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Privacy Statement

This is about you - Information on data collection and the handling of your data

Thank you for visiting our website www.pepxpress.com. As a special tour operator for industry insiders, your confidence is of course particularly important to us. With your registration on our website you provide us with a lot of personal data – and we appreciate that very much! These data are in safe hands with us, because we use them exclusively for your travel experience with pepXpress.

In the course of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation we have made some changes in our privacy statement. The following information will give you a simple overview of the fact that your data is safe with us. Finally, you should enjoy your next holiday with us without worrying about the security of your data!

1. General Information

Responsible for data processing on this website is pepXpress Touristik & Marketing GmbH, In den Wiesen 38, 56070 Koblenz (hereinafter referred to as "we"). This privacy statement is to give you an understanding of what data we collect and for what purpose we use it. It also explains how and for what purpose this is done.

Your privacy is important to us, therefore we use SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or requests that you send to us as a website operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line. If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Nevertheless, in individual cases, data transmission on the internet may be subject to security gaps. A complete protection of the data against access by third parties is not possible.

2. What are your rights?

You may call up and update the information linked to your person and your bookings at any time in the "My Account" section of our website. All you have to do is to log in with your e-mail address and your password.

Furthermore, you have the right to request a copy of your personal data that we have stored. You may also claim that this data will be corrected, blocked or deleted. This applies in particular if the storage of your data is not necessarily in connection with the fulfilment of a contract. You can withdraw your consent to the collection of data at any time. Thereupon and for further questions concerning the protection of data privacy you may contact our data protection officer at any time:

 

E-Mail: datenschutz(at)pepxpress.com

Phone: 0261 - 1349060

pepXpress Touristik & Marketing GmbH, In den Wiesen 38, 56070 Koblenz

 

In addition, you have the right to appeal to the local supervisory authority. Please contact the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of Rhineland-Palatinate: www.datenschutz.rlp.de/de/themenfelder-themen/kontakt/

3. What data is stored?

Data is collected each time you use our website. Most of the data you share with us independently, e.g. by registering or using the contact form. However, some data is collected automatically when you enter the website.

But the use of your data is always in connection with the provision or further development of our products and services. This is realized on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO, which permits the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures or for the technically error-free and optimised provision of our services in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

3.1 Data provided voluntarily

We store personal data you have placed at our disposal e.g. when you register on our website, book services via our platform, correspond with us, fill out a form, subscribe to our mailing lists, to our newsletters or to other forms of marketing messages, or when you respond to a survey or you participate in an advertising campaign.

·       Contact us

In order to process your enquiries and in the event of follow-up questions, information from the contact form, including your given contact data, will be stored by us. The same applies to contacting via e-mail. We also collect comments that you make by participating in surveys, contests or promotions we have conducted. Personal data from the contact form or your e-mails will not be passed on to third parties.

 ·       Customer account & booking

For the use of our online services, we place a user account free of charge at your disposal. In connection with this account, we store personal information such as your name, your employer, your e-mail address, your telephone number, your address and your date of birth. In addition, we record the time of registration, the last booking and the last log-in and save your identification document. If you book services on our platform, the details of your booking will also be saved, e.g. travel country, travel time, name of the hotel, booked additional services as well as the number, the names and the birth dates of the fellow travellers. In individual cases, additional information may be collected to process your booking, including passport numbers and information about special requirements or health restrictions.

 ·       Payment

The handling of payments for your booked services will be realized via a carefully selected and certified third party provider for payment procedures (e.g. BS PAYONE GmbH). We only save the selected payment method. In individual cases, we collect your payment data ourselves, provided that you have beforehand submitted the data voluntarily to us, e.g. to process a retransfer after cancellation.

 3.2 Automatically collected data

We automatically store personal data each time you visit our website. This information will help us to develop the way our website works and performs and thus to improve in the end your customer experience.

·       Cookies

Internet pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain viruses. They serve to make our offer more user-friendly, more effective and safer. Cookies are small text files which are stored on your computer by your browser. Most of the cookies we use are so-called session cookies and are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognize your browser next time you visit us.

You can set your browser so that you are informed when cookies are set and permit cookies only in individual cases. Besides, you can exclude the acceptance of cookies in certain cases or in general and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of our website may be restricted.

 ·       Logfiles

We automatically collect and store information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are browser type and version, operating system used, referrer URL, host name of the accessing computer, time of server request, IP address and data volume.

·       Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses cookies. Cookies are text files which are stored on your computer and which enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. However, your IP address will be shortened by Google before the transmission to the USA. Only in exceptional cases the full IP address is transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On our behalf, Google uses this information to evaluate your behaviour on our website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services related to website and internet usage. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.

You can also inhibit Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) and prevent Google from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plugin available under the following link.

For more information about how Google Analytics treats user data, please see Google's privacy statement: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

We also use the function "demographic features" of Google Analytics. This allows reports to be created that contain statements about the age, gender and interests of the site visitors. This data results from interest-related advertising by Google and from visitor data from third parties. This data cannot be assigned to a specific person.

You can deactivate this feature at any time via the ad settings in your Google Account.

 ·       Google ADwords and Google Conversion-Tracking

From time to time we use Google AdWords. AdWords is an online advertising program of Google Inc. Within the framework of Google AdWords, we use so-called conversion tracking. When you click on an ad placed by Google, a conversion tracking cookie is set. Cookies are small text files that the internet browser stores on the user's computer. These cookies lose their validity after 30 days. If you visit our site and the cookie has not expired yet, Google and we may recognize that you clicked on the ad and were redirected to our page.

Each Google AdWords customer receives a different cookie. The cookies cannot be tracked through the websites of AdWords customers. The information collected using the conversion cookie is used to generate conversion statistics for us. We find out the total number of users who clicked on our ad and were forwarded. However, we do not receive any information enabling us to identify the users personally.

If you do not wish to participate in tracking, you can object to this use by deactivating the Google Conversion Tracking cookie in your Internet browser under User Settings.

More information about Google AdWords and Google Conversion Tracking Analytics can be found in Google's privacy statement: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

·       Google Maps

We use the Google Maps map service via an API. The provider of this service is Google Inc. To use the functions of Google Maps, it is necessary to store your IP address. This information is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. We have no influence on this data transmission. The use of Google Maps serves the appealing representation of our online offers and the easy finding of the places indicated by us on the website.

For more information about the Google Maps map service and how it handles user information, please read Google's privacy statement: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

·       Facebook-Plugins

Our site uses plugins from the social network facebook.com, which is operated by Facebook Inc. ("Facebook"). If you access Internet pages of our Internet presence with such a plugin, a connection to the Facebook servers is established and the plugin is displayed on the Internet page by notification to your browser. This will tell the Facebook server which of our Internet pages you have visited. If you are logged in to Facebook as a member, Facebook assigns this information to your personal Facebook user account. When using the plugin functions (e.g. clicking the "Like" button, posting a comment), this information is also assigned to your Facebook account, which you can only prevent by logging out before using the plugin.

More information about the collection and use of data by Facebook, about your rights in this regard and ways to protect your data privacy can be found in the privacy notices of Facebook: https://de-de.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.

·       Microsoft Clarity

We have integrated Microsoft Clarity on our website. Clarity is a service of Microsoft Corporation and provides optimization tools that analyze user behavior and feedback on our website through analysis and feedback tools.

Clarity uses cookies and other browser technologies to evaluate user behavior and to recognize users.

This information is used, among other things, to compile reports on website activity and to statistically evaluate visitor data. Furthermore, Clarity records clicks, mouse movements and scroll heights in order to create so-called heat maps and session replays.

In this case, your data will be passed on to the operator of Clarity, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399, United States.

Purpose and Legal Basis

We process your data with the help of Clarity for the purpose of optimizing our website and for marketing purposes on the basis of your consent in accordance with Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a. GDPR.

Storage duration

The specific storage period of the processed data cannot be influenced by us, but is determined by Microsoft Corporation. You can find further information in the data protection declaration for Clarity: privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement

Microsoft Clarity: online marketing and web analysis; is offered by Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399,

UNITED STATES; Internet presentation: clarity.microsoft.com;

Data protection declaration: privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement; Opt-out option: choice.microsoft.com/de-DE/opt-out.

Please note that we have concluded an AV contract with Microsoft to enable this activity, including the necessary standard contractual clauses.

 

4. To whom we do transmit your data?

We transmit personal data to third parties only if this is necessary in the context of contract processing. A further transmission of the data will not take place or only if you have expressly agreed to the transmission. Your data will not be passed on to third parties without your explicit consent, for example for advertising purposes.

 

"Third parties" within the meaning of this privacy statement may be the following parties:

1) Companies belonging to the same group as we do

Subsidiaries and sister companies. They will also use your personal information exclusively in accordance with this data protection directive.

2) Service providers

Hotel operators, tour operators, partner agencies and transfer companies. Personal data is passed on to service providers so that they can provide the services you have booked.

3) Insurance partners

Travel insurance companies. Personal data is passed on to our insurance partners so that they can provide the insurance services you have booked.

4) Service providers

IT and payment processing service providers and consultants. External service providers who support us among other things in IT projects, marketing, processing your payments or services such as legal and accounting audits, receive access to your personal data only in accordance with our instructions and are obliged to protect your data.

5) Other, for legal reasons

Law enforcement agencies, regulators and other parties. Personal information is transferred to appropriate authorities if we are obliged to do so by law to protect our rights, property or safety or those rights, property or safety of others.

 

Our offer includes trips all over the world. In order to process your bookings, it may be necessary for personal data to be transferred to countries outside your country of residence and stored there. If, for example, you book travels to a country outside the EU, your data will also be transmitted to corresponding service providers and to selected partner agencies at this place of destination if necessary, for the fulfilment of the contract. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal data is handled in a secure manner and in accordance with the respectively applicable law and this data protection directive.

5. Is your data used for advertising purposes?

An important part of our services is the regular sending of e-mail newsletters with our latest travel offers, important information and inspiration for your next holiday trip. You will receive this newsletter if you have agreed to it during your registration or at a later date. You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time by changing your marketing preferences on our website under My Account > Account Information. Once you have set your email preferences, please click on "Save Personal Information" to let us know your preferences. Alternatively, you will find a unsubscribe link at the end of our e-mail in each of our newsletters.

6. How long do we store your data?

Your personal data will be stored until you ask us to stop it. We store all data processed in connection with the fulfilment of a contract - for example a travel booking via our portal - as long as you have an active customer account with us and, if applicable, within the statutory retention periods. This includes also your communications to our customer service to resolve any complaints or claims you have made.

7. What do you need to keep in mind when using links to external websites?

Our website contains links to and from external websites of our advertising and cooperation partners or affiliated companies. If you follow a link to one of these websites, please note that these websites may have their own privacy statements and that we assume no responsibility or liability for their policies. Please check the individual provisions before providing information to these websites.

 

Amendments to this Directive
We may update this data protection directive from time to time, so you should review this directive periodically. If there are significant changes in this data protection directive, we will update the date of the last modification at the end of this data protection directive. Changes to this data protection directive will take effect as soon as these are posted on our website.

Status: September 2022