Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 10, 2025

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Welcome to Homson Travels. Our website address is: https://homsontravels.com. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website (the “Site”).

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By accessing or using our Site, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use our Site.

2. Definitions

  • “Personal Information” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, or is capable of being associated with a particular individual.
  • “Processing” means any operation performed on Personal Information, including collection, use, storage, disclosure, or deletion.
  • “Data Controller” means Homson Travels, which determines the purposes and means of processing Personal Information.
  • “Service Providers” means third-party companies or individuals employed by us to facilitate our services.

3. Information We Collect

We collect information from you in several ways:

3.1 Information You Provide Directly

  • Newsletter Subscriptions: When you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your name and email address. These subscriptions are used to notify you about travel tips, destination guides, special offers, and related content. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of any email.
  • Comments: When you leave a comment on our blog posts, we collect the data shown in the comments form, including your name, email address, website (optional), and the content of your comment. We also collect your IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.
  • Contact Forms: When you contact us through our forms, we collect your name, email address, and any other information you choose to provide.
  • Account Information: If you create an account or register on our website, we store the personal information you provide in your user profile, including username, password, and profile details.

3.2 Information Collected Automatically

  • Log Data: We automatically collect certain information when you visit our Site, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, and the dates/times of your visits.
  • Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information about your browsing activities. See Section 7 for more details.
  • Analytics Information: We use Google Analytics and other analytics tools to collect aggregated information about Site usage.
  • Gravatar: An anonymized string created from your email address (called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to display your profile picture if you use it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here.

3.3 Information from Third Parties

  • Social Media: If you interact with us through social media platforms, we may receive information from those platforms.
  • Advertising Partners: We may receive information about you from our advertising partners.
  • Embedded Content: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles) from other websites. Embedded content from other websites behaves as if you visited the other website directly. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

  • To provide, operate, and maintain our Site
  • To send you newsletters and marketing communications (with your consent)
  • To respond to your comments, questions, and requests
  • To provide customer support
  • To improve our Site and develop new features
  • To personalize your experience on our Site
  • To analyze Site usage and optimize our content
  • To detect, prevent, and address technical issues
  • To protect against fraudulent or illegal activity
  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To send administrative information, such as updates to our terms and policies

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom (UK), we process your Personal Information based on the following legal grounds:

  • Consent: Where you have given us explicit consent to process your Personal Information for specific purposes.
  • Contract: Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you.
  • Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Legal Obligations: Where we are legally required to process your Personal Information.

6. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your Personal Information to third parties. We may share your information in the following circumstances:

6.1 Service Providers

We may share your information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our Site and conducting our business, including:

  • Email service providers (for newsletter distribution)
  • Web hosting services
  • Analytics providers (Google Analytics)
  • Comment management systems (WordPress native commenting, Gravatar)
  • Spam detection services (Akismet or similar)
  • Payment processors (if applicable)
  • Document display services that may use cookies for technical purposes
  • Marketing automation platforms (e.g., Mailchimp, if applicable)

6.2 Password Reset Services

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email for security purposes.

6.2 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities.

6.3 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your Personal Information may be transferred to the acquiring entity.

6.4 Consent

We may share your information with your consent or at your direction.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

7.1 What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device when you visit a website. We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Site and hold certain information.

7.2 Types of Cookies We Use

  • Essential Cookies: Necessary for the Site to function properly
    • Login cookies (last for two days)
    • Screen options cookies (last for one year)
    • Browser capability check cookies (temporary, discarded when browser closes)
    • Article editing cookies (expire after 1 day)
  • Functionality Cookies:
    • Comment form cookies: Save your name, email, and website for convenience (last for one year)
    • “Remember Me” cookies: Maintain login for two weeks
  • Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our Site
  • Advertising Cookies: Used to deliver relevant advertisements
  • Social Media Cookies: Enable sharing of content on social media platforms
  • Popup Prevention Cookies: We use anonymous cookies to prevent users from seeing the same popup repetitively
    • pum-206: Prevents popup from displaying repeatedly (1 month)
    • pum-205: Prevents popup from displaying repeatedly (1 month)

7.3 Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies are placed by third-party services that appear on our pages, including:

  • Google Analytics
  • Google AdSense
  • Social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest)
  • Affiliate tracking services

7.4 Managing Cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies through your browser settings. Please note that removing or blocking cookies may impact your user experience and parts of our Site may no longer be fully accessible.

8. Data Retention

We retain your Personal Information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

  • Newsletter subscribers: Retained indefinitely for analytic tracking purposes or until you unsubscribe or request deletion
  • Comments: Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely to recognize and approve follow-up comments automatically
  • Analytics data: 26 months (Google Analytics default)
  • Contact form submissions: 6 months for customer service purposes
  • User account information: Until account deletion is requested
  • Third-party services: If syncing data to services like Mailchimp, data is retained there until unsubscribed or deleted

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your Personal Information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

  • SSL encryption for data transmission
  • Regular security assessments
  • Limited access to Personal Information on a need-to-know basis
  • Secure password requirements
  • Regular software updates and patches

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

10. Your Privacy Rights

10.1 GDPR Rights (For EEA and UK Residents)

If you are a resident of the EEA or UK, you have the following rights:

  • Right to Access: Request a copy of your Personal Information
  • Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate Personal Information
  • Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your Personal Information
  • Right to Restrict Processing: Request restriction of processing your Personal Information
  • Right to Data Portability: Request transfer of your Personal Information
  • Right to Object: Object to processing of your Personal Information
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent
  • Right to Lodge a Complaint: Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

10.2 CCPA Rights (For California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights:

  • Right to Know: Request information about the Personal Information we collect, use, and disclose
  • Right to Delete: Request deletion of your Personal Information
  • Right to Opt-Out: Opt-out of the sale of your Personal Information (Note: We do not sell Personal Information)
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: Not be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights

10.3 How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided in Section 15. We will respond to your request within the timeframe required by applicable law.

10.4 WordPress User Rights

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can:

  • Request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you
  • Request that we erase any personal data we hold about you (excluding data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes)
  • View, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (except username changes)
  • Website administrators can also view and edit user information

11. Children’s Privacy

Our Site is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under 16. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a child under 16, we will take steps to delete such information from our files as soon as possible.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us immediately.

12. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Information, to the United States and process it there.

For EEA and UK residents, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for international data transfers, including Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

13. Third-Party Links and Embedded Content

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites, products, or services that are not owned or controlled by Homson Travels. This Privacy Policy does not apply to such third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit.

13.1 Media Uploads

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

13.2 Embedded Content

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content.

14. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. We will notify you of any material changes by:

  • Posting the updated Privacy Policy on this page
  • Updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy
  • Sending an email notification to registered users or newsletter subscribers (for material changes)

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

Homson Travels
Seattle, WA 98107
United States

Email: info@homsontravels.com

For GDPR-related inquiries:
Email: info@homsontravels.com

For California residents:
California Privacy Rights
Email: info@homsontravels.com

Response Time

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within:

  • 30 days for GDPR requests
  • 45 days for CCPA requests
  • 10 business days for general inquiries

Affiliate Disclosure

Homson Travels participates in affiliate marketing programs and may earn commissions from qualifying purchases made through links on this Site. This does not affect the price you pay for any products or services. We only recommend products and services that we believe provide value to our readers. For more information, please see our Affiliate Disclosure page.

Cookie Consent

By using our Site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with this Privacy Policy. To manage your cookie preferences, please visit our Cookie Settings page.