Icicle: privacy policy

Celebrating 22 years!

Icicle climb | trek | ski | run - privacy statement and policy...

We have developed these policies, and share them with you, to highlight our strong standards to protect your privacy at all times. In an era of increased online shopping, research and booking of holidays, we recognise that it is essential that you gain confidence in our high standards, and understand how we wish to protect you. We have written this policy in plain English to make them accessible as possible. If you would like any more detailed explanations to any points, then please feel free to get in touch by e-mail or phone. Should any of the details of this policy change at any time, this page will be updated accordingly.

Postal mailout list
Anyone who has booked on one of our courses, or who contacts us requesting a brochure, is added to our postal mailing lists. We maintain a record of your name and the postal address that you supplied us. This information is stored in a separate private database on our dedicated secure website server, that is UK based. We use this postal mailout list to send out a brochure or leaflet up to a maximum of twice annually, unless you request more.

E-mail mailout list
Whenever anyone subscribes to our e-mailed newsletter subscriber list, or contacts us to ask to be added to it, your name and e-mail address is collected and stored in a separate private database on a dedicated secure website server, managed by MailChimp who is data law compliant. We use the e-mail list to send out a newsletter about our courses and holidays at a maximum rate of one e-mail contact per month. All e-mail mailout communications have a header which the client can click on to remove themselves permanently from the list.

Booking information
We do not sell any of the information that you put on your booking form with any third parties. By accepting the terms and conditions on the booking form, you are giving us permission to share certain information that is specific to your trip with our trip leaders, resort staff, and medical advisors, and full time Icicle staff. This information is only used to ensure that we provide you the best service possible, and to cater for your specific requirements.

Data protection
When you book a trip, you agree that we securely store the data contained on that form for financial compliance, tax, accounting, and health and safety purposes, for a minimum of 10 years. In addition as an existing or recent client, you authorise us to contact you during this 10 year duration, for the purposes of administration for your holiday logistics, and to contact you afterwards with information and future course details you may be interested in. At any stage you retain the option to unsubscribe, or update your preferences, however this in unadvisable before or during a holiday, as the majority of our contact with you is via e-mail.

Managing data
We don’t sell any of your data to any third party, and at any stage you can exercise your legal right to request a copy of your data from us. Note that by booking a course you agree that we can hold your booking form and associated data for a minimum of 10 years. In event of any health and safety concerns we will hold this for a minimum of 20 years. After these deadlines, you may exercise your rights for us to delete this or any other data on you. For more details on your rights, please contact the Information Comissioners Office; https://ico.org.uk/

Tour operator compliance
We take the management and control of any of your data very seriously, but as a tour operator we have to share some information with our two financial and travel bonding trusts (Travel Trust Association and ATOL), both of which we hold a license with (TTA U3307, ATOL T7228. We only share the required minimum data with them, to protect you in the unlikely event of our insolvency. This is a requirement of UK and EU law.

Your privacy
If you have instructed us not to disclose any information (for example a personal medical condition that you had to disclose on the booking form, but which if you were accepted on a course as it did not affect it at all, did not want any other staff members to be aware of it), for whatever reason, we will uphold your decision. This policy also applies to those who wish their identity to be kept private (as may be required by celebrities), and who wish to participate on the course under an assumed identity.

Payment privacy
Our online booking system is on a secure server, and uses encryption to keep all the information you send us as secure as possible. All payments handled by our booking system are through RBS WorldPay, using their integrated secured payment system, and our website has been examined by them and adheres to their required levels of secure data handling.

Website posts
We often link news stories via posts on external websites such as, but not limited to, Blogger, Feedburner, Twitter, and Facebook. We never divulge any full names on any of these posts, but by accepting the terms and conditions of booking, you are providing us full rights to use any photographic or film material taken of you in these news stories. We only use this material responsibly, but Icicle cannot be held responsible for the privacy policies and content of these external websites.

Website content
By providing us any photographic or film material, or comments about a trip with us, you are providing us full rights to use these on our website. Unless you have specifically asked us to, we will never disclose or use your full name.

Website advertising
The Icicle website contains no paid advertising, such as page top banner adverts, but it does contain several links to other websites. In providing these links, Icicle is in no way endorsing the products and services on external websites, and is not responsible for their content. Any website links are provided in good faith, as at the time of publishing, some content was regarded as of potential interest.

Website statistics
Icicle reserves the right to collect the IP addresses of visitors to its website for the sole purpose of daily web statistics monitoring, such as page visits and unique visitors. The IP address collection is standard procedure on most websites, and is only used for the gathering of visitor number information.

Website cookies
Icicle uses website cookies in part of its online booking system shopping cart and price lists to retain the contents of your basket, address, and personal details, until you either pass through the online checkout, or make return visit.

Personal responsibility
Whilst we make every effort to protect your privacy, we can never make any total guarantees regarding any information you provide to us or which is stored online, and you must accept that any such information is provided at your own risk. By sending us any information online, you must acknowledge the well documented privacy and potential security issues of the internet.

Summary
Icicle makes every attempt to use information provided to us responsibly. This policy is our best attempt to convey how we protect your privacy. If you have any questions about these policies, please get in contact. Also do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any ideas or suggestions of how we can improve these policies for the future, as we strive to continually evolve to get better and better.

We take your privacy as seriously as you do.