Privacy policy.

Who we are

BFC Travel Management is a trading name of BFC Management Consulting FZ-LLC, a company registered in the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ), United Arab Emirates, under licence number 47000389. Our registered address is FAMC4201 Compass Building, Al Shohada Road, Al Hamra Industrial Zone-FZ, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. We design and manage educational journeys for schools and school groups, and corporate, special-interest and private journeys, for clients in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and beyond. In this policy, “BFC”, “we” and “us” mean BFC Management Consulting FZ-LLC.

For any question about this policy or your personal information, email info@bfctravels.com.

What this policy covers

This policy explains how we handle personal information when you use this website, send us an enquiry, or travel on a journey we plan. We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and the UAE Personal Data Protection Law, as they apply to our work.

Information we collect

• When you send an enquiry: your name, email address and the details you choose to share, such as your school or organisation, journey of interest, ages, group size, dates, budget and your brief.
• When we plan a journey: the information needed to deliver it safely, such as travellers' names, dates of birth, passport or identity details where travel requires them, emergency contacts, consents, and medical, dietary and access needs.
• When you use this website: standard technical information that web servers record, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, used to keep the site secure and working.

Medical and access information is special category data. We collect only what a journey needs, and use it only to keep travellers safe and well.

How and why we use it

• To reply to your enquiry and prepare a proposal (our legitimate interest in responding, or steps you ask us to take before a contract).
• To plan, book and deliver a journey (performance of our contract with you or your school or organisation).
• To meet our legal, safeguarding, insurance and accounting obligations (legal obligation and legitimate interests).
• To protect someone's health or safety in an emergency (vital interests).
• Health information is used with the consent of the traveller or, for students, of their parent or guardian, or where the law otherwise allows it to protect their wellbeing.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for unrelated marketing.

Schools and school groups

When we organise a journey for a school, the school usually decides what student information is collected and why. In that case the school is the controller and we process the information on its behalf and on its instructions. We are happy to sign a data processing agreement with your school.

Who we share it with

• Suppliers who deliver your journey, such as airlines, rail and coach companies, accommodation, activity providers, guides and insurers, and only what each one needs.
• Service providers who help us run our business, such as website hosting, email and our secure trip-planning platform, Ildána.
• Public authorities, emergency services or our advisers where the law requires it or a traveller's safety depends on it.

International transfers

We work across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Arab Emirates, and journeys take travellers further. Where personal information leaves the UK or the European Economic Area, we use the protections the law requires, such as adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses, or the transfer is necessary to deliver the journey you have asked for.

How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it. Enquiries that do not lead to a booking are deleted within two years. Journey records are kept for as long as needed to deliver the journey and to meet legal, insurance and accounting requirements. Medical and dietary details are deleted after the journey unless they relate to an incident we must keep a record of.

Keeping it secure

Information is held on secure systems, with access limited to the people who need it for your journey. Our suppliers are expected to protect it to the same standard.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, receive a copy to take elsewhere, and withdraw consent at any time. To make a request, email info@bfctravels.com; we reply within one month. If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK (ico.org.uk) or the data protection authority in your EU country, and we would welcome the chance to put things right first.

Children

This website is intended for teachers, school leaders, parents and adult travellers. Information about students reaches us from their school or their parent or guardian.

Cookies

This website uses only the cookies it needs to work. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. If that changes, we will update this policy and ask for your consent first.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our work or the law changes. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.