Privacy Policy

Downe Travel respects your privacy. This page explains what information we collect from visitors and customers, how we use it, and your rights under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we are

Downe Travel is an independent travel agency trading from 22-24 Market Street, Downpatrick, BT30 6LY, Northern Ireland. Company registration number NI016055, VAT registration 254 5007 80, ATOL 9078. We are the data controller for personal information collected via this website.

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact us at sales@downetravel.co.uk or 028 4461 3288.

Information we collect

When you use the contact form

• Your name, email address, and phone number (if provided)
• The holiday type you're interested in
• Any details you share in the message field
• Your approximate IP address (for spam prevention)

When you join our mailing list

• Your email address
• The date you signed up

When you book a holiday

Additional information such as passport details, dates of birth and payment information may be collected at booking. That collection is covered in your booking paperwork and is separate from this website policy.

Automatically

Basic technical information your browser sends (page visited, time, approximate location from IP, device type) is logged by our hosting provider for security and to help us improve the site.

How we use your information

• To reply to your enquiry and arrange your holiday
• To send you holiday offers (only if you sign up to our mailing list)
• To prevent spam and abuse of our forms
• To keep records as required by ABTA, ATOL, and HMRC

Lawful basis for processing

Under UK GDPR we rely on the following lawful bases:

• Contract — to process bookings you ask us to make.
• Consent — for marketing emails. You can withdraw consent at any time by clicking unsubscribe or emailing us.
• Legitimate interest — to reply to your enquiries and protect our site from abuse.
• Legal obligation — to keep financial and booking records as required by law and our regulators.

Who we share your information with

We never sell your information. We share it only with the following:

• Travel suppliers (airlines, hotels, cruise lines, tour operators) — only the details needed to make your booking.
• Service providers we use to run this website:
  • Vercel (hosting; data centres in the EU)
  • Resend (sends emails from our contact form)
  • Sanity (stores website content)
  • Facebook (we display our public Facebook posts)
• Regulators and authorities where we're legally required to (e.g. HMRC, ABTA).

How long we keep your information

• Contact form enquiries — up to 24 months after your last contact.
• Mailing list subscriptions — until you unsubscribe.
• Booking records — 7 years (HMRC requirement).

Cookies

This website uses a minimal number of cookies, all strictly necessary for the site to work properly. We don't use marketing or third-party tracking cookies. We don't use Google Analytics.

The Sanity-powered content editor (only visible to our staff at /studio) uses session cookies if you log in there.

Security

We store your information on servers protected by industry-standard encryption (HTTPS in transit, encryption at rest by our service providers). Access to your information is limited to staff who need it.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Ask what information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct anything that's wrong
• Ask us to delete your information (where we're not legally required to keep it)
• Withdraw your consent to marketing at any time
• Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk)

To exercise any of these rights, email sales@downetravel.co.uk or write to us at 22-24 Market Street, Downpatrick, BT30 6LY.

Children

We don't knowingly collect information from people under 16. If you are under 16, please ask a parent or guardian to book on your behalf.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page shows when the most recent changes were made.

Get in touch if you have any questions about this policy.