Vacationsbycarlson.com believes in providing you industry-leading privacy. When we collect personal information from you -- whether online, over the phone, or in person -- we follow the best practices for on-line privacy. These are our ten promises to you:
1. Notice. Where we ask for your personal information, we'll tell you why we need your information, what we'll do with it, and what options are available to you.
2. Relevance. We will require you to provide only those pieces of information that we need to perform the particular service you seek from us.
3. Retention. We will retain your information only so long as it is needed for business purposes, or as required by law.
4. Choice. When we contact you for marketing purposes, we'll let you know how to remove your name from future marketing efforts.
5. Access. We will provide easy ways for you to access the information we've collected about you.
6. Accuracy. We will promptly correct inaccuracies in your personal information that we discover or you bring to our attention.
7. Security. We will protect your information with the same security we use to prevent unauthorized people from accessing our own information.
8. Sharing. When we use other companies to provide travel services to you or communicate with you, we will ensure they protect your information with our high level of security. We will not send your information outside of Carlson Vacation & Business Travel for purposes unrelated to fulfilling your requested service.
9. International Transfer. If we send your information to one of our facilities in another country, we will protect it with the same high level of security.
10. Enforcement. We will regularly review how we're meeting these privacy promises and provide you a means to settle complaints about our privacy practices.
To change your marketing preferences, access your information, ask questions about our privacy practices, or issue a complaint, contact us at:
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
460 Waverly Road
Holland MI 49423
800.322.7720
To learn more about our privacy practices, see our Frequently Asked Questions.
Effective: October 1, 2004
Frequently Asked Questions -- Data Privacy
Who are we?
Carlson Wagonlit is a division of Carlson Vacation & Business Travel a subsidiary of Carlson Travel Group, Inc. a business within Carlson Companies, Inc. - the parent corporation of businesses operating in the hospitality, travel, and relationship-marketing industries. Carlson Travel Group brands include Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Cruise Holidays, Results Travel, Carlson Destination Marketing, SinglesCruise.com, and Carlson Leisure Travel Services. Carlson Travel Group is also a member of Carlson's Gold Points Rewards network.
How can someone learn about our privacy practices?
Wherever we ask for your personal information, we'll let you know how you can find out about the steps we take to guard your information. If we're asking you for information online, such as on one of our websites, we'll provide a link to our Privacy Promise. If you're making a reservation by phone, our operators will be able to answer your privacy questions. Our travel agents know about our commitments to your privacy. They will be able to answer your questions and promptly address any of your concerns.
What personal information do we collect, how, and why?
Our sole purpose in collecting your personal information is to provide the level of travel services you expect. By learning more about you and your preferences, we can provide you meaningful offers and deliver services that meet your highest standards.
We'll require only the minimum amount of information from you that we need to provide our services. If you're arranging travel with us, we'll need your name, contact information, itinerary, and method of payment. Depending upon your destination, we may also need other information related to your trip. We'll always indicate the minimum required information on forms that we ask you to complete.
We believe that in order to make your travel pleasing and comfortable, we must strive to anticipate your needs. To do this, we'll occasionally ask for your travel and hospitality preferences. We try to identify travelers who come to us a number of times to let them know about discounted rates and programs they may be eligible for. To learn more about the needs and wishes of travel customers, we may obtain customer information from companies outside our family of businesses, but will do so only if these companies have permission to share that information with us.
If you're visiting one of our websites, we may track the IP address of the computer you're using and the places on our websites you visit. We track this information without your name and use it to improve the design of our web pages. Like many commercial websites, we use "cookies" to help our websites function properly. Cookies are small files placed on your computer that contain information you've provided to the website. They help our websites provide you a smooth registration process. To protect the information stored on your cookies, we encrypt and expire them after one year of inactivity.
If you've given us your e-mail or postal address, we'll initiate contact with you to invite you back again. At that time, we'll also let you know how to remove your name from our marketing efforts. We'll never collect information about you for which you haven't given your consent.
Do we collect information from children?
No. We will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from children.
How long do we keep your information?
We'll keep information associated with your name for only as long as we need it. For each program we operate, we'll establish an information-retention plan. These plans will result in eliminating your name from our records after a defined point in the future, such as account inactivity, unless a law where you live requires us to retain it for a different length of time. To remove all of your personal information from our databases, e-mail us at
How can you remove your name from our lists?
At any time, you can contact to request that you not be contacted for marketing purposes. Our e-mailed offers also include instructions for unsubscribing from future e-mailed offers. If you want to be removed only from our postal mailing list, please provide us with your complete name and address.
How can you access the information we've collected about you?
At any time, you can contact and request that a copy of your personal profile be delivered to your home or e-mail address. We'll use secure means to confirm your identity to prevent the wrong people from accessing your information.
How can you make corrections to your personal information?
At any time, you can contact and request that we correct your personal information, such as your name and address.
Do we share your information with other companies?
We will never sell your information, and we will never share it outside the Carlson Travel Group family of companies and trusted suppliers for purposes unrelated to providing the services you've sought from us -- unless you've given us permission to do so.
One level of sharing occurs within the Carlson Travel Group family of companies. Carlson Travel Group provides technology services to its subsidiaries and centrally stores customer information. If you use a Carlson Wagonlit Travel agency to book a trip, for example, your agent may enter your information in a system that is managed by Carlson Travel Group. Our corporate staff, which has been trained on our privacy and security standards, may then access that information and send you additional offers for other Carlson Travel Group brands for which you qualify.
A different level of sharing occurs when we contract with trusted suppliers to help provide our travel services. For example, when you pay for a trip using a credit card, we'll authorize that payment through a third party. An outside telephone company also provides the telephone network we use to transmit information between our buildings and systems. We will use other companies to prepare and send surface mail and e-mail to customers. Whenever we contract with outside companies, we'll hold them accountable to protect your information to the same high level we do. They are forbidden from sharing your information with other companies except to provide your requested services.
In rare cases, we may be required by law enforcement or other government authorities to provide personally identifiable information to them. In these instances, we will comply with our obligations and seek to do so in a way that protects your information.
Do our websites send your information to other companies?
Our websites do not use technologies called "Spyware" that secretly collect and transmit information about you outside the domain of the website.
Be aware, however, that whenever you click on any advertisements on the Internet, the companies placing the ads may collect information about you through the use of cookies or pop-up advertisements. Because of the way the Internet technically operates, we cannot control this collection of information. You should contact these advertisers or content providers if you have any questions about their use of the information they collect.
Carlson Vacation & Business Travel does contract with other companies to supplement the services we offer on our websites. In these instances, your information may be routed through these companies.
Do we transmit your information outside your country of residence?
Yes, we probably do. As a global company, our operations cross national boundaries by necessity. To keep prices down for you, we've consolidated our data operations into a few locations. If you book a trip in Germany, for example, your transaction may be processed by our computers in the U.S. If you call to make a reservation in the US, your call may be taken by an operator in Canada. In every case, we'll ensure that all of our locations are protecting your information to the same high level of security. If you don’t want your information to cross national borders, contact us at or 800.322.7720.
What security controls do we use to protect your information?
We use a combination of basic and advanced technical and procedural controls to prevent unauthorized people from seeing, altering, or obtaining your personal information. We operate secure data networks protected by industry-standard firewalls and intrusion-detection sensors. We frequently update our antivirus mechanisms and security patches. Our privacy and security policies are regularly reviewed and enhanced, and only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our customers. Any sensitive information, such as a customer's credit-card number, is encrypted during transmission.
How do we enforce our privacy promises?
We take the initiative to ensure our global operations are meeting our ten privacy promises. Our most important effort is to train our key personnel handling customer information on their roles and responsibilities in protecting your privacy. Each year, we also assess the privacy and security practices of our customer-information systems. If you have questions or concerns about our privacy practices, contact us at |
