Your Travel Guide Tourist Transport Services, owned by The Varier Group Inc. (“we,” “us,” or “our”), manages customer inquiries and travel bookings. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, retain, and share personal information.
01Information We Collect
We collect personal information through our customer communications and booking processes, including:
- Contact information: Names, contact numbers, and email addresses.
- Passport information: Passport photos or scans and the personal information visible on them, provided for relevant travel arrangements.
- Booking information: Details needed to arrange your requested service, such as travel dates, destinations, pickup and drop-off locations, and passenger information.
- Communications: Messages, inquiries, and requests exchanged through SleekFlow and messaging platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Viber, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
- Payment records: Bank-transfer screenshots and credit-card transaction receipts, together with relevant payment status and transaction references. We do not store credit-card details.
Our website has no customer-data collection forms. Some pages include a SleekFlow live chat widget; messages you send through it are handled as communications, as described above. Other customer information is collected separately through our communication and booking processes. Hostinger, our website host, may process technical information, such as IP addresses and server access logs, to operate and secure the website.
02How We Use Your Information
We use personal information to respond to inquiries, prepare quotations, arrange and manage bookings, communicate payment and service updates, coordinate with service providers, handle changes and customer support, maintain records, and meet applicable legal obligations.
We use passport photos or scans to accurately record traveler details when arranging airline tickets, travel insurance, and other services requiring passport information. Without the necessary details, we may be unable to arrange the requested service.
Legal Bases for Processing
We process ordinary personal information as necessary to respond to booking requests, take steps requested before a booking, fulfill bookings, and comply with applicable legal obligations.
We obtain your informed agreement before collecting and using passport information for the stated travel arrangements. Where we rely on consent for sharing that information, the permission must cover the relevant recipients and purposes. We obtain separate permission before publishing personal information or identifiable images for promotional purposes.
You may contact us to withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. Withdrawal does not affect processing already lawfully carried out and may affect our ability to arrange services requiring the information.
03Tools and Service Providers
We use:
- Hostinger: To host our website.
- Zoho Forms: To collect and store customer and booking information and generate vouchers. Forms are not embedded on our website.
- SleekFlow and messaging platforms: To manage inquiries and booking communications, including the live chat widget on our website.
- VeritasPay: To facilitate payments. We keep transaction receipts and do not store credit-card details.
- Airtable: To store tariffs and service prices only. We do not store customer personal information in Airtable.
Personal information may be processed by relevant providers as needed for their services. Their own privacy notices may also apply to their processing activities.
04Sharing With Travel Service Providers
Once a booking is confirmed, we share necessary booking details with the assigned operator or other provider fulfilling your requested service. This usually includes the traveler’s name, contact number, email address, and relevant booking details.
Passport information is used for airline bookings and may be shared with the relevant insurer or operator arranging travel insurance when needed. We seek permission for the relevant collection and sharing of passport information.
05Other Disclosures and Promotional Content
We may disclose information when required by law, in response to a valid legal request, or where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
We ask for permission before publishing a customer’s personal information or identifiable image on Facebook or other social media for promotional purposes. You may contact us about withdrawing permission for future use or requesting removal of content we control.
06Data Retention
Our standard retention period for customer conversations, Zoho customer and voucher records, booking records, and payment records is five years. Information may need to be retained longer where required by applicable law or to address an ongoing dispute or legal claim.
Passport Copies
We store downloaded passport photos or scans on a secured local computer, rather than cloud or shared drives. Immediately after travel is completed, we delete these local copies and shred printed passport copies.
Passport images sent through messaging platforms remain in conversation histories and are not routinely deleted immediately after travel. We have not established a separate deletion schedule for these attachments; they remain within the conversation records subject to our general five-year retention period. Deleting local copies does not delete the original messaging attachments.
Airlines, insurers, operators, and platform providers may retain information under their own privacy notices and applicable obligations.
07Information Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to the personal information we process to help protect it against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure.
08International Processing
Customer information may be stored or processed outside the Philippines through the third-party services we use. Locations depend on each provider’s infrastructure and our subscription or account configuration. Relevant providers’ privacy and data-processing terms describe their arrangements.
09Your Privacy Rights
Subject to applicable law, you may have rights to be informed about processing, access and correct your information, object to processing, request erasure or blocking, obtain a portable copy where applicable, and withdraw consent where processing relies on consent.
Send privacy questions and requests to admin@yourtravelguide.co. We may need to verify your identity before responding. Certain information may need to be retained to meet legal obligations or address outstanding transactions or disputes.
You may also raise a concern with the National Privacy Commission of the Philippines.
11Information About Children
Children’s information is provided by their parents or guardians for relevant travel arrangements. This may include passport photos or scans. The purposes, sharing practices, and retention practices described in this policy also apply to children’s information.
We obtain permission from the parent or guardian before publishing a child’s identifiable photograph or personal information for promotional purposes. We also take steps to obscure children’s faces, including blurring.
12Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy to reflect changes in our services, practices, or legal obligations. We will post the updated policy and revise its effective date, providing additional notice where required.