GROUPS INTERNATIONAL LLC TERMS AND CONDITIONS
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. THIS IS A CONTRACT.
You acknowledge that you have read this Agreement, it its entirety, understand it, and agree to be bound by its Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with any of the Terms and Conditions of the Agreement, please do not use this Website and/or its Services.
The term 'you' and 'users' as used herein refer to all individuals and/or entities accessing the Website or using the Services for any reason.
Eligibility
You must be 18 years of age or older to visit the Site or use the Services. By visiting this Site or accepting these Terms, you represent and warrant Groups International LLC ( "Company") and all its brands that you are 18 years of age or older and that you have the right, authority, and capacity to agree to and abide by these Terms.
The following are the Terms, Conditions, Policies, and Rules or "Terms and Conditions" that govern use of the Groups International Website ("Site"), or associated Websites, for group travel planning by you. By using or visiting our Site, you expressly agree to be bound by these Terms and to follow these Terms and all applicable laws and regulations governing the Site. Company reserves the right to change these Terms at any time, effective immediately, upon posting on the Site. Please check this page of the Site periodically. If you violate these Terms, the Company may terminate your use of the Site, bar you from future use of the Site, cancel your reservations, and/or take appropriate legal action against you. This Site is provided solely to assist you by allowing you to determine the availability of travel-related goods and services and to make legitimate reservations or otherwise transact business with suppliers in your name and for no other purposes. You agree to be financially responsible for use of this Site (as well as for use of your account by others, including, without limitation, minors living with you) and by any and all users acting on your behalf whether or not such uses were performed with your consent. You agree to supervise all usage of this Site by you, your users, and minors under your name or account. You also warrant that all information supplied by you, members of your household, or users acting on your behalf in using this Site is true and accurate. Without limitation, any speculative, false, or fraudulent reservation or any reservation in anticipation of demand is prohibited, whether such actions are conducted by you or your users. You agree that the travel services reservations facilities of this Site, whether used by you or your users, shall be used only to make legitimate reservations or purchases for you or for another person for whom you are legally authorized to act. Additional terms and conditions will apply to your reservation and purchase of travel-related goods and services that you or your users selects. You agree to abide by the terms or conditions of purchase imposed by any supplier, with whom you or your users select. You understand that any violation of any such supplier's conditions of purchase may result in cancellation of your reservation(s), booking or purchase, in your being denied access to any hotel, in your forfeiting any monies paid for such reservation(s) or purchase, and Company debiting your account for any costs Company incurs as a result of such violation. You shall be completely responsible for all charges, fees, duties, taxes, and assessments arising out of your use of this Site, and, without limitation, you shall be responsible for all charges, fees, duties, taxes, and assessments arising out of transactions performed by you and your users on your behalf, whether or not such uses were performed with your consent.
HOTEL RESERVATIONS POLICY
Reservation Transactions
Company provides a listing of hotels in the results of your or your users Group Hotel Search. To protect you, our customer, no prepaid reservation deposits or balances due will be completed until billing, credit card and hotel information have been verified as accurate by the credit/debit card company and reservations are processed. Until all such information is verified, the rate and other charges are subject to change. Within 48-hours you should receive an email and/or another form of communication notifying you that your credit card transaction and hotel booking is complete and accepted. You agree that the charges for the deposit, balance due, fees/taxes for your account may be charged based on the payment and cancellation policies as described below.
Confirmation of Reservation
No reservation is complete until confirmed or ticketed. Company will verify with the credit/debit card company that the billing address and credit card verification number you provided is accurate and that your debit/charge will be accepted. Until such information is verified, the reservation is NOT complete and the rate or fare is subject to change. Company is not responsible for (a) any transaction that is declined because an issuing company or travel provider declines a credit/debit card; (b) any transaction that is declined because the debit/credit card billing address and/or credit card verification number cannot be verified in a timely manner; nor (c) any changes in fare or any other charges that may occur before the reservation is complete.
Reservation Payment
If and when deposits are required, a deposit equal to ten percent (10%) of the Group’s first nights’ room and tax required at time of booking to secure availability and price. Payments can be made by credit card, debit card, bank check, money order or Pay Pal. Our mailing address is Groups International LLC, 5826 Valley Forge, Houston, TX 77057. Please include your group confirmation number on all correspondence and checks.
Final payment for group reservation is due on or before the reservation cut-off date. Group Reservations booked less than forty-five (45) days prior to Arrival Date must be paid in full with a credit card, debit card, bank check, money order or Pay Pal at time of booking. A non-refundable three percent (3%) transaction fee is charged upon booking.
Insufficient funds or stopped payment checks shall be subject to a charge of $100.00 per check.
Cancellation
Changes and cancellations can only be made by contacting the Company online or by contacting a Company Customer Service Representative. Reservations originally made using the Company’s booking technology may not be changed/cancelled by contacting the hotel.
Cancellations made less than thirty (30) days prior to the Group Arrival Date will be charged for the first nights' room and tax on all rooms cancelled that are included in the Final Group Room Booking.
Cancellations will be confirmed via email by a Company representative. A change in the Arrival Date is considered a cancellation.
Additional Charges
Prices quoted are based on up to two (2) guests in a room. Additional charges may apply depending on hotel. Rates and room types are provided based on hotel availability and may change unless previously confirmed electronically by Company. Extra charges incurred include but are not limited to phone charges, room service, pay per view movies, and meeting space rental, early checkout which are the sole responsibility of the guest and must be paid directly to hotel either before check in or upon check out. The hotel has reserved and lost the opportunity to sell a room once a Group Reservation is processed and acknowledged. No refunds will be possible for early checkouts or late arrivals.
Taxes
Tax is assessed to recover the amount Company pays to the hotel and any other third-party operator in connection with your reservation for sales, use, excise, lodging, local, value added and other similar taxes. Transaction fees include credit card processing, distribution and affiliate fees related to the handling of a reservation. We are not the supplier remitting required taxes to the applicable tax authorities. The supplier’s bill taxes to Company and we remit such taxes directly to the suppliers. Appropriate tax rates vary greatly and may vary depending on the taxing authority and actual use of the services provided to the Travel Planner.
LEGAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Definitions. Capitalized terms used but not otherwise defined herein shall have the following meanings:
"Affiliate" Websites are other channels of Company, its partners and alliances.
"Cancelled Group Reservation" includes the reduction in a room block, whether it be one room, one room night, and or the balance of a group room booking.
"Change Request" includes but is not limited to adding or subtracting to the guest room count, rate type, or method of payment.
"Groups International Group" includes all guests by the Company, by the Group using the Groups International Booking Technology or through the Company’s Call Center.
"Final Group Room Booking" is the most recent group reservation sale for a specific Booking I.D. which Company has issued an electronic acceptance.
"Group Arrival Date" is the date reserved for the first guest to register as part of a specific block of rooms booked by the Company, you or the users. If guest books directly with the hotel and arrives earlier than the arrival date booked by Company, then the arrival date is the day confirmed through Company.
"Group Hotel Search" is performed using the Groups International Group Booking Technology or Company Call Center to determine hotel and rate availability based on customer criteria.
"Group Reservation Booking Date" is the date that you, the Users, participating hotel and Company have all confirmed acceptance of a reservation for a specific number of rooms, on a specific date(s), at a specific rate.
'Original Group Reservation Sale' is the Group Revenue from the initial transaction.
'Original Group Room Count' is the total number of room nights from the initial transaction for which a Booking I.D. was issued.
"Terms and/or Conditions" means this Participation Agreement; rules that govern eligibility to allocate guest rooms, display rates and retain membership. Company reserves the right to amend these terms at any time, effective seven days after they are initially posted on the Site. Your continued use of our services will signify your acceptance of any amended Terms.
Links
Our Site my contain links to Websites operated by parties other than Company. Those links are provided to you for your reference and convenience only. We do not own or control the content of those Websites and are not responsible for their content or your use of them. We do not endorse the content of any of those Websites.
Electronic Communications
You communicate with Company electronically whenever you visit Company’s Site; affiliate sites or send emails to us. You consent to receive communications from Company electronically. You agree that all notices, disclosures, agreements and other communications that we provide to you electronically or by fax satisfy any legal requirements that communications be in writing.
Copyright & License
The materials and content on the Site is protected by copyright laws and international treaty provisions, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. All title and copyrights in and to the Site (including, but not limited to, any images, photographs, animations, video, audio, music, text and illustrations incorporated into the Site) are owned by Company, its third party licensors or its suppliers (the "Intellectual Property "). You agree to abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any material or content on the Site. You may download any Intellectual Property solely for your personal, non-commercial use, consistent with this Agreement. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, and/or exploit any Intellectual Property in any way (including by e-mail or other electronic means) without Company’s prior written consent. Modification or use of any Intellectual Property for any other purpose is a violation of the copyrights, trademark rights, and other proprietary rights. The use of any Intellectual Property on any other site or networked computer environment, or maintaining unauthorized links to the Site, is prohibited by this Agreement. All software, applications, and modules (collectively, "Software") used on the Site are proprietary to or licensed to the Company by other parties. You may not rent, lease, sub-license, assign or permit others to use the Software. Except to the extent such a restriction is unenforceable under local law, you may not modify, amend, reverse engineer, decompile, translate, create a derivative work or dissemble the Software.
Content you send to Company, as between the two, whether via e-mail, forms, messages, ideas, and/or suggestions, becomes the sole property of Company and is transmitted at your sole risk. You hereby represent and warrant that you own or have the right to submit the foregoing. Any customer service questions will be answered in accordance with the Company’s "Privacy Policy." You are strictly prohibited from uploading to the Site any material that contains any virus, worm, "Trojan horse," time bomb, or similar contaminating or destructive feature. Violators may be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law.
LIABILITY DISCLAIMER
THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES PUBLISHED ON THIS SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. IN PARTICULAR, COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF, AND DISCLAIM LIABILITY FOR INACCURACIES RELATING TO, THE HOTEL PHOTOGRAPHS, HOTEL PROPERTY DESCRIPTIONS, AND LISTS OF HOTEL PROPERTY AMENITIES DISPLAYED ON THIS SITE, MUCH OF WHICH INFORMATION IS PROVIDED BY THE HOTEL PROPERTIES. HOTEL RATINGS DISPLAYED ON THIS SITE ARE INTENDED ONLY AS GENERAL GUIDELINES, AND COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE RATINGS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN. THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES ON THIS SITE AT ANY TIME. THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES CONTAINED ON THIS SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE, AND THE INCLUSION OR OFFERING FOR SALE OF ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ON THIS SITE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ANY ENDORSEMENT OR RECOMMENDATION OF SUCH PRODUCTS OR SERVICES BY COMPANY OR ITS AFFILIATES. ALL SUCH INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
THE HOTELS AND OTHER SUPPLIERS PROVIDING TRAVEL OR OTHER SERVICES FOR COMPANY ARE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS AND NOT AGENTS OR EMPLOYEES OF COMPANY OR ITS AFFILIATES. COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR THE ACTS, ERRORS, OMISSIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, BREACHES OR NEGLIGENCE OF ANY SUCH SUPPLIERS, ANY INDIVIDUAL DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RELATED TO THE SUPPLIERS, OR FOR ANY PERSONAL INJURIES, DEATH, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR OTHER DAMAGES OR EXPENSES RESULTING THEREFROM. COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, ANY INDIVIDUAL DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RELATED TO THE SUPPLIERS, HAVE NO LIABILITY AND WILL MAKE NO REFUND IN THE EVENT OF ANY DELAY, CANCELLATION, OVERBOOKING, STRIKE, FORCE MAJEURE OR OTHER CAUSES BEYOND THEIR DIRECT CONTROL, AND THEY HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ADDITIONAL EXPENSE, OMISSIONS, DELAYS, RE-ROUTING OR ACTS OF ANY GOVERNMENT OR AUTHORITY.
IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF, OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH, THE USE OF THIS SITE OR WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SITE, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THIS SITE, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SITE, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES/JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Indemnification
You agree to defend and indemnify Groups International LLC, its affiliates, and/or their respective suppliers and any of their officers, directors, employees and agents from and against any claims, causes of action, demands, recoveries, losses, damages, fines, penalties or other costs or expenses of any kind or nature including but not limited to reasonable legal and accounting fees, brought by: you or on your behalf in excess of the liability described above; or by third parties as a result of: your breach of this agreement or the documents referenced herein; your violation of any law or the rights of a third party; or your use of this Site.
General
You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and Company as a result of this agreement or use of this Site. We reserve the right to comply with law enforcement requests or requirements relating to your use of this Site or information provided to or gathered by Company with respect to your use of this Site. If any part of this agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law including, but not limited to, the warranty disclaimers and liability limitations set forth above, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and agreement shall continue in effect.
This agreement (and any other terms and conditions referenced herein) constitutes the entire agreement between you, your users, and Company with respect to this Site and it supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral, or written, between the customer and Company with respect to this Site. A printed version of this agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.
Fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters, and/or data mentioned herein are not intended to represent any real individual, company, product, or event. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserve.
Disputes
If there is any dispute about or involving the Site or this Agreement, you agree that the dispute will be governed by the laws of the State of Texas without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You agree to personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts of the State of Texas, City of Houston.
Company is acting as an intermediary or as an agent for providers of travel-related products and/or services by promoting, selling or accepting reservations or bookings for such products and/or services (such as air and ground transportation, hotel accommodations, meals, tours, cruises, travel insurance, etc.). Company shall not be responsible for breach of contract or any actions or omissions on the part of such providers, which result in any loss, damage, delay, or injury to you and/or your travel companion(s), if any. Company does not guarantee any of such provider’s rates, bookings, reservations or other purchase terms. Company shall not be responsible for any disruption of travel-related products and/or services, whether resulting from bankruptcy of any travel provider(s), or due to monetary crisis, political or social unrest, labor problems, mechanical or construction difficulties, climatic aberrations, local laws, diseases, novel conditions, including terrorist activities, and/or events of "Force Majeure" (i.e., those beyond Company’s reasonable control).
Privacy
Effective January 01, 2008.
Groups International Privacy Policy
Your privacy is very important to Groups International ("we" or "us"). This Privacy Policy describes the principles and practices that apply to Personal Information (defined below) collected from users of our services ("you") on our Site, in telephone or e-mail communications, interviews or surveys.
* We will not collect Personal Information without your knowledge and permission.
* We will not knowingly disclose your Personal Information to third parties, except as provided in this Privacy Policy.
* We will allow you to view, correct or remove your Personal Information; and
* We will take reasonable steps to protect the security of the Personal Information we collect from you.
Your California Privacy Rights
Under California Law, California residents have the right to request in writing from businesses with whom they have an established business relationship, (1) a list of the categories of personal information, such as name, address, e-mail address, and the type of services provided to the customer, that a business has disclosed to third parties (including affiliates that are separate legal entities) during the immediately preceding calendar year for the third parties' direct marketing purposes, and (2) the names and addresses of all such third parties. To request the above information, please e-mail us at: customerservice@iGroupHotels.com, or write to us at: Customer Service, Groups International LLC, 5826 Valley Forge, Houston, TX 77057 with a reference to "California Disclosure Information".
We will respond to such written requests within 30 days following receipt at the e-mail or mailing address stated above. If we receive your request at a different e-mail or mailing address, we will respond within a reasonable period of time, but not to exceed 150 days from the date received. Please note that we are only required to respond to each customer once per calendar year.
The remainder of this policy describes our Personal Information handling practices in detail.
1. Definitions
2. Consent
3. What Personal Information we collect
4. How we use the information we collect
5. To whom we disclose Personal Information
6. How we retain and store Personal Information
7. How we protect Personal Information
8. How to access, modify or delete your Personal Information
9. Privacy
10. Changes to the Privacy Policy
11. Disputes
12. Contact Information
1. Definitions
In this Privacy Policy, terms that commence with a capital letter are defined in this Section or in the preamble.
"Guest" means an individual who can search and purchase Products or Services on the Site without being a Member.
"Member" means an individual who has registered with the Site. Members choose a Member ID and a password.
"Member ID" means the e-mail address you use (with your password) to login to our Site.
"Groups International or "we" means Groups International and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
"Personal Information" means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred from the information. This includes, for example, name, e-mail and mailing address and telephone number, billing and account information, and other information incidental to providing Products or Services (including information about individuals traveling with you).
"Products or Services" means the airline travel, hotel accommodation, car rental, ground transportation, tours, theater tickets, attractions, travel insurance, and other items available from the Site.
To "Purchase" means to book, reserve or purchase.
"Session Data" means usage information, such as the type of Internet browser and operating system an individual use, the domain name of the site from which the individual came, the date, time and duration of the visit, number of visits, average time spent on the individual's site, pages viewed, domain name of the individual, and number of cookies accumulated.
"Site" means the www.GroupsInternational.com site and/or their respective sub sites together with the respective content, Products and Services available from these sites and sub sites.
"Subscriber" means an individual who elects to receive offers or promotions from Groups International without becoming a Member or a Guest.
2. Consent
BY SUBMITTING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US, AND/OR BY USING OUR SITE, YOU AGREE THAT WE MAY COLLECT, USE AND DISCLOSE SUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND AS PERMITTED OR REQUIRED BY LAW.
If you do not agree with these terms, do not provide any Personal Information to us. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, or if you choose not to provide us with any required Personal Information, we may not be able to provide you with Products or Services that can be offered on our Site only if we have access to certain Personal Information.
Minors
Minors (as defined under the laws of their jurisdiction or residence) are not eligible to register for, use, or Purchase the Products or Services available on our Site. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from any Minor, and will not use this information if we discover that it has been provided by a Minor.
Other Travelers or Contacts
If you Purchase Products or Services for other travelers using your Member ID and password, you must make sure that you have the right to do so. By providing the Personal Information of another traveler, you represent that you have all necessary authority and/or have obtained all necessary consents from such person to enable us to collect, use and disclose his or her Personal Information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
3. What Personal Information we collect
We collect only such information as necessary to provide Products and Services to you.
When you are just visiting
You can visit certain areas of our Site without revealing who you are or signing-in.
When you visit our Site as a Visitor, Guest, or Member, we collect Session Data through Cookies and pixel tags.
When you register as a Member
If you register with us as a Member, we collect Personal Information that is necessary to provide the Products and Services offered on our Site. We require that you provide your name and e-mail address. You also need to choose a password, which will be required to gain access to portions of our Site reserved for Member use. We might also request your home zip code.
You may elect to provide other information, for example, gender, activities and lifestyle preferences or preferred destinations.
You may also elect to indicate your preferences for seat selection or meal requests, or provide details about your participation in loyalty or awards programs and applicable membership numbers, and other ticketing options.
When you Purchase Products or Services as a Member
When you Purchase Products or Services from our Site as a Member, you must provide payment or other necessary information. This includes, for example, billing information, driver information, or similar information as required by the travel service provider(s).
When you Purchase Products or Services for a third party
When you Purchase Products or Services for a third party using your Member ID and password, we will collect that third party's name and contact information, and other information as required by the travel service provider(s), so that we can complete the booking.
When you use the Site as a "Guest"
If you are not a Member, you may elect to use our Site as a Guest.
If you Purchase Products or Services as a Guest, you must provide Personal Information to complete the booking (for example, name, phone number, billing information), as required by the travel service provider(s). You must also provide an e-mail address, so that we can send you our welcome e-mail and a confirmation of the Purchase. With the confirmation, we will provide you with a temporary password so that you can return to the Site if you wish to review information about your Purchase.
When you "Subscribe"
When you become a Subscriber, we collect your name and email address, so that you may receive offers or promotions from Groups International without becoming a Member or Guest.
When you participate in a survey or a focus group
From time to time, we may invite you to participate in a survey or a focus group. You are free to participate or not. We will collect the responses you provide, and will make them anonymous to aggregate them with those of other participants.
When we advertise on third party sites
When you visit a site on which we advertise, and click through our advertisement, we may place cookies on your computer, or use pixel tags. The information that we collect through this technology is not personally identifiable.
When you call or write to our Customer Service
When you call or write to our Customer Service, we collect contact information (name, phone number, mailing address or e-mail address) and information about the relevant Purchase as necessary to assist you. For example, if you call for assistance with a preexisting Purchase, or to make a Purchase, we may request your contact and billing information.
When we send e-mails or e-newsletters
When we send e-mails, e-newsletters, or when you forward a promotion or search results to a third party, using the "Send to a Friend" feature, we may insert a pixel tag in the e-mail.
4. How we use the information we collect
We use Personal Information in order to provide and enhance the Products or Services offered on our Site:
* To record your travel preferences, to make reservations or acquire travel insurance on your behalf, or to communicate with you about your travel plans;
* To issue invoices, administer accounts, collect and process payments;
* To provide tips or guidance on how to use our Site, inform you of new features on our Site, or provide other information that may be of interest to users;
* To personalize the service we provide to you, tailor your experience at our Site to your interests and make more appropriate travel recommendations;
* To send you e-mails, e-newsletters, personalized offers via direct messaging or other communications about our services, if you have subscribed to receive this information or you have not advised us that you do not wish to receive such communications;
* To manage our Site, diagnose technical problems, improve content, and allocate the resources of our systems so that your experience with our Site is as efficient as possible;
* To process and track your transactions and to send you information about our and our affiliates' and business partners' products and services and other information and materials that may be of interest to you;
* To develop, enhance, market, sell or provide Groups International’s Products or Services, or those of companies with which we have a commercial relationship, but only if you have granted us permission to do so or we are otherwise able to do so under applicable law;
* To evaluate credit standing and to match credit bureau or credit reporting agency information; to investigate, detect and protect Groups International and other third parties against error, negligence, breach of contract, fraud, theft and other illegal activities;
* To effect a corporate transaction, in connection with the sale, merger, spin-off, or other corporate reorganization of our corporation, where the information is provided to the new controlling entity in regular course of business;
* To audit compliance with our policies and contractual obligations;
* As permitted by, and to comply with, any legal or regulatory requirements or provisions; or
* For any other purpose to which you consent.
Session Data
We use Session Data, collected through cookies and pixel tags, to better understand how our Site is navigated, how many visitors arrive at specific pages, the length and frequency of stays at our Site, the variety of searches of our Site's database, the types of browsers and computer operating systems used by our visitors and the Internet Protocol addresses from which visitors connect to our Site
We also use this information to improve our Site content and ease of use, to personalize and improve your individual viewing experiences on our Site, and provide information that may be of interest to you.
Pixel Tags
We use pixel tags to monitor the open rate of our communications. This helps us understand the effectiveness of communications we send. We do not use this information for any other purpose.
Survey and Focus Groups
When you participate in surveys or focus groups, your participation and responses will be kept confidential, and will not be shared outside Groups International without your permission, except with our service providers.
Aggregated Information
Aggregated information is information, recorded in any form, about more than one individual, where the identity of the individual is not known, and cannot be inferred from the information. We may use aggregated information to describe our user base to current or potential partners, investors and advertisers; after a survey, to understand and respond to market needs and preferences; or to make recommendations to other users of our Site. For example, if users of our Site who have traveled to a particular destination told us that they had positive experiences at a hotel in that destination, we might recommend that hotel.
What we DO NOT do
We do not and will not, at any time, request your credit card information, Member ID, login password, or national identification numbers in a non-secure or unsolicited e-mail or telephone communication.
Identity theft and the practice currently known as "phishing" are of great concern to us. Safeguarding information to help protect your from identity theft is our priority. For more information about phishing, you may want to visit the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm.
5. To whom we disclose Personal Information
From time to time, we may disclose your Personal Information as follows:
* To those travel service providers with which you make arrangements through our Site, for example, airlines, car rental, hotel, ground transportation, theater, attraction, or travel insurance. We provide them with the Personal Information needed to make and complete the purchase, booking, or reservation.
* To organizations that perform services for or on behalf of Groups International, for example to provide customer service, deliver tickets, ship items, process credit cards, for research, marketing, data processing, to measure the use of our Site, to facilitate usage by a Visitor, or to offer credit card services or evaluate your creditworthiness. We will share with these companies only that Personal Information which they need to work on our behalf. Some of these service providers may be located in countries outside the US and outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). Your Personal Information will be provided to these organizations only if they agree to use such information solely for the purpose of providing services to Groups International, and under the instructions of Groups International, and with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with the relevant principles articulated in this Policy. By submitting your personal data, you agree to the transfer, storing and processing of your data outside the US and outside the EEA.
á We may collaborate with other companies to offer you additional Products or Services, for example, through sweepstakes, raffles, and promotions. We will share Personal Information that is necessary for these other companies to provide the Products or Services that you have requested.
This policy will not cover the use of your Personal Information by these other companies. We encourage you to read a company's privacy policy before requesting any of its products or services.
* To protect our Site and our rights under our Terms and Conditions of Use ; to protect ourselves against liability or prevent fraudulent activity; or where it is necessary to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that we may sustain.
* To effect a corporate transaction, in connection with the sale, merger, spin-off, or other corporate reorganization of our corporation, where the information is provided to the new controlling entity in regular course of business.
* Where the information is public.
* To our insurers and to regulatory agencies.
Disclosure without consent
Please note that there are circumstances where the use or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted, or where Groups International may be obligated to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:
á If required to comply with a subpoena or warrant issued or an order made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information, or to comply with the rules or court relating to the production of records.
If we receive a formal request to disclose your Personal Information in connection with a legal action, we will attempt to contact you about it, if permitted by law, via the e-mail address you provided during registration, before we respond to that request.
* If we believe in good faith that a law, regulation, rule or guideline requires it.
* To a person who needs the information because of an emergency that threatens the life, health, or security of an identifiable person or group.
* Where it is necessary to collect monies owing to us.
National Security
In order to protect national security, and to ensure travel security, the United States Government and other governments may request access to passenger name records, which typically includes name, flight origin, flight destination, flight time, duration of flight, seat location, travel agent, form of payment, credit card numbers, travel itinerary, address, telephone number and meal requests. In response to such request, Groups International and/or its providers will give access to all the information you provide at the time of making your reservation to the applicable government agencies of the countries to or from which you are traveling.
Retention and storage
We will retain your Personal Information in our databases in accordance with our document management, retention and destruction policy and applicable laws. This period may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us, but it will be only as long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise later. For example, we may need or be required to retain information to allow you to obtain credit for trip your Purchased but had to cancel. We may also need the retain certain information to prevent fraudulent activity; to protect ourselves against liability, permit us to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that we may sustain; or if we believe in good faith that a law, regulation, rule or guideline requires it.
Your Personal Information will be stored in secured locations, and on servers controlled by Groups International, located either at our offices, or at the offices of our service providers, as described in How we protect Personal Information .
7. How we protect Personal Information
Groups International employs physical, administrative and technical safeguards to help protect the confidentiality and integrity of Personal Information and to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, unauthorized access disclosure or modification of Personal Information. When Personal Information is sent to our service providers, we require, in our contracts with them, that they protect all Personal Information in a manner consistent with the principles articulated in this Privacy Policy.
If you choose to contact Groups International through the Site, you should be aware that any information transmitted electronically via the World Wide Web might not be secure. Groups International assumes no liability for the loss of any information that you transmit to us via the World Wide Web. However, should you choose to pay by credit card when making a booking, reservation or purchase on the Site, your card details are encrypted for the transaction.
In communicating with you, we may send e-mail as unencrypted plain text because we are aware that most Members, Guests, or Subscribers cannot readily process encrypted e-mail. This is done for your convenience, but with the security concern that, if misrouted or intercepted, it could be read more easily than encrypted e-mail.
8. How to access, modify or delete your Personal Information
We endeavor to ensure that Personal Information is as accurate, complete, and current as necessary for the purposes for which we use that information. We encourage you to review your Personal Information.
You can access your Personal Information, update it, correct it, or modify it, as necessary. For example, you can change at any time your e-mail address, preferred activities, or preferred destinations, or your preferences for receiving or not receiving our e-mails, e-newsletters, or instant messaging customized advertisements.
If you wish to modify or delete other Personal Information, you can do so by contacting us as indicated in Contact Information.
If you request that we remove all of the Personal Information or travel records stored in My Stuff, we will promptly do so, to the extent possible. Once required Personal Information is removed from My Stuff, however, you will not be able to use many of the services available on our Site to Members, unless you re-register.
Please remember that we may not be able to honor your request if we are legally obligated to retain that information, or for other reasons, as described in our Retention and Storage policy.
9. Privacy
Cookies and pixel tags
A Cookie is a small text file that our computer sends to your computer, and that your computer sends back to us each time you make a request from our Site. A cookie contains a unique identification number that identifies the visitor's browser, but not necessarily the visitor. A pixel tag is a small graphic image similar to a cookie.
When you access our Site, our computer may seek to place "cookies" or "pixel tags" on your personal computer to collect Session Data. Cookies and pixel tags are used to help us recognize you when you visit our Site again, or to help us customize your online experience. Unless a visitor specifically informs us of his/her identity (e.g. by registering with us), we will not know who the individual visitor is.
Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. You can instruct your browser, by editing its options, to stop accepting cookies or prompt you before accepting a cookie from the sites you visit. You can learn more about the use of cookies by visiting http://networkadvertising.org or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie.
If you decide not to accept our cookies, you will be able to access those parts of our Site that are available to the general public, but you will not be able to access many of the Products and Services offered at our Site.
Third Parties and Advertising
Third parties advertise on our Site, and we also contract with third parties to serve ads across the Internet. These third parties may serve ads about our products or services, or third party products or services in which, based on your Session Data, we or our business partners believe you may be interested. While we may share Session Data with third parties to help facilitate the serving of these ads, we do not share any Personal Information about you unless you give us permission to do so, separate from any permission you provide during the Member registration process. These third parties may seek to use cookies and pixel tags, including those collected on our Site, to track Session Data about the ads you have seen and types of things in which you appear interested. These third parties may also use combined information about your visits to our Site and other sites in order to provide advertisements about related goods and services that may be of interest to you.
When you click on a third party advertisers' link from our Site, you will be taken off of our Site and will enter the third party's site. We are not responsible for such third party's sites. You should carefully review the privacy statements of any other site you visit, because those privacy statements will apply to your visit to that site, and may be very different from our policy.
Opting-Out
As part of the registration process, we give you the ability to receive via e-mail or direct messaging information about our Products and Services, updates to our Site, customized advertisements and promotions that are targeted to your specific interest, such as flight specials, promotions, contests, sweepstakes and other travel opportunities available on our Site and/or sponsored by our travel service providers and advertisers. We send this information directly ourselves, or via third party service providers.
If you do not opt-out from receiving these communications about our Site, we will send them to you.
At any time, you may change which of the communications you wish to receive or not, by changing your preferences, as described in How to access, modify or delete Personal Information.
In addition, in our e-mails and other communications, we will include instructions on how to unsubscribe and inform us of preferences if you decide you do not want to receive any future marketing or promotional e-mails from us.
Monitoring
Groups International may from time to time monitor and review any information transmitted or received through the Site, or through telephone or email communications, for quality assurance and other purposes. We reserve the right to censor, edit, remove, or prohibit the transmission or receipt of any information that Groups International deems inappropriate, or in violation of these Terms and Conditions. During monitoring, the information may be examined, recorded, or copied.
Links
For your convenience, our Site provides links to other sites. When you click on one of these links, you are leaving our Site and entering another site. We are not responsible for such third party sites. You should carefully review the privacy statements of any other sites you visit, because those privacy statements will apply to your visit to such other sites.
10. Changes to the Privacy Policy
Changes to the Privacy Policy and Changes in Ownership
We may change or supplement this Privacy Policy from time to time. We may also undergo a change of ownership. We will post an appropriate notice of changes to the Privacy Policy and changes or ownership on our Site. Privacy Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date we post the revised Privacy Policy to the Site, as well as to existing information held by us.
If we decide to change this policy in a material way, we will obtain the necessary consents required under applicable privacy laws if we seek to collect, use or disclose Personal Information for purposes other than those to which consent has been obtained, unless otherwise required or permitted by law. If any proposed change is unacceptable to you, you may request that we remove your Personal Information (and/or that of other individuals for whom you made travel reservations from our records, as described in How to access, modify or delete your Personal Information.
12. Contact Information
If you have any questions or concerns about (a) access to Personal Information, (b) the collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information, or (c) this policy or our information handling practices, (d) with whom your Personal Information is shared, or if you need further assistance with respect to our Privacy Policy, you may contact our Chief Privacy Officer, or our Customer Service department as indicated below. We will attempt to respond to your questions or concerns promptly after we receive them.
E-mail:
privacy@groupsinternational.com
Mailing address:
Groups International LLC
5826 Valley Forge, Houston, TX 77057
Telephone: 713-609-9811 (Inside the United States).
Fax: 877-874-2816 (Inside the United States)