Visit Seattle Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us. In this Privacy Policy, we will share with you the type of information we gather and how we may use that information on our website at staging.visitseattle.de (the “Site”). Please note that this Privacy Policy is a part of our Website Terms of Use, which are available here (together, the “Terms”).

Please note that these Terms are a binding legal agreement between you, the individual accessing the Site and Visit Seattle. By continuing to use the Site, you agree that your use of the Site constitutes your acceptance of and agreement to these Terms (including the Website Terms of Use). If you do not agree to comply with the Terms, please do not access the Site. Capitalized terms not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meaning given them in the Website Terms of Use.

If you use the Site to book a hotel reservation , via our booking partner, Regatta Travel Solutions, additional terms will apply. Please be sure to review them here. They are also considered a part of these Terms and are part of your agreement with us.

Personal Information. For the purposes of these Terms, “Personal Information” means any information that by itself or in connection with other information we collect allows us or anyone to identify you. Personal Information includes, without limitation, first names and last names, telephone numbers, addresses, email addresses, social security numbers, payment card numbers, and drivers’ license numbers. Please note that we will never ask you for your Social Security or comparable state or national identification number through the Site. However, you should be aware that these numbers are considered Personal Information under applicable laws. Submission of your Personal Information is entirely voluntary and only required to use those particular portions of the Site that request it; we do not collect Personal Information if you are just accessing and viewing content on the Site.
Privacy and Protection of Children and Teens. We take protection of the privacy of legal minors very, very seriously and in order to adhere to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) we will not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under 13 or knowingly allow children under 13 to register for any portions of the Site requiring registration including, without limitation, commenting on our blog. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a child under 13 we will immediately remove the information from the Site.
Cross-Border Data Transmission. Visit Seattle is headquartered in the United States of America (“USA”) and all of our primary data storage and processing facilities are in that country. If you are accessing the Site from another country, please note that all data we collect will be transmitted outside of your country and into the USA, where it will reside and be processed. In addition, your data may pass through or be temporarily stored or processed in countries beyond your country and the USA. By continuing to access this Site, you explicitly consent to have your data so transmitted and stored.
The Information We May Collect Automatically
1. Information About Your Computer. When you visit the Site, we automatically receive and store certain types of information, such as the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet; the IP address of the computer you are using and the browser and operating system you are using; the date and time you access the Sites; the Internet address of the website from which you linked to the Sites; any search terms you used to find the Sites; the device identifiers and mobile and network information, and your actions on the Sites. We may retain this information to assist us in analyzing the behavior of visitors to our Site, to resolve problems with our network and, in general, to administer the Site.
  1. Please be assured that we will never intentionally connect or attempt to connect your IP address with your Personal Information such that you are connected to your computer in our databases. We collect the foregoing information in order to analyze general browsing behavior, including the popularity of certain pages or documents, for the overall purpose of providing a more useful Site experience to our users.
  2. Cookies. We may use cookies or similar programs, such as web beacons or web bugs, to collect the information described in 4(a), including tracking your device’s browsing habits on the Site. We may also use cookies to maintain session information you provide to us, so that when you leave the Site and return, the Site will recognize your device. Cookies do not contain any Personal Information and we will never track your Internet usage outside of the Site. However, you always have a choice with regard to cookies. You can modify your Web browser preferences to allow you to accept or reject all cookies or to notify you when a cookie is set. If you choose to reject all cookies, you may be unable to use certain areas of the Site. Please consult your browser instructions for information on how to modify your choices about cookies. Finally, you may delete any existing cookies manually from the hard drive of your device.
Information You May Provide to Us
1. On the Site.
  1. Generally. As described in our Website Terms of Use, we require you to provide certain Personal Information in order to access certain functions, products or services on the Site, such as booking a hotel reservation, requesting information about Seattle, commenting on our blog or requesting that your event be added to our event calendar.
  2. Voluntary. Your use of all features requiring the provision of information about you is entirely voluntary and we will never require you to use any of the features in order to merely browse the Site. However, if you choose to access features requiring registration, we may collect and store all the information you provide to us via the Site. Not all of the foregoing information may be required, but if you choose to provide it, we may collect and store it.
  3. Booking a Reservation. Please note that if you book a reservation, we may ask you to provide us with your credit card number, expiration date and authentication codes or related information to complete the booking.
2. By Email. If you choose to email Visit Seattle, we may retain your email addresses and copies of your email(s)—including whatever content is in such emails—either separately or in the same database. Also, we (or our third party providers) may use tools to help prevent and block “spam” e- mail, viruses, and other harmful or unwanted communications and programs that may be attached to or in the text of e-mails. These tools may automatically scan your e-mails, file attachments, and other files and communications to help us protect you and Visit Seattle against these harmful or unwanted communications and programs. However, these tools do not collect or disclose Personal Information about you.
How We Use Your Information.
1. To Provide The Services You Request. We will use any information that you provide to us to provide you the services that you have requested. We will share Personal Information as needed to fulfill your request, as discussed in the next Section.
2. When Information is Shared. We will share your Personal Information with the following third-parties:
  1. Our Third-Party Providers. We use third-party providers to help us provided certain services and functions on the Site, including hotel room booking engine, publications distribution vendors, and payment processing providers, who may have access to your Personal Information for the purpose of performing their services for us (and you). We will only permit them to access your Personal Information as necessary to allow them to perform their services or the services that you request;
  2. Hotel Suppliers. We (or our third-party providers) will share Personal Information to the extent necessary to allow our suppliers to fulfill your reservations that you book on the Site which may include, among other Personal Information, your email address. Please note that we do not place limitations on our suppliers’ use or disclosure of your Personal Information. Therefore, we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any hotel at which you book a reservation through the Site;
  3. Our Affiliates and Members. If you request information or offers about particular areas of interest to you via the Site form, we will share your email address with those affiliates or members of our association who will best be able to provide you the information you request;
  4. Site Host. The Site, and therefore the information we collect in connection with it, is hosted by our technology service provider and stored on a third-party server. Therefore, our technology service provider technically has access to your Personal Information and other information; however, we control their actual access to this information by agreement and they are not permitted to access it, unless we permit them to do so. We will only permit them to access your Personal Information as necessary to repair, maintain, host or improve the Site and they will never be permitted to contact you as a result of this access;
  5. Legal Process. We may disclose any information, including Personal Information, about you without your consent if we are required to do so under a lawfully executed subpoena, search warrant or similar legal document, or otherwise to comply with law; and
  6. Emergencies and Rights Enforcement. We may also use or disclose information, including Personal Information, about you without your consent in emergency situations that require us to protect our customers, employees or property immediately, or to enforce our rights in court.
3. Other Uses. Except as set forth in this Section, we will not disclose, including for the purposes of sale, any information, including Personal Information, that we collect from you to any third party. We may, however, use it for our internal business purposes that include, but are not limited to, improving the functions on our Site and communicating with you about Seattle, your event or hotel reservation, other offerings that we believe may be of interest to you, changes to these Terms and other topics related to our business. However, you will always be permitted to opt-out of receiving such communications in the email(s) or other communications you receive.
Third-Party Content and Links to Third-Party Sites
1. Third-Party Cookies and Web Beacons. We may allow third-parties to display advertisements or other content on the Site. These advertisers may also use cookies other technologies each time you view or click on or through their advertisements to you. If you only view the web pages of the Site on which the advertisements appear, no third-party cookies or other technologies will be placed on your computer; you will need to specifically interact with that advertisement to trigger them. As with the cookies and similar technologies used by Visit Seattle itself, these advertisers may be able to compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, viewed or clicked on the advertisements they display, but none of this information will be associated with any of your Personal Information. As stated above, our third-party advertisers will not have access to your Personal Information through Visit Seattle. Please remember that we have no access to or control over the cookies or other tracking technologies third-parties may place on your computer. This Privacy Policy applies to the use of cookies by Visit Seattle only, and does not apply to the use of cookies or other tracking technologies by any of the third-parties.
2. Third-Party Websites. The Site may contain links to other parties’ websites. We do not review the privacy practices of these other websites and recommend that you review their privacy policies before sharing your personal information. We do not have any control over such third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy policies or practices.
Storage of Data. We may store data, including Personal Information, as long as required in the normal course of our business or as required by applicable law.
Protection of Your Data. While we cannot guarantee the security of anyone’s data (including our own), we understand the importance of data security and therefore take reasonable measures to protect your Personal Information in an effort to prevent loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy. Our privacy policy may change from time to time to reflect new or improved site functionality or changing customer requirements and we may make such changes without notice to you. Any such changes will be incorporated into these Privacy Policy and Terms and considered binding.
Questions. Please contact us if you have any questions about Visit Seattle’s privacy policy or other legal guidelines.