Our Privacy Policy

At Skye Guides Ltd, we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing to be bound by this Policy.

Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to mike@skyeguides.co.uk or by writing to Skye Guides Ltd, Skye Basecamp, Lime Park, Broadford, Isle of Skye, IV49 9AE or telephone 01471 822116


Who are we?

We are Skye Guides Ltd, a limited company registered SC 412995. The registered address is Skye Basecamp, Lime Park, Broadford, Isle of Skye, IV49 9AE. Skye Guides Ltd comprises of Skye Guides specializing in mountain guiding and rock climbing in the Black Cuillin on the Isle of Skye and Skye Basecamp a backpackers hostel in Broadford, Isle of Skye providing accommodation in private rooms and mixed dormitories.


How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you use either of our websites, for example, when you contact us about products and services. ie to book the services of a guide or to book a bed in our hostel.


What type of information is collected from you?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, emergency contact details, any medical conditions relevant to a guiding trip, IP address, and information regarding what pages are accessed and when. If you make a booking online to book a bed at our hostel or purchase a product from us, your card information is not held by us, it is collected by our third party payment processors Freetobook, Sagepay & Worldpay, who specialise in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions, as explained below.


How is your information used?

We may use your information to:
process a booking that you have made either for a guided trip or an accommodation booking

to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us;

seek your views or comments on the services we provide;

notify you of changes to our services;

send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. Eg winter meet

Activities, promotions of our associated companies goods and services;

Process a job application.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.


Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf: We may pass your information to our third party service providers ie our sub contracted mountain instructors in order for them to contact you to make rendezvous arrangements. However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond Skye Guides Ltd for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.

Third Party Product Providers we work in association with: We work closely with various third party product providers, guiding companies & other hostels to bring you a range of quality and reliable products and services designed to make your experience as high a standard as possible. When you enquire about or purchase one or more of these products, the relevant third party product provider will use your details to provide you with information and carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. In some cases, they will be acting as a data controller of your information and therefore we advise you to read their Privacy Policy.  These third party product providers will share your information with us which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When you are using our secure online payment pages, your payment  is processed by a third party payment processor, who specialises in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. If you have any questions regarding secure transactions, please contact us.


Your choices

You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications from us about the vital work we do for older people and our exciting products and services, then you can select your choices by ticking the relevant boxes situated on the form on which we collect your information.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless you have given your prior consent. We will not contact you for marketing purposes by post if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us by email: mike@skyeguides.co.uk or telephone on 01471 822116.


How you can access and update your information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email us at: mike@skyeguides.co.uk, or write to us at: Skye Basecamp, Lime Park, Broadford, Isle of Skye, IV49 9AE. Alternatively, you can telephone 01471 822116.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Skye Guides Ltd hold about you


Security

Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information (such as credit or debit card details) is encrypted and protected with the following software 128 Bit encryption on SSL. When you are on a secure page, a lock icon will appear on the bottom of web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.


Use of ‘cookies’

Like many other websites, the Skye Guides Ltd website uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your country preference. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. For more information on how to switch off cookies on your computer, visit our full cookies policy. Turning cookies of may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.


Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.


16 or Under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. We do not accept bookings from children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s to make the booking.


Transferring your information outside of Europe

As part of the services offered to you through this website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (“EU”). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK. By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.


Review of this Policy

We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in April 2022.