Privacy Policy

1. About My Travel Guy

My Travel Guy is a Calgary-based travel-planning and booking service operated by Peter Samuel.

Where a reservation is completed through a host agency, booking platform or other travel-industry affiliation, that organization may independently collect or process traveller information under its own privacy policy.

2. Privacy Principles and Accountability

My Travel Guy seeks to collect, use and disclose personal information only for reasonable travel-planning, booking, communication, security and business purposes.

My Travel Guy aims to:

• Identify reasonable purposes for collecting information
• Obtain appropriate consent
• Limit collection to information reasonably needed
• Use and disclose information only for identified or permitted purposes
• Take reasonable steps to keep information accurate
• Retain information only as long as reasonably required
• Use safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information
• Respond to privacy questions, complaints, access requests and corrections

The Privacy Officer’s responsibilities may include maintaining privacy procedures, responding to requests, managing incidents, reviewing service providers and updating this policy when business practices change.

3. Meaning of Personal Information

Personal information generally means information about an identifiable individual. It includes direct identifiers such as a name and contact information, as well as information that can identify a person when combined with other details.

Information that has been properly anonymized so that it can no longer reasonably identify an individual may no longer be treated as personal information.

4. Information My Travel Guy May Collect

Contact Information

• Name, email address and telephone number
• Mailing address
• Preferred communication method
• Language preference

Traveller Identification Information

• Full legal name and date of birth
• Citizenship or nationality
• Gender marker where required by a supplier
• Passport number, issuing country, issue date and expiry date
• Visa or travel-authorization information
• Known traveller or trusted-traveller numbers
• Residency details where relevant to a fare or entry rule

Trip and Booking Information

• Destinations, dates, departure city and preferred airports
• Number and ages of travellers
• Budget range and supplier preferences
• Accommodation, rooming, cruise, tour and activity preferences
• Seating, meal and loyalty-program information
• Special occasions, previous travel and supplier confirmation numbers
• Past itineraries, traveller preferences, feedback and previous service records

Accessibility, Health and Special-Service Information

Where voluntarily provided and reasonably necessary, My Travel Guy may collect information about mobility needs, accessible accommodation, service animals, medical equipment, dietary restrictions, allergies, pregnancy-related considerations and other special requests.

Some travel information can reveal sensitive details relating to health, disability, religious beliefs, nationality, citizenship, immigration status, financial circumstances or minor travellers. Sensitive information will be collected only where reasonably necessary and used for relevant booking, supplier, assistance or legal purposes.

Other Travellers and Emergency Contacts

A person arranging travel may provide information about family members, companions, employees, group members, minor travellers or emergency contacts. The person providing that information confirms they are authorized to do so.

Payment and Transaction Information

• Billing name and address
• Payment amount, currency and transaction date
• Deposit and final-payment status
• Payment authorization records
• Partial or masked card information where supplied by a processor
• Refund, credit, chargeback and supplier-invoice records

Communications and Supporting Documents

My Travel Guy may retain emails, form submissions, consultation notes, traveller instructions, approval records, supplier correspondence, complaints and disruption records.

Communications may include attachments voluntarily supplied by the traveller, including photographs, screenshots, receipts, supplier notices, baggage reports, travel documents or other evidence relevant to a booking or complaint.

Website and Technical Information

• IP address and approximate geographic region
• Browser, device and operating system
• Referring page and pages viewed
• Date, time and website interactions
• Form activity and human-verification results
• Security, rate-limit, error and diagnostic records

5. How Information Is Collected

My Travel Guy may collect personal information through:

• Website contact and travel-enquiry forms
• Email, telephone, video and in-person consultations
• Calendly scheduling
• Quote, booking and payment-authorization forms
• Supplier, reservation and host-agency systems
• Travel-insurance applications
• Traveller referrals and group organizers
• Cookies, security logs and anti-spam systems
• Airlines, hotels, payment processors and other suppliers
• Publicly available information where appropriate

Information may be provided directly by the traveller or by a person authorized to act for the traveller.

6. Purposes for Collecting and Using Information

My Travel Guy may collect and use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and schedule consultations
• Identify traveller needs and preferences
• Research destinations and prepare quotes or itineraries
• Communicate supplier terms and payment deadlines
• Arrange and manage travel reservations
• Process or coordinate payments
• Deliver travel documents
• Manage changes, cancellations and travel disruptions
• Support insurance-related documentation
• Maintain accounting and transaction records
• Prevent fraud, spam and website abuse
• Secure and troubleshoot the website
• Respond to complaints and legal matters
• Improve services and website functionality
• Send optional marketing communications where permitted

My Travel Guy will not use personal information for an unrelated new purpose without obtaining additional consent where required, unless the use is otherwise permitted by law.

7. Authority for Collection, Use and Disclosure

My Travel Guy collects, uses and discloses personal information only where there is a reasonable purpose and an appropriate legal basis.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

• Express or implied consent
• The need to provide requested travel-planning or booking services
• The need to perform an agreement with the traveller
• Compliance with legal, regulatory, tax or accounting obligations
• Fraud prevention and website security
• Responding to an emergency
• Establishing, exercising or defending legal rights
• Another circumstance permitted or required by applicable law

8. Consent

Consent may be express or implied depending on the sensitivity of the information, the purpose for collecting it, the circumstances and applicable legal requirements.

Express consent may be obtained through:

• A form or electronic acceptance
• Email or written confirmation
• Booking or payment authorization
• Another verifiable method

By asking My Travel Guy to research or arrange travel, the traveller consents to the reasonable collection, use and disclosure of information needed to provide those services.

Providing information about another traveller confirms that appropriate authority or consent has been obtained.

9. Withdrawing Consent

A person may withdraw consent to certain uses or disclosures by contacting My Travel Guy. Withdrawal is subject to legal requirements, contractual obligations, supplier requirements, accounting duties, completed transactions and the need to establish or defend legal claims.

Withdrawing consent may prevent My Travel Guy from completing or continuing the requested services. Withdrawal does not generally require deletion of information that must be retained for legitimate legal, accounting, fraud-prevention or dispute-resolution purposes.

10. Sharing Personal Information

My Travel Guy may share personal information with organizations reasonably involved in planning, booking, paying for or supporting requested travel.

Recipients may include:

• Airlines, hotels, resorts and cruise lines
• Tour operators, rail and transportation providers
• Car-rental, transfer, activity and excursion providers
• Destination-management companies and travel insurers
• Host agencies, reservation systems and global-distribution systems
• Payment processors, banks and card networks
• Email, hosting, scheduling and technology providers
• Calendly and website-security providers
• Accountants, lawyers and professional advisors
• Government, border or regulatory authorities where required
• Emergency-service providers where appropriate

Personal information may also be disclosed to cybersecurity specialists, forensic investigators, insurers, hosting providers or legal advisors where reasonably required to investigate or respond to a suspected privacy or security incident.

Only information reasonably required for the applicable purpose should be shared. My Travel Guy does not sell personal information to advertisers.

11. Independent Suppliers

Travel suppliers are independent organizations. Once personal information has been provided to a supplier, that supplier may collect, use, retain and disclose information according to its own privacy policy, booking conditions, legal obligations and local laws.

My Travel Guy does not control every supplier’s privacy practices. Travellers should review the policies of suppliers involved in their itinerary, particularly where sensitive information is required.

12. Shared and Group Bookings

Where multiple travellers are included in one reservation, some booking information may be visible or communicated to:

• The person who arranged the booking
• A group leader
• Travellers sharing the same itinerary
• Travellers sharing a room, cabin or reservation
• A person authorized to manage the booking

This may include itinerary details, payment deadlines, rooming information or supplier changes. My Travel Guy will seek to avoid disclosing sensitive or unnecessary information to other travellers.

Travellers should advise Peter where information needs to be handled separately.

13. International Processing and Data Transfers

International travel commonly requires information to be transmitted or made accessible outside Alberta and outside Canada.

Information may be processed in:

• The destination or transit country
• A supplier’s home jurisdiction
• A reservation-system location
• A service provider’s server location
• Another country involved in delivering the requested service

Privacy standards outside Canada may differ. Information processed elsewhere may be subject to local laws and may be accessible to courts, law-enforcement agencies, border authorities or governments where legally authorized.

International transfers may be necessary to complete requested travel services. A traveller who does not consent to a required transfer may be unable to use the related supplier or complete the booking.

14. Staff, Contractors and Authorized Representatives

Where My Travel Guy uses employees, independent contractors, administrative support, affiliated advisors or other authorized representatives, access to personal information should be limited to what is reasonably required for their responsibilities.

Those individuals should be informed of their confidentiality and privacy obligations and should handle personal information according to My Travel Guy’s policies and applicable law.

15. Calendly and Scheduling

My Travel Guy uses Calendly to allow visitors to request or schedule consultations. Calendly may collect a name, email address, telephone number, meeting preferences, time zone, appointment details and technical information.

Calendly operates as an independent service provider and applies its own terms and privacy policy. Visitors who do not wish to use Calendly may contact Peter directly.

Scheduling a consultation does not by itself create a confirmed travel booking.

16. Contact Form, Email Protection and Security Logs

The website may use:

• Contact and travel-enquiry forms
• Human-verification questions and short-lived challenges
• CSRF protection
• Hidden honeypot fields
• Minimum completion-time checks
• IP-based rate limiting
• Security and submission logs
• An email-reveal verification step

These measures are intended to reduce spam, abuse and automated submissions. Technical data related to suspicious attempts may be temporarily retained to investigate misuse and enforce security controls.

17. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The website may use cookies, local storage or similar technologies to operate essential functions, maintain security, prevent abuse, remember preferences, understand traffic and support third-party features.

The website uses technologies needed to operate core features, protect forms, display maps, support booking links and maintain a reliable visitor experience.

If analytics, advertising pixels or remarketing tools are added later, this policy will be updated to describe those technologies.

Users can control many cookies through browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect website functionality.

18. Social Media

When someone interacts with My Travel Guy through a social-media platform, My Travel Guy may receive public profile information, messages, comments, reactions, engagement data and content voluntarily submitted by the user.

Social-media companies independently determine what information they collect and share. Their privacy policies and account settings apply.

Travellers should not send passport numbers, payment-card details or other sensitive booking information through public posts or ordinary social-media messages.

19. Telephone Calls and Email Communications

My Travel Guy may retain written notes of telephone conversations where reasonably required to document instructions, approvals, complaints or booking decisions.

Telephone calls are not recorded unless callers are informed at or before the beginning of the recording and the recording is handled according to applicable privacy requirements.

My Travel Guy may send operational messages needed to respond to an enquiry, schedule a consultation, prepare a quote, complete a booking, communicate deadlines, provide documents, notify travellers of changes or address a complaint.

Operational messages are different from optional marketing. Where promotional emails are sent, consent will be obtained where required and an unsubscribe method will be provided.

20. Payment Information

Payment practices vary according to the supplier and booking. A payment may be processed:

• Directly by a travel supplier
• Through a host agency
• Through a reservation platform
• Through a payment processor
• Through another authorized travel-industry system

Where possible, payment information should be entered directly into the approved supplier or processor system rather than stored by My Travel Guy.

My Travel Guy may retain:

• Payment authorization records
• Transaction references and invoice records
• Deposit status
• Refund or credit information
• Masked card details where supplied by a processor

21. Retention of Personal Information

My Travel Guy retains personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for service delivery, future travel support, accounting, supplier requirements, fraud prevention, dispute resolution and legal obligations.

Different categories may be retained for different periods. General enquiries may be retained for a shorter period than booking, invoice or dispute records. Security logs may be retained for a comparatively short period.

When information is no longer reasonably required, it should be securely destroyed, deleted or anonymized.

22. Safeguards

My Travel Guy uses reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Safeguards may include:

• Password-protected systems and restricted access
• Secure hosting and encrypted website connections
• Updated software
• Anti-spam and rate-limiting controls
• Secure email, supplier and payment systems
• Limited collection of sensitive information
• Trusted service providers and backups
• Secure disposal and incident-response procedures

No website, email service, reservation platform or internet transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.

23. Accuracy and Correction

My Travel Guy relies on travellers to provide complete and accurate information. Travellers should promptly report changes or errors involving names, dates of birth, passport details, contact information, loyalty numbers, accessibility needs, emergency contacts and booking preferences.

Where information is corrected, My Travel Guy may provide corrected information to suppliers or service providers that previously received inaccurate information where it is relevant, reasonably possible, requested or legally required.

My Travel Guy cannot guarantee that every independent supplier will amend its records immediately. Supplier fees or restrictions may apply to changes involving issued tickets or confirmed bookings.

24. Access to Personal Information

Subject to applicable exceptions, an individual may request access to personal information held by My Travel Guy and may request correction of inaccurate information.

A request should be made in writing and include enough detail to identify the requester and locate the relevant records.

My Travel Guy may:

• Verify the requester’s identity
• Ask for clarification
• Remove information about another person
• Withhold information where permitted or required by law
• Charge a permitted fee after appropriate notice, where applicable

My Travel Guy will normally respond to a written access or correction request within 45 calendar days, subject to extensions or exceptions permitted by law.

25. Children and Minor Travellers

The website is not intended to independently collect personal information directly from children.

Information about a minor traveller may be supplied by a parent, legal guardian, authorized family member, group organizer or another person legally permitted to arrange the travel.

Such information may be used to arrange reservations, satisfy supplier requirements and support the minor’s travel. My Travel Guy should not knowingly use a child’s information for unrelated marketing.

26. Privacy and Security Incidents

A privacy incident may involve unauthorized access, loss, disclosure, alteration or destruction of personal information.

Where an incident occurs, My Travel Guy may:

• Investigate and contain the incident
• Assess the sensitivity of the information and possible harm
• Preserve relevant records
• Notify service providers or professional advisors
• Improve safeguards
• Notify affected individuals or regulators where legally required

27. Legal and Regulatory Disclosure

My Travel Guy may collect, use, preserve or disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to:

• Comply with a law, court order or regulatory requirement
• Respond to a lawful government request
• Prevent or investigate fraud
• Protect the safety or rights of a traveller or another person
• Enforce contractual rights
• Address a dispute, complaint or chargeback
• Obtain legal advice
• Establish, exercise or defend a legal claim

28. Business Transfers

If My Travel Guy is reorganized, sold, merged or transferred, personal information may be disclosed as part of a proposed or completed transaction where permitted by law.

Reasonable contractual measures should be used to protect the information and limit its use to evaluating or completing the transaction and continuing applicable services.

29. Changes to This Privacy Policy

My Travel Guy may update this policy to reflect changes in services, booking processes, suppliers, technology, website tools, laws or business practices.

The effective and last-updated dates appear at the beginning of the page. Material changes should be communicated where appropriate.