AAA Tourism Privacy Charter
Protecting your privacy is important to AAA Tourism. We hope the following statement will help you understand how AAA Tourism collects, uses, discloses, holds and safeguards your personal information.
AAA Tourism prides itself on offering the highest standards in customer service delivery, and in being an organisation with a reputation for providing the most comprehensive tourism accommodation database to Auto Club members, and the general public. AAA Tourism will continue to treat your privacy as being of utmost importance as it is recognised as an integral part of our business processes and procedures.
The National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act set the standard for how private sector organisations should handle personal information. AAA Tourism is committed to complying with this standard.
About AAA Tourism
AAA Tourism is a private corporation set up in 1999 as the national tourism body of Australia's Auto Clubs (NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAA, RAC, RACT, AANT).
In 2009, AAA Tourism formed the Club Tourism Publishing partnership with the New Zealand equivalent, AA Travel, to share ideas and technologies and to target each country's largest source of international visitors.
AAA Tourism provides an array of tourism and travel products and services. These include the production of guides that describe where to go, where to stay, how to get there and what to see and do. This information is produced in published guides and is also available on the Internet. AAA Tourism also provides the unique STAR Rating Scheme for accommodation providers
Collection of Personal Information
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Why do we collect personal information?
If you want to take advantage of our products or services, we will generally need to collect some personal information from you. We only collect information that we need:
- to establish your application for your property to be listed and STAR Rated;
- to service and administer your products, accounts and other needs;
- to offer you new products and services, which we believe may interest you;
- and to satisfy any legal requirements.
How do we collect the information?
We try to collect information about you only from you. However, there are limited circumstances where we may have to collect personal information about you from someone else; eg. From credit rating agencies to assess your credit worthiness
What sort of personal information do we collect?
We generally collect very limited amounts of personal information, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, (for purposes of listing your property with us), and credit card details to allow us to accept payments from you for our products and services
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How we use your personal information
- To provide you with the products and services you want
We tell our customers about the general uses of their information when we collect it and we will provide additional explanation if our customers request it. Primarily, we will use your information to process your application for STAR Rating Membership and to provide you with the products and services you have requested. We may share your information within AAA Tourism to perform administrative functions such as receipting, billing, and listing your property online and in our guides. All business units within AAA Tourism comply with this Privacy Charter.
Your feedback is important to us
AAA Tourism may use your information to contact you from time to time, in order to seek your opinion on matters such as your satisfaction with our guides and suggestions for improvement, our current service standards, opportunities to partake in new products we have available, and the development of new products and services. These contacts assist AAA Tourism to remain relevant to the needs of our customer base. You can choose not to take part in this activity if we contact you.
Product offers
We may also use your information to offer you other products and services that we think you might be interested in. These offers may be based on information you provided in your initial transaction with us, information you provided when you responded to our surveys, from information that may indicate purchasing preferences and business needs, as well as information lawfully available from other organisations.
Where AAA Tourism sends you offers relating to the products and services of other organisations, we keep control over your information. We do not disclose your information to them. We do not give, rent or sell your information to other organisations so that they can direct market to you.
Please keep in mind, however, that if you take advantage of an offer from one of our business partners and become their customer, they may independently wish to send offers to you. In this case, you will need to inform them separately if you do not wish to receive further offers from them.
You can choose not to receive any product or service offers from AAA Tourism. Section 7 of this Charter explains how you can do this.- To provide you with the products and services you want
Quality of information
We use technology, continual data verification processes, documented employee procedures and internal monitoring to help ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date.
We also ask you to contact us and let us know if you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate or not up-to-date, such as when you change any business contact details.
Security of personal information
The security of your information is protected by only allowing access to those who need it to conduct their business responsibilities. AAA Tourism employees and contractors are only provided with the information they need to perform their activities. Our employees and contractors are also bound by contract to keep your information confidential.
Passwords, firewalls and virus protection are used to protect AAA Tourism systems holding personal information from unauthorised access. Security alarms, patrols, access cards and internal procedures are used to protect AAA Tourism premises that house AAA Tourism systems and paper records.
Declining Product Offers ("Opt-Out")
From time to time, AAA Tourism may use your information to tell you about other products and services, discounts, special offers, competitions and invitations to special events.
However, we clearly recognise the importance of providing you with choices by giving you an easy means to "Opt Out" from receiving these offers.
Let us know if you do not want to receive these offers by contacting the Privacy Officer via mail, email or fax and advising that you wish to "Opt Out" of future offers.
Disclosure of Personal Information
Contractors
AAA Tourism may contract with other parties to provide services on our behalf, for example, commercial pre-press and printing companies to print our tourism guides, printing and mail houses to print and distribute AAA Tourism correspondence and material, marketing companies to conduct market research and mercantile agents and lawyers to recover debts.
In all circumstances where AAA Tourism contracts with other parties to provide services on our behalf, we will take reasonable steps to protect the privacy of any of your information disclosed to them.
Business Partners
In some cases, we contract with other parties so that we can bring you quality products and services more efficiently. Where we do this, you will be informed prior to the collection of your information or as soon as practicable thereafter, of how AAA Tourism and our business partner will collect, use and disclose your information.
Other Disclosure Of Information
AAA Tourism may also, as permitted by the Privacy Act, disclose your information where it is necessary in an emergency, investigation of suspected criminal activity or where AAA Tourism is authorised or required by law (eg. legislation or a legal order) to disclose it. In all other cases, we will not disclose your information unless you have been previously informed or have authorised us to do so.
How Long Do We Keep Information?
We will keep information for as long as it is necessary to service your account or to continue to provide products and services you have requested.
We will retain information for a reasonable period if you cease to be our customer, unless the law requires us to keep it for longer.
Our Employees And Training
We provide training and communications programs designed to educate employees about the meaning and requirements of this Privacy Charter.
Employees who intentionally or negligently breach this Privacy Charter are subject to disciplinary action. Employees are expected to report violations and may do so confidentially to their manager or compliance officer.
Your Rights Of Access And Correction
You can contact AAA Tourism to request details of any personal information we may hold about you or if you would like us to correct it.
Depending on the nature of your request, we may ask you to complete a Personal Information Access Form, and in some cases, we may charge you a service fee for providing this information. We will inform you of this at the time of your request.
How To Complain About A Possible Breach Of Privacy
Contact AAA Tourism on (03) 8601 2200 during business hours. We may request that you put your complaint in writing. We will investigate and respond to all privacy complaints within a reasonable time.
