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Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to Vacations By RailĀ®. Vacations By Rail is committed to protecting your personal information and will not rent or sell your information to a third party. It is intended solely for the securing of travel products and services and periodic announcements of our products we feel would be of interest to you.

We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of this Policy and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our website or sending you a notification). We encourage you to review this Policy often to stay informed about our information practices and the choices available to you.

By using our website and services, you agree to the privacy practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree with this Policy, please stop using our website and services.

Information We Collect

Affiliates and Partners

You may be asked to provide your personal information anytime you are in contact with Vacations By Rail or a Vacations By Rail affiliated company or partner. Vacations By Rail and its affiliates and partners may share this personal information with each other and use it consistent with this Privacy Policy. They may also combine it with other information to provide and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.

Personal Information

When you purchase travel products from our web site, register for an interest or wait list, and sign up for one of our newsletters, we ask for personal information to be kept on file and used only for these purposes. We may collect information about you such as your name, phone number, date of birth, email address, home address, passport or license number, contact preferences, names of the people travelling with you, and travel preferences, such as dietary or accessibility needs.

If you're booking with others or for someone else, you will have to give us their information as well. It is your responsibility to ensure that they are aware that you have done so, and that they accept how we use and process their information as well as yours.

Payment Information

We collect payment information, which may include your credit, debit, or other payment card information, and the security code associated with your payment instrument at the time of your transaction in order to process your payment.

Information We Collect Automatically When You Interact with Us

When you access or use our Website or otherwise transact business with us, we automatically collect certain information, including:

  • Log Information: We collect information related to your access to and use of our Website, including the type of browser you use, access times, pages viewed, your IP address, and your activity on our Platform.
  • Device Information: We collect information about how you access our Website, including data about the device and network you use, such as your hardware model, operating system version, mobile network, IP address, unique device identifiers, browser type, and app version. We also collect information about your activity on our Website, such as access times, pages viewed, links clicked, and the page you visited before navigating to our Platform.
  • Location Information: In accordance with your device permissions, we may collect information about the precise location of your device. You may stop the collection of precise location information at any time (see the Your Choices section below for details).
  • Information Collected by Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: We (and our service providers) use tracking technologies, such as cookies and web beacons, to collect information about you. Cookies are very small text files that your web browser manages for you. We have kept the use of cookies to a minimum, but when they are used on this Website they are only used for anonymous tracking of what web pages have been accessed, how frequently, and for how long. You are an anonymous web user until you elect to make an online purchase, sign up for an interest or wait list, or register for our newsletter, at which point you will need to provide personal information. You may disable cookies, but it may affect the functionality of the Website.

Information We Derive

We may derive information or draw inferences about you based on the information we collect. For example, we may make inferences about your location based on your IP address or infer that you are looking to purchase certain products based on your browsing behavior and past purchases.

How We Use Google Analytics

For analytics, we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics may set cookies on your browser or mobile device or read cookies that are already there to collect information. Google Analytics may also receive information about you from apps you have downloaded that partner with Google. Google Analytics collects information such as how often you use our Platform and how you use our Platform. We use the information provided by Google Analytics to improve our Platform. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information.

For more information regarding how Google collects, uses, and shares your information, please visit http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. By using our Platform, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google as described here and in Google's privacy policy. You can control the information provided to Google and opt out of certain ads provided by Google by using of the of the methods set forth in http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ or use the Google Analytics opt out browser add-on at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Use of Information

Your personal information could be used in the following ways:

Processing your bookings: We use your personal information to ensure the services you've selected, which may include flights, hotels, transport, insurance, and other ancillary products are provided to you. We need certain information about you and your party so we can fulfil the contractual obligations when you make a booking.

User Accounts: The information that you provide when you set up an account allows us to provide you with additional services including the ability to manage your bookings, personal settings, and access to special offers.

To communicate with you about your booking: We'll need to contact you using the email or telephone number you provided to give you information relevant to your arrangements. For example, to confirm your booking, notification of any changes, security alerts, administrative messages about your arrangements, and reminders.

Customer Services: You can contact us at any time, whether this is a general query, a question about your booking, or to report an issue. You can do this through our website, by telephone or email. We'll use the information that you've given us to answer any questions and respond to your query or other queries you might have in the future. If you do contact us by telephone, your call may be recorded and reviewed for quality and training purposes. Recordings are only kept for a limited period and then automatically deleted unless we have a legitimate interest in keeping them for a longer period.

Personalization of your experience: We sometimes use your data to enable us to show you the most relevant products and services we think you'll be interested in, such as the best deals and special offers for destinations you like or have been to previously.

Marketing: Where you make a booking, or in any other case, if you have opted-in or signed-up, we may contact you with information about other products and services that we offer that are like those that you have already purchased or inquired about, and we think may interest you based on your personal information. Don't worry, you can opt-out of these emails at any time.

Newsletter: If you have subscribed to a Vacations By Rail newsletter and wish to stop receiving this communication, click the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email and follow the instructions. Should you wish to stop receiving other communication related to future travel and new products, please contact a Vacations By Rail travel specialist or email [email protected].   

When you book or register with us, we will ask you if you would like to receive marketing communications. You can change your marketing preferences online, over the phone, using the "unsubscribe" link in our emails, replying STOP to the short code in our marketing text messages or by writing to us at any time.  Of course, the choice is entirely yours, but if you say you do not want to receive marketing information from us you will miss out on receiving great offers and promotions that may be of interest to you.

You may still receive service-related communications from us.  For example, confirming bookings you make with us and providing important information about the use of our products and/or services.

Promotional Activities: From time to time, and especially if you travel with us, we also request information via surveys, contests, polls, and other promotions, and of course, you may contact us via email with any comments or questions. Participation in any of these activities is voluntary and therefore your decision if you wish to share additional information with us. In these instances, we will collect personally identifiable informational (for instance, your contact information) and demographic information (for instance, zip code, age range, etc.). Contact information is used to notify winners and award prizes when submitted for contests and prize drawings or to be in touch for customer relations measures for surveys and direct emails. Information collected through surveys will be used for purposes of gauging your satisfaction with our product and monitoring and improving our offerings.

Improving our services: Sometimes we might use your data to help us improve the quality and functionality of our services. This could include eliminating bugs in our system, data analysis, testing, and statistical and survey purposes, all of which helps us improve the service we offer.

Security: We may use your data as part of efforts to keep our sites (and the information you provide to us) safe and secure, and to prevent fraud or unauthorized access/use of our sites.

Fraudulent Claims: We may use your personal information to prevent, detect, or defend any claims/actions we believe to be potentially fraudulent or detrimental to our legitimate interests.

Legal and regulatory compliance: We might need to use your information in relation to any legal disputes, regulatory, compliance or criminal investigations, or if necessary, to enforce our rights.

Sharing Information

In certain circumstances we may share the information you provide to us with organizations outside of Vacations by Rail. The third parties who we might share your data with include:

Service Providers: If you make a booking, we'll have to share your booking data with the third parties, such as hoteliers, airlines, insurers, and transfer providers to complete your booking contract. The data shared may include your name and the names and ages of any guests travelling with you, any preferences, or special requests you told us about when you made your booking and your contact details. If you contact us with a query about your booking, we may pass this on to our providers if they are needed to answer you.

Third party support services: These includes anyone who provides support services or functions on our behalf, including payment card processing, business analytics, review agencies, advertising, and customer support services. This may be to send you marketing material on our behalf or to collate information that can be analyzed to improve our service. They have access to and may collect information only as required to perform their agreed functions and are not permitted to share or use information for any other purpose.

Payment Processors and other financial institutions: When you make a payment on your booking, we use a third-party payment processor to take your payment. If you request a chargeback on your booking, it may be necessary for us to share certain details with the payment processor and the relevant financial institution, so they can manage the chargeback. This may include a copy of your booking confirmation, financial details and the IP address that was used to make your booking.

Referring websites: If you were referred to our site via another webpage, we may share some information about you with that referring website so that they can contact you about their products and services, which may include Google Analytics.

Business Affiliates: We may share your data with our business affiliates with whom we offer relevant joint services. This may include other agencies and advertising networks. We do this to maximize the services that we provide you and so they may contact you directly about their relevant products and services that may interest you. You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time.

Advertising: We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, visit www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.

Law enforcement authorities: We will disclose personal information insofar as it is required by law or where we believe it is necessary for the prevention, detection, or prosecution of potentially criminal acts, including for fraud, immigration, customs, security, or anti-terrorism purposes.

Please note that while we have procedures and security features to protect your information from access by unauthorized persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, and damage, we don't control the privacy practices of any of these third-parties or your Service Providers and we would encourage you to review their own privacy policies where appropriate.

Furthermore, any information that you provide directly to your Service Providers or other suppliers is not covered under this Privacy Policy and we would urge to check their own privacy policies before providing any personal information.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

When we process your information as described above, we will be relying on one or more of the following legal rights:

Performance of a contract: We use your information to carry out the contract that you have with us and your Service Providers. We'll use the information that you provide us when making a booking to conclude and process the reservations with the relevant third-party Service Providers.

Consent: You may, through your action(s) of providing us your details, consent to us sending you marketing and promotional material. If you do kindly give us this consent, we'll rely on this consent when contacting you. You can always withdraw your consent at any time by simply unsubscribing.

Legitimate interest: We may use your information for our own legitimate interest, for example to provide you with the most relevant content on our site or to promote new services and for certain administrative and legal purposes. If you fail to complete a purchase, we may send you some follow-up emails to try and help you, or seek your feedback or offer you alternative products related to your selection.

Business transaction: We may use your data in connection with a business transaction such as the sale of a part or the whole of our business.

To Comply with a legal obligation:  We may share your personal data with regulatory authorities such as immigration, border control, security, anti-terrorism, and any other legitimate legal obligation as required.

To protect your vital interests or those of another individual: We may share your information in the case of an emergency.  For example, with insurance companies or medical personnel.

Storage of Data

Vacations By Rail uses secure SSL encryption to protect your data that is transmitted electronically thus ensuring that your personal information is protected as it is sent to us. Only authorized personnel are permitted to access your information in the course of their work with us. Our data security protections meet the "reasonable security requirements" of the New York "Shield Act".  While we do our best to protect your information, no information transferred over the internet or stored electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure and you provide your information to us at your own risk.

We'll only retain your information for a reasonable period, or for so long as either you or the law allows.

When you pay for your tour, we don't store your card details - instead we use an encrypted authorization 'token' issued by your payment provider to collect the payments.

Browser Do Not Track

Our Website does not support Do Not Track (DNT) at this time. DNT is a privacy preference you can set in your web browser to indicate that you do not want certain information about your web page visits tracked and collected across websites. For more details, including how to turn on Do Not Track, visit www.donottrack.us.

Your Rights with Regard to Your Information

You have the following rights in relation to the personal information that we hold about you:

You may request a copy of the personal information we are keeping about you by submitting a request to us at the below address.

You may ask that we correct any inaccuracies in the data, ask us to transfer it to another party or provide it to you for transfer it to another party yourself.

You can ask us not to process your personal information for marketing purposes at any time by sending a request to the below address or clicking 'unsubscribe' on any of the emails that we send to you. Alternatively, you can also email [email protected] and it will be done for you. We will let you know if we intend to use your data for marketing purposes.

You have the right to request that we delete all personal information that we hold about you. If there is no other reason beside you providing your consent for us to hold your data, we will delete it upon receiving your request.

We may not delete your personal information if one of the following exceptions exists:

  • Information is necessary to complete the transaction;                                                                                                              
  • Information is necessary to detect security incidents;                                                                                                                 
  • Information is necessary to protect against deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity;
  • Information is necessary to identify and repair errors;                                                                                                             
  • Information is necessary to promote free speech;                                                                                                                      
  • Information is necessary for scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest;
  • Information is necessary for internal uses of the company if those uses are reasonably expected by consumers;
  • Information is necessary to comply with a legal obligation; or                                                                                                      
  • Information is used internally in a manner that is compatible with the context of the collection.

If you would like to exercise any of your above rights, please contact us at [email protected] writing 'Data Subject Access Request' in the subject line. We will deal with any requests we receive in accordance with the relevant Data Protection laws.

Data Collected Through Mobile Devices

Mobile devices can be used to access our services, as well as versions of our regular website. These mobile sites work in a similar way to our main website. Sometimes we make use of something known as cross-device tracking, which allows us to track user behavior across different devices. We use this to improve the service that we provide you and for marketing activities, so advertisements shown to you on other websites may be offered based on your activities on linked devices.

Personal Information of Minors

We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 and require that those making purchases on vacationsbyrail.com are 18+ years of age. Some travel products may be subject to age restrictions or qualify for age-related savings. We only process information about children with the consent of the parents or legal guardians.

Links to other sites

Our Website may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Data Controller

We control the processing of data over our sites - in legal terms, this means that Vacations by Rail is the Data Controller for the purposes of EU Data Protection laws.

Transfer of Information to the United States and Other Countries

Vacations buy Rail is headquartered in the U.S., and we have operations and service providers in the U.S. However, we process and store information in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. Therefore, we and those that perform work for us may transfer your information to, or store or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction.

Contact Us

For questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please email [email protected].