and its pages, the average time spent on the site and the pages viewed. We will not (and will not allow any third party to) use Google Analytics to track or to collect any personal data of visitors to our website. We will not associate any data gathered via use of cookies with any personal data from any source as part of our use of Google Analytics. For further information about Google Analytics please visit google.com/analytics and for details of Google Analytics’ Privacy Policy, please visit www.google.com/intl/en.

• You may choose to opt-out of Google Analytics using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on which you may access at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

Refusing cookies and changing your mind after you’ve accepted

Refusing cookies

• You can change your browser settings to accept or refuse all cookies, choose which cookies you want or don’t want, or ask to be notified when a cookie is set. Use the help feature in your browser to see how.

Changing your mind after you’ve accepted our cookies

• If you change your mind after you’ve accepted our cookies, you’ll find an option within your internet browser to clear cookies that have already been set. Use the help feature in your browser to see how. You’ll then need to change your browser settings to refuse cookies in future.
• Just so you know, you won’t be able to benefit from all the features of our website and email newsletters or book online with us if you refuse cookies.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website and they are not owned by Connecting France. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement, it is your own responsibility. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

With respect to Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes.
• If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at contact@connectingfrance.fr

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen. You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to us.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Note about this Privacy Policy

When this policy applies
This Privacy Policy applies to all of the services offered by Connecting France and its affiliates, including A Concept Travel, and services offered on third-party sites, such as advertising services. This Privacy Policy doesn’t apply to services that have separate privacy policies that do not incorporate this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy doesn’t apply to:
The information practices of other companies and organizations that advertise our services
Services offered by other companies or individuals, including products or sites that may include Connecting France services, be displayed to you in search results, or be linked from our services
Changes to this policy
We change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We always indicate the date the last changes were published and we offer access to archived versions for your review. If changes are significant, we’ll provide a more prominent notice (including, for certain services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes).

Last updated on 16 december 2023