Privacy policy
About us
VisitorReady.com is run by AA Media Ltd, whose registered office is at Level 3, Plant, Basing View, Basingstoke Hampshire RG21 4HG. Registered in England company number 06112600.
Maintaining the security of your data is a priority at AA Media Ltd, and we are committed to respecting your privacy rights. We pledge to handle your data fairly and legally at all times. AA Media Ltd is also dedicated to being transparent about what data we collect about you and how we use it. By visiting and/or contacting us through the Website, using our services, (or otherwise engaging with us), you acknowledge that we may collect, use and transfer your Personal Information as set out in this Policy. AA Media Ltd reserves the right to change this Policy from time to time and you should therefore check this page frequently to ensure you are happy with any changes.
This policy provides you with information about:
– how we use your data;
– what personal data we collect;
– how we ensure your privacy is maintained; and
– your legal rights relating to your personal data.
HOW WE USE YOUR DATA
General AA Media Ltd (and trusted partners acting on our behalf) uses your personal data:
– to provide goods and services to you;
– to make a tailored website available to you;
– to manage any registered account(s) that you hold with us;
– to verify your identity;
– for crime and fraud prevention, detection and related purposes;
– with your agreement, to contact you electronically about promotional offers and products and services which we think may interest you;
– for market research purposes – to better understand your needs;
– to enable AA Media Ltd to manage customer service interactions with you; and
– where we have a legal right or duty to use or disclose your information (for example in relation to an investigation by a public authority or in a legal dispute).
Marketing
Promotional Communications
– AA Media Ltd uses your personal data for electronic marketing purposes (with your consent) and may send you postal mail to update you on the latest AA Media Ltd offers.
– AA Media Ltd aims to update you about products & services which are of interest and relevance to you as an individual.
– You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time, by:
1. changing marketing preferences via the appropriate preference centre link below: a. AA Media Ltd
2. making use of the simple "unsubscribe" link in emails
3. contacting AA Media Ltd via the contact channels set out in this Policy
Web Banner Advertising
– If you visit our websites, you may receive personalised banner advertisements whilst browsing other websites. Any banner advertisements you see will relate to products you have viewed whilst browsing our websites on your computer or other devices.
– These advertisements are provided by AA Media Ltd via market leading specialist providers using 'cookies' placed on your computer or other devices (see further information on the use of cookies in our Cookie Policy). You can remove or disable cookies at any time – see below for further information.
Sharing data with third parties
Our service providers and suppliers In order to make certain services available to you, we may need to share your personal data with some of our service partners. These include subscription services, IT, delivery and marketing service providers. AA Media Ltd only allows its service providers to handle your personal data when we have confirmed that they apply appropriate data protection and security controls. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to data protection and security, which mean they can only use your data to provide services to AA Media Ltd and to you, and for no other purposes.
Other third parties
Aside from our service providers, AA Media Ltd will not disclose your personal data to any third party, except as set out below. We will never sell or rent our customer data to other organisations for marketing purposes. We may share your data with:
– credit reference agencies where necessary for card payments;
– relevant UK or local government authorities or agencies (including government tourism organisations such as VisitEngland, Visit Wales, VisitScotland and Tourism NI) to allow them to access data pertaining to their region or destination (applicable only to data relating to Applicants of our 'Visitor Ready' accreditation scheme);
– governmental bodies, regulators, law enforcement agencies, courts/tribunals and insurers where we are required to do so:
– to comply with our legal obligations;
– to exercise our legal rights (for example in court cases);
– for the prevention, detection, investigation of crime or prosecution of offenders; and
– for the protection of our employees and customers.
International transfers
To deliver products and services to you, it is sometimes necessary for AA Media Ltd to share your data outside of the European Economic Area. This will typically occur when service providers are located outside the EEA or if you are based outside the EEA. These transfers are subject to special rules under data protection laws.
If this happens, we will ensure that the transfer will be compliant with data protection law and all personal data will be secure. Our standard practice is to use 'standard data protection clauses' which have been approved by the European Commission for such transfers. Those clauses can be accessed here.
How long do we keep your data?
We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy. For example, competition data will only be retained until the competition is closed and the prize has been received by the winner, unless the entrants have opted in to receive further communications from ourselves or a designated third party. Different retention periods apply for different types of data, however the longest we will normally hold any personal data is 7 years (for financial purposes).
WHAT PERSONAL DATA DO WE COLLECT?
At AA Media Ltd we collect information about the following:
1. Visitors to our websites
2. Subscribers to our magazines
3. Subscribers to our e-newsletters
4. People who write to us
5. People who enter our competitions
6. People who buy tickets to, or who attend our events
7. Our advertisers and commercial partner
8. Job applicants and our current and former employees
9. Applicants to our accreditation schemes.
Some of our services may have their own specific privacy policy because the services we provide in that instance are different. So please do check when you sign up or register just to be sure you know what is happening to your information.
We collect information on you:
– when you register for an event (including live streamed events), an awards programme or competition
– when you contact us for information
– when you work with us in a commercial capacity, either as a sponsor or partner
– when you sign up for a newsletter
– when you subscribe to a paper or digital magazine
– when you download an app
– when you use the website
– when you make an application for your property or business to be accredited under one of our schemes
– through cookies
– if you choose to reveal information in postings
– if you complete your details on research questionnaires, and
– when you enter sales promotions and competitions.
AA Media Ltd may collect the following information about you:
– your name, age/date of birth and gender;
– your contact details: postal address including billing and delivery addresses, telephone numbers (including mobile numbers) and e-mail address;
– purchases and orders made by you;
– your on-line browsing activities on AA Media Ltd websites;
– your password(s);
– your communication and marketing preferences;
– your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses;
– your location;
– your correspondence and communications with AA Media Ltd;
– other publicly available personal data, including any which you have shared via a public platform (such as a Twitter/X feed or public Facebook page).
Our websites are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
This list is not exhaustive, and, in specific instances, we may need to collect additional data for the purposes set out in this Policy. Some of the above personal data is collected directly, for example when you set up an on-line account on our websites or send an email to our customer services team. Other personal data is collected indirectly, for example your browsing or shopping activity. We may also collect personal data from third parties who have your consent to pass your details to us, or from publicly available sources.
WHAT LAWFUL BASIS DO WE USE FOR PROCESSING YOUR DATA?
We use different legal bases depending upon the purpose for collecting your data in the first instance.
– For all data collected to sign up for a product and service such as a newsletter, an event or a magazine subscription we process the data using Legitimate Interest, i.e. it is in your benefit to hear about additional related services in a timely fashion, particularly where availability is limited. You always have a choice in the management of your data in this manner and can opt out of processing under this basis at any time.
– Where you provide data in the course of the purchase of a product we process your data under Contract, i.e. your data is necessary for the fulfilment of the service. Any additional contact, i.e. telling you about another product or service closely related to the product or service you have bought is managed under legitimate interest.
– Any secondary processing of your data, i.e. sharing with third parties, sending you messages on behalf of third parties, transfer to third countries, is managed under Consent.
– Where we are required by statutory obligation to retain data e.g. for accounting or taxation purposes, we manage this data under legal obligation.
– Under the terms of current data protection legislation, we will always make it as easy as possible for you to opt out of unwanted processing, providing it does not restrict our ability to provide you with the service you have requested.
HOW WE PROTECT YOUR DATA
AA Media Ltd is committed to keeping your personal data safe and secure. We update and test security on an ongoing basis and restrict access to data to only those who need access to provide products, content or services.
Data is either stored on AA Media Ltd secure on-site servers or via third parties UK/EU hosted services via cloud services/other technology, these third parties do not use or have access to our data other than for cloud storage and retrieval, and AA Media Ltd requires such parties to employ at least the same level of security that we use to protect your personal data.
We have also put together internal policies setting out our data security approach and advice to employees on this.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PROTECT YOUR DATA
AA Media Ltd will never ask you to confirm any bank account or credit card details via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from AA Media Ltd asking you to do so, please ignore it and do not respond.
If you are using a computing device in a public location, we recommend that you always log out and close the website browser when you complete an online session.
In addition, we recommend that you take the following security measures to enhance your online safety both in relation to AA Media Ltd and more generally:
– keep your account passwords private. Remember, anybody who knows your password may access your account.
– when creating a password, use at least 8 characters. A combination of letters and numbers is best. Do not use dictionary words, your name, email address, or other personal data that can be easily obtained. We also recommend that you frequently change your passwords. You can do this accessing your account, clicking 'settings', clicking 'my account' and then use the 'change my password' function. Please ensure that you check your junk mail/clutter inboxes if your password email does not arrive directly in your inbox.
– avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have the following rights:
– the right to ask for a copy of personal data that we hold about you (the right of access);
– the right (in certain circumstances) to request that we delete personal data held on you; where we no longer have any legal reason to retain it (the right of erasure or to be forgotten);
– the right to ask us to update and correct any out-of-date or incorrect personal data that we hold about you (the right of rectification);
– the right to opt out of any marketing communications that we may send you and to object to us using / holding your personal data if we have no legitimate reasons to do so (the right to object);
– the right (in certain circumstances) to ask us to 'restrict processing of data'; which means that we would need to secure and retain the data for your benefit but not otherwise use it (the right to restrict processing); and
– the right (in certain circumstances) to ask us to supply you with some of the personal data we hold about you and/or to provide a copy of the data to another organisation (the right to data portability).
If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us using the contact details set out below.
COOKIES POLICY
What are cookies? Like most websites, AA Media Ltd websites use cookies to collect information. Cookies are small data files which are placed on your computer or other devices (such as smart 'phones or 'tablets') as you browse our websites (listed below). They are used to 'remember' when your computer or device accesses our websites. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the site during future visits. They also allow us to monitor website traffic and to personalise the content of the site for you.
Information collected
Some cookies collect information about browsing and purchasing behaviour when you access this website via the same computer or device. This includes information about pages viewed, products purchased and your journey around a website. We do not use cookies to collect or record information on your name, address or other contact details.
How are cookies managed?
The cookies stored on your computer or other device when you access our websites are designed by:
– AA Media Ltd, or on behalf of AA Media Ltd, and are necessary to enable you to a make purchases on our website;
– third parties who participate with us in marketing programmes; and • third parties who broadcast web banner advertisements on behalf of AA Media Ltd.
What are cookies used for?
The main purposes for which cookies are used are:
1. For technical purposes essential to effective operation of our websites, particularly in relation to on-line transactions and site navigation.
2. For AA Media Ltd to market to you, particularly web banner advertisements and targeted updates.
3. To enable AA Media Ltd to collect information about your browsing and shopping patterns, including to monitor the success of campaigns, competitions etc.
4. To enable AA Media Ltd to meet its contractual obligations to make payments to third parties when a product is purchased by someone who has visited our website from a site operated by those parties.
How do I disable cookies?
If you want to disable cookies you need to change your website browser settings to reject cookies. How you can do this will depend on the browser you use. Further details on how to disable cookies for the most popular browsers are set out below:
For Microsoft Internet Explorer:
1. Choose the menu "tools" then "Internet Options"
2. Click on the "privacy" tab
3. Select the setting the appropriate setting
For Google Chrome:
1. Choose Settings> Advanced
2. Under "Privacy and security," click "Content settings".
3. Click "Cookies"
For Safari:
1. Choose Preferences > Privacy
2. Click on "Remove all Website Data"
For Mozilla firefox:
1. Choose the menu "tools" then "Options"
2. Click on the icon "privacy"
3. Find the menu "cookie" and select the relevant options
For Opera 6.0 and further:
1. Choose the menu Files"> "Preferences"
2. Privacy
What happens if I disable cookies?
This depends on which cookies you disable, but in general the website may not operate properly if cookies are switched off.
DATA PROTECTION ENQUIRIES
If you have any questions about how AA Media Ltd uses your personal data that are not answered here, or if you want to exercise your rights regarding your personal data, please:
– email us: dataprotection@aamediagroup.co.uk
– write to: AA Media Ltd, Grove House, Lutyens Close, Chineham Court, Basingstoke, RG24 8AG. Requests will be responded to and dealt with within a reasonable period, not longer than 30 days.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office if you are unhappy with how your case is dealt with. Further information, including contact details, is available at ico.org.uk.
UPDATES
This policy was last updated in November 2024.