Privacy Policy

We collect what we need to design your trip, and only what we need. This policy explains what that is, what we do with it, and the rights you have over it under UK GDPR.

01Who we are

Trip Companion Limited is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. We are a private limited company registered in England and Wales (company number 16308288), with our registered office at 43 Peronne Road, Portsmouth, England, PO3 5LD, United Kingdom.

You can reach us at hello@tripcompanion.co.uk for anything privacy-related.

02What we collect

03How we use your data

We use your information to:

• Design, quote, book and operate your trip;
• Pass relevant details to vetted local planners and travel suppliers (hotels, transfers, guides);
• Communicate with you before, during and after your trip;
• Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations (anti-money-laundering, accounting, package-travel regulations);
• Send occasional editorial updates from our journal — only if you have opted in via the footer subscription form.

04Lawful basis

We rely on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• Contract — to plan, quote and deliver your trip once you have asked us to;
• Consent — for marketing communications and any non-essential cookies (you can withdraw at any time);
• Legal obligation — for tax, accounting and regulatory record-keeping;
• Legitimate interests — to keep our website secure, prevent fraud, and improve the service we offer to future travelers.

05Who we share data with

We share the minimum information needed with:

• Local planners and travel suppliers — only the details required to deliver your itinerary (e.g. hotels need traveler names; flights need passport details).
• Payment processors — to take and reconcile deposits and balances.
• Professional advisers — accountants, auditors, insurers and lawyers, where necessary.
• Authorities — where we are legally required to disclose information (e.g. court orders, tax authorities).
• Web3Forms — our form-processing provider. When you submit an enquiry, planner application or newsletter sign-up, the details you enter are transmitted to Web3Forms, which forwards them to us by email.
• Google Fonts — our pages load typefaces from Google's font servers, which receives your IP address when a page loads.

We do not sell your personal information. Ever.

06International transfers

Many of our partner planners and suppliers are based outside the UK. Where we transfer your information to a country without an adequacy decision, we use UK-approved safeguards (such as the International Data Transfer Agreement or Standard Contractual Clauses) to protect it.

07How long we keep it

We keep trip-related personal information for seven years after the trip ends — primarily to satisfy UK tax and travel-regulation record-keeping requirements. Marketing data is kept until you unsubscribe. Information collected for an enquiry that does not become a trip is deleted after 12 months unless you ask us to keep it.

08Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you;
• Have inaccurate information corrected;
• Have your information deleted, where we no longer need it for the purposes above;
• Restrict or object to certain processing;
• Receive a copy of your data in a portable format;
• Withdraw consent for marketing at any time.

To exercise any of these, email hello@tripcompanion.co.uk. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) — though we'd ask you to talk to us first.

09Cookies

This website does not set any cookies of its own, and we do not use analytics or advertising trackers. There is therefore no cookie banner, because there is nothing to consent to. If we introduce analytics in future, we will ask for your consent first and update this policy before doing so. You can control cookies at any time through your browser settings.

10Children

Our service is intended for adults arranging travel. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 16. Where children are travelers on a booking, their details are provided by the booking adult.

11Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above will reflect the most recent revision. If we make material changes, we will notify travelers with active bookings directly.