First things first – your privacy is important to us. You’ve placed your trust in us by using the GeorgianTravelGuide.com services and we value that trust. That means we’re committed to protecting and safeguarding any personal data you give us. We act in our customers’ interest and we are transparent about the processing of your personal data.

This document describes how we use and process your personal data, hopefully provided in a readable and transparent manner so you can get where we’re coming from without getting you confused. It also tells you how to contact us if you have questions about your personal data, which we’re more than happy to answer. Please also read our separate Cookie Statement, which tells you how GeorgianTravelGuide.com makes use of cookies and other similar technologies. For a better understanding of what we mean by “Tourism Product”, “Trip Provider”, and “Service”, please read the GeorgianTravelGuide.com Terms and Conditions.

GeorgianTravelGuide offers online travel-related services through our own websites and mobile apps, as well as through other online platforms such as partners’ websites and social media. All the information that follows applies to not one, not two, but all of these platforms.

This one privacy statement applies to any kind of information we collect through these platforms or other means connected to these platforms (such as contacting our customer service team via email). It makes for a lot less tedious reading. If you are one of our business partners, make sure to also check out our Privacy Statement for Business Partners to understand how personal data is further processed as part of the business relationship.

We might amend the Privacy Statement from time to time. If you care about your privacy, visit this page regularly and you’ll know exactly where you stand. If we make changes to the Privacy Statement which will have an impact on you (for example, if we intend to process your personal data for other purposes than communicated in the past in this Privacy Statement), we will notify you of these changes before the new activities begin.

If you disagree with this Privacy Statement, you should discontinue using our services. If you agree with our Privacy Statement, then you’re all set to book your next Trip through us. Let the good times roll!

What kind of personal data does GeorgianTravelGuide.com collect?

We can’t help you book the perfect tourism product without information, so when you use our services there are certain pieces of information we ask for. This is pretty basic stuff – your name, email, and phone number. There are also other instances where you’ll provide us with information. For example, if you’re browsing with your mobile device or using our mobile App, you can decide to enable GeorgianTravelGuide.com to see your current location or grant access to your contact details – this helps us provide you with the best possible service and experience (for example, to see our city guides, the nearest restaurants or attractions to your location or other recommendations). You can also open a user account, which allows you to save your personal settings, upload photos, review previous reservations or plan and manage future reservations or benefit from other features only available to account holders (such as incentives or other benefits we may offer). There are also situations in which we receive information about you from others or automatically collect other information.

Personal data you give to us

GeorgianTravelGuide.com collects and uses information which you provide to us. When you make a Reservation, you are (as a minimum) asked for your name and email address. Depending on the Reservation, we may also ask for your phone number, the names of any guests travelling with you and any preferences (such as meal preferences and any mobility restrictions) you might have for your Trip.

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Bank of Georgia. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://bankofgeorgia.ge/mbank/mbank_privacy_policy_en.html.

If you need to get in touch with our customer service team, or reach out to us through other means (such as through social media, or communicating with your booked Trip Provider through us) we will collect information from you there too. Customers can also be asked to provide a review to help ensure future guests get exactly what they’re looking for. We will collect information from you included in your reviews, including your display name and avatar if you choose one.

Personal data you give us about others.

Of course, you might not simply be making a Reservation for yourself. You may be doing a Trip with other guests whose details you provide as part of the Reservation, or you may make a Reservation on behalf of someone else. If you maintain a GeorgianTravelguide.com for Business account, you can also create an address book to facilitate business travel, as well as manage the bookings of others.

However, at this point we have to point out that it’s your responsibility to ensure that the person or people you have provided personal data about are aware that you’ve done so, and have understood and accepted how GeorgianTravelGuide.com uses their information (as described in this Privacy Policy).

Personal data we collect automatically.

Even if you don’t end up making a Reservation (and when you do), when you visit our websites or apps we automatically collect certain information. This includes your IP address, the date and time you accessed our services, the hardware, software or internet browser you use and information about your computer’s operating system, like application versions and your language settings. We also collect information about clicks and which pages have been shown to you.

If you are using a mobile device, we collect data that identifies your mobile device, device-specific settings and characteristics, app crashes and other system activity. When you make a Reservation, our system registers through which means and from which websites you have made your reservation or entered the GeorgianTravelGuide.com websites and/or apps.

Why does GeorgianTravelGuide.com collect and use your personal data?

The main reason we ask you for personal details is a pretty good one – it’s to help administer your Reservations and ensure you get the best service possible. We also use your personal data to contact you and to inform you of the latest deals and special offers and other products or services which we believe may be of interest to you.

We use the information collected about you for various purposes. Your personal data may be used in the following ways:

A. Reservations: First and foremost, we use your personal data to complete and administer your Reservation, which is pretty central to what we do as a company! This includes sending you communications in relation to your Reservation such as confirmations, modifications and reminders.

B. Customer service: We provide customer service from our local offices in three languages, and we’re there to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sharing your relevant details, such as reservation information or information about your user account with our customer service staff allows us to respond when you need us – including helping you to find appropriate Trip Provider and responding to any questions you might have about your Reservation (or any other queries, for that matter).

C. Account facilities: GeorgianTravelGuide.com users can create a user account on our websites or apps. We use the information you give us to administer this account, allowing you to do a number of useful things. You can manage your Reservations, take advantage of special offers, make future Reservations easily and manage your personal settings. Managing personal settings can allow you to keep and share lists, share photos, see previously searched Trip Services easily and to check other travel-related information you have provided. It can also allow you to see any reviews you have submitted. If you want, you can share certain information in your user account by creating a public profile that’s associated with either your own first name or a screen name of your choice. GeorgianTravelGuide.com for Business account holders can save contact details in their account facility, manage their business reservations and link other account holders to the GeorgianTravelGuide.com for Business account.

D. Online groups: We may enable users with an account to join and interact with each other through online groups or forums.

E. Marketing activities: We use your information for marketing activities. These activities include:

1. Using your contact information to send you regular news of travel-related products and services. You can unsubscribe from email marketing communications quickly, easily and at any time – just click on the "Unsubscribe" link included in each newsletter or other communication.

2. Based on your information, individualised offers may be shown to you on the GeorgianTravelGuide.com website, in mobile apps or on third-party websites/apps (including social media sites) and the content of the site displayed to you may be personalized. These may be offers that you can book directly on the GeorgianTravelGuide.com site, or on co-branded sites, or other third-party offers or products we think you might find interesting.

   
   

F. Communicating with you: There may be other times when we get in touch, including by email, by post, by phone or by texting you – which method we choose depends on the contact information you’ve previously shared with us. And we process the communications you send to us. There could be a number of reasons for this, including:

1. Responding to and handling any requests you or your booked Trip Provider have made. GeorgianTravelGuide.com also offers guests and Trip Providers various means to exchange information, requests, and comments about Trip Providers and existing Reservations via GeorgianTravelGuide.com. For more information, scroll down a bit and read the section titled “How does GeorgianTravelGuide.com process communications that you and your booked Trip Provider may send through GeorgianTravelGuide.com?”.

2. If you have not finalized a Reservation online, we can contact you with a reminder to continue with your reservation. We believe that this additional service benefits you as it allows you to carry on with a Reservation without having to search for Trip Provider or fill in your reservation details again.

3. When you use our services, we can send you a questionnaire or invite you to provide a review about your experience with GeorgianTravelGuide.com or the Trip Provider.

4. We also send you other material related to your Trip Reservations, such as how to contact GeorgianTravelGuide.com if you need assistance while you are away, and information that we feel might be useful to you in planning or getting the best out of your Trip. We may also send you material related to upcoming Reservations or a summary of previous Trip Reservations you made through GeorgianTravelGuide.com.

5. Even if you do not have an upcoming Trip Reservation, we may need to send you other administrative messages, which may include security alerts.

G. Market research: We sometimes ask our customers to take part in market research. Please see the information provided when you are invited to participate to understand what personal data is collected and how your personal data is used further.

H. Improving our services: We also use personal data for analytical purposes. This is part of our drive to improve our services and enhance the user experience, but can also be used for testing purposes, troubleshooting and to improve the functionality and quality of our online travel services. The main goal here is to optimize and customize our online platform to your needs, making our site easier and more enjoyable to use. We strive to only use pseudonymized data for these analytical purposes.

I. Guest reviews and other destination-related information: During and after your Trip you book through us, you may be invited to submit a review. We can also enable guests travelling with you or on whose behalf you have booked to provide a review. This invite asks for information about the Trip Provider or the destination. Account holders can choose to display a review with a screen name instead of the real name (which can be chosen in the user account facility). In addition to this, account holders can choose to display a review anonymously. Adding an avatar is also possible. By completing a guest review, you are agreeing that it can be displayed on, for example, the relevant Trip Provider information page on our websites, on our mobile apps, on our social media accounts and social media apps, or on the online platform of the relevant Trip Provider or business partner’s website. This is to inform other travellers about the quality of the Trip Service you used, the destination you have chosen or other experiences you choose to share.

J. Call monitoring: When you make calls to our customer service team, GeorgianTravelGuide.com uses an automated telephone number detection system to relate your telephone number to your existing reservations – this can help save time for both you and our customer support staff. Our customer service staff may still ask for authentication, which ensures that your reservation details are kept confidential. During calls with our customer service team, live listening may be done or calls may be recorded for quality control and training purposes which includes the usage of the recordings for the handling of claims and fraud detection purposes. Not all calls are recorded and recordings are kept for a limited amount of time and automatically deleted thereafter, unless GeorgianTravelGuide.com has a legitimate interest to keep such recording for a longer period, including for fraud investigation and legal purposes.

K. Promotion of a safe and trustworthy service: In order to create a trustworthy environment for you, your fellow travellers, GeorgianTravelGuide.com’s business partners and our Trip Providers, we may use personal data for the detection and prevention of fraud and other illegal or unwanted activities. Similarly, we may use personal data for risk assessment and security purposes, including the authentication of users and reservations. For such purposes, we may have to stop certain reservations or put on hold reservations until we have finished our assessment.

L. Legal purposes: Finally, in certain cases, we may need to use your information to handle and resolve legal disputes, for regulatory investigations and compliance, to enforce the terms of use of the GeorgianTravelGuide.com online reservation service or to comply with lawful requests from law enforcement.

Providing your personal data to GeorgianTravelGuide.com is voluntary. However, depending on the type of service you may want to use, we may only be able to provide you with this service if certain personal data is collected. For instance, we cannot process your Reservation if we do not collect your name and contact details.

If we use automated means to process personal data which produces legal effects or significantly affects you, we will implement suitable measures to safeguard you rights and freedoms, including the right to obtain human intervention.

To process your personal data as described above, we rely on the following legal bases:

In view of purpose A and B, GeorgianTravelGuide.com relies on the legal basis that the processing of the personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract, specifically to finalize and administer your Reservation. If the required personal data is not provided, GeorgianTravelGuide.com cannot finalize the Reservation, nor can we provide customer service. In view of purposes C to K, GeorgianTravelGuide.com relies on its legitimate commercial business interest to provide its services, to prevent fraud and to improve its services. When using personal data to serve GeorgianTravelGuide.com’s or a third party's legitimate interest, GeorgianTravelGuide.com will always balance your rights and interests in the protection of your personal data against GeorgianTravelGuide.com’s rights and interests or those of the third party. For purposes L, GeorgianTravelGuide.com relies also where applicable on compliance with legal obligations (such as lawful law enforcement requests). Where needed under applicable law, GeorgianTravelGuide.com will obtain your consent prior to processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes.

If you wish to object to the processing set out under C to K and no opt-out mechanism is available to you directly (for example, in your account settings), to the extent applicable, please contact info@georgiantravelguide.com

How does GeorgianTravelGuide.com share your data with third parties?

There are different parties integrated into the GeorgianTravelGuide.com services in various ways and for various reasons. The primary purpose is to share your data relevant for your Trip with the Trip Provider to complete your Reservation. There are also other parties which can receive some of your data, which are parties we involve to provide you with the GeorgianTravelGuide.com services. This includes for example - financial institutions, advertisers, subsidiaries of the GeorgianTravelGuide.com affiliates of the Georgian Travel Guide LLC. We do not sell or rent your personal data.

In certain circumstances, we’ll share your personal data with third parties.

1. The Trip Provider you booked: This one’s pretty crucial for what we do! In order to complete your Reservation, we transfer relevant reservation details to the Trip Provider you have booked. Depending on the Trip Reservation and the Trip Provider, this can include your name, contact details, payment details, the names of the guests travelling with you and any preferences or other information you specified when you made your Reservation. If you have a query about your Trip, we may contact the Trip Provider and ask them to handle your request. In cases of reservation-related disputes, we may provide the Trip Provider with information about the reservation process as needed to handle the dispute. This may include a copy of your reservation confirmation as proof that a Trip Reservation was actually made.

2. Third-party service providers: We use service providers, which are not part of the Georgian Travel Guide LLC, to support us in providing the GeorgianTravelGuide.com services. These service providers provide support services such as

• customer support;

• market research;

• fraud detection and prevention services, including anti fraud screening service.;

• payment services. We use third parties to process payments, handle chargebacks or provide billing collection services. When a chargeback is requested for your Reservation by either you or by the holder of the credit card used to make your reservation, we need to share certain reservation details with the payment service provider and the relevant financial institution to handle the chargeback. This may also include a copy of your reservation confirmation or the IP address used to make your reservation. We may share information with relevant financial institutions, if we consider it strictly necessary for fraud detection and prevention purposes.

• marketing services. We share personal data with advertising partners, including your email address, as part of marketing the GeorgianTravelGuide.com services via third parties (to ensure that relevant advertisements are shown to the right audience). We strive to only share email addresses in hashed form to enable the matching of your email address with an existing customer database so that your email address cannot be used for other purposes. For more information on personalised advertisement and your choices, please read - “How are cookies used?"

• All service providers are required to continue to adequately safeguard your personal data.

3. Competent authorities: We disclose personal data to law enforcement insofar as it is required by law or is strictly necessary for the prevention, detection or prosecution of criminal acts and fraud or if we are otherwise legally obliged to do so. We may need to further disclose personal data to competent authorities to protect and defend our rights or properties, or the rights and properties of our business partners.

4. Business partners: We work with many business partners. These business partners distribute or advertise the GeorgianTravelGuide.com services, including the services and products of our Trip Providers.

5. When you make a reservation on one of our business partners’ websites or apps, certain personal data that you give them such as your name and email address, your address, payment details and other relevant information, will be forwarded to us to finalize and administer your Reservation. If customer service is provided by the business partner, GeorgianTravelGuide.com will share details relevant to your reservation with the business partners (as and when needed) in order to provide you with appropriate and efficient support. When you make a reservation through one of our business partners’ websites, the business partners can receive certain parts of your personal data related to the specific reservation such as your name and email address. This is for their own internal purposes (such as analytical purposes) and, if requested by you, for the administration of loyalty programs or marketing.

6. When you make a reservation on a business partners’ website, please also take the time to read their privacy notice if you wish to understand how these business partners may process your personal data. For fraud detection and prevention purposes and as strictly necessary, we may also exchange information about our users with business partners. The transmission of personal data as described in this Privacy Statement may include overseas transfers of personal data to countries whose data protection laws are not as comprehensive as those of the countries within the European Union. Where required by European law, we shall only transfer personal data to recipients offering an adequate level of data protection. In these situations, as may be required, we make contractual arrangements to ensure that your personal data is still protected in line with European standards. You can ask us to see a copy of these contractual agreements using the contact details below.

How does GeorgianTravelGuide.com process communications that you and your Trip Provider may send via GeorgianTravelGuide.com?

GeorgianTravelGuide.com can offer you and Trip Providers partners various means to communicate about the tourism product and existing Reservations, directing the communications via GeorgianTravelGuide.com. This allows you and your Trip Provider to contact GeorgianTravelGuide.com with questions about your Reservation via the all channels that we make available.

GeorgianTravelGuide.com accesses communications and may use automated systems to review, scan, and analyze communications for security purposes; fraud prevention; compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; investigations of potential misconduct; product development and improvement; research; customer engagement, including to provide you with information and offers that we believe may be of interest to you; and customer or technical support. We reserve the right to block the delivery of or review communications that we, in our sole discretion, believe may contain malicious content, spam, or may pose a risk to you, partners, GeorgianTravelGuide.com, or others. Note, all communications sent or received using GeorgianTravelGuide.com communication tools will be received and stored by GeorgianTravelGuide.com. Business partners through whose platform you made the reservation and Trip Providers may choose to communicate with you directly via email or other channels that GeorgianTravelGuide.com does not control.

How does GeorgianTravelGuide.com make use of mobile devices?

We offer free apps for a variety of mobile devices, as well as versions of our regular website that have been optimized for mobile and tablet browsing. These apps and mobile websites process the personal details you give us in much the same way as our website does – and they also allow you to use location services to find tourism product nearby - if you want us to. With your consent, we may send you push notifications with information about your Reservation. You may grant us access to your location data or contact details in order to provide services requested by you. When you upload a picture from your mobile device, your picture may also be tagged with your location information. Please read the instructions of your mobile device to understand how to change the settings and enable the sharing of such data or the receipt of push notifications.

We make use of something known as cross-device tracking in order to optimize our services and marketing activities. This may be done with or without the use of cookies. For more information about cookies and other similar technologies, please see our Cookie Statement. With cross-device tracking, GeorgianTravelGuide.com is able to track user behavior across multiple devices. As part of cross-device tracking, GeorgianTravelGuide.com may combine data collected from a particular browser or mobile device with another computer or device linked to the computer or device from which the data was collected.

In order to optimize the content of the GeorgianTravelGuide.com newsletter, GeorgianTravelGuide.com combines the searches and reservations made from different computers and devices. You can unsubscribe from the GeorgianTravelGuide.com newsletter at any time.

Personalized advertisements shown to you on other websites or in apps, can be offered based on your activities on linked computers and devices. By amending your cookie settings on your device (see in our Cookie Statement), you can change your cross-device tracking settings for advertisement purposes. You should know that logging out of your user account will not actually mean that you no longer receive personalized advertisements.

How does GeorgianTravelGuide.com make use of social media?

Here at GeorgianTravelGuide.com, we use social media in different ways. We use it partly to facilitate the use of online reservation services, but also to promote our Trip Providers’ travel-related products and services and to advertise, improve and facilitate our own services. You are free not to use the social media features.

1. Log in with your social media account. We offer you the opportunity to sign in to a GeorgianTravelGuide.com user account with your social media account, which saves you from having to remember different user names and passwords for different online services. After you’ve signed in once, you’ll always be able to use your social media account to sign in to your GeorgianTravelGuide.com account. You can decouple these accounts from each other at any time too.

2. Integration of social media plugins. We have also integrated social media plugins into the GeorgianTravelGuide.com website and apps. This means that when you click on one of the buttons (such as Facebook’s ‘Like’ button) certain information is shared with these social media providers. If you are logged in to your social media account at the same time, your social media provider may relate this information to your social media account and possibly present your actions on your social media profile to be shared with others in your network.

3. Other social media services and features. We may integrate other social media services (like social media messaging) to interact with GeorgianTravelGuide.com or with your contacts about our services. We may maintain social media accounts and offer apps on several social media sites. Whenever you connect with GeorgianTravelGuide.com through social media, your social media service provider may allow you to share information with GeorgianTravelGuide.com. If you choose to share, you will generally be told by your social media provider which information will be shared. For example, when you log into a GeorgianTravelGuide.com user account with your social media account, certain information (as authorized by you to your social media provider) may be shared with GeorgianTravelGuide.com. This might include your email address, age or profile pictures saved in your user account.

When you register with a GeorgianTravelGuide.com social media app or connect to a social media messaging service without having a GeorgianTravelGuide.com user account, the information you choose to share with us may include the basic information available in your social media profile (including your email address, status updates and a list of your contacts). We’ll use this information to help provide you with the service you requested – for example, to forward a message you want to send to your contacts or to create a personalized user experience in the app itself or on our websites. It means that if you want us to we can tailor our services to suit your needs, connecting you and your friends with the best travel destinations and analysing and enhancing our travel-related services. Your social media provider will be able to tell you more about how they use and process your data whenever you connect with GeorgianTravelGuide.com through them, for instance by combining personal data they collect when you use GeorgianTravelGuide.com through them with information they collect when you use other online platforms linked with your social media provider.

What security and retention procedures does GeorgianTravelGuide.com put in place to safeguard your personal data?

We observe reasonable procedures to prevent unauthorised access to, and the misuse of, personal data.

We use appropriate business systems and procedures to protect and safeguard the personal data you give us. We also use security procedures and technical and physical restrictions for accessing and using the personal data on our servers. Only authorized personnel are permitted to access personal data in the course of their work.

We will retain your personal data for as long as we deem it necessary to enable you to use our services, to provide our services to you (including maintaining the online user account (if created)), to comply with applicable laws, resolve disputes with any parties and otherwise as necessary to allow us to conduct our business, including to detect and prevent fraud or other illegal activities. All personal data we retain will be subject to this Privacy Statement.

How does GeorgianTravelGuide.com treat personal data of children?

The commercial services offered by GeorgianTravelGuide.com are not directed at children under 18 years old. For children younger than 18 years old, the use of any of our commercial services is only allowed with the valid consent of a parent or a guardian. In limited cases as part of a reservation, purchase of other travel-related services, or in exceptional other circumstances (such as features addressed to families), GeorgianTravelGuide.com may collect and use information of children only as provided by the parent or guardian or with their consent. If we become aware that we process information of a child under 18 years old without the valid consent of a parent or guardian, we reserve the right to delete it.

How can you control the personal data you have given to GeorgianTravelGuide.com?

We want you to be in control of how your personal data is used by us. You can do this in the following ways:

1. you can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you;

2. you can inform us of any changes to your personal data, or you can ask us to correct any of the personal data we hold about you but, as explained below, you may be able to make such changes yourself;

3. in certain situations, you can ask us to erase, or block or restrict the processing of, the personal data we hold about you, or object to particular ways in which we are using your personal data; and

4. in certain situations, you can also ask us to send the personal data you have given us to a third party.

Where we are using your personal data on the basis of your consent, you are entitled to withdraw that consent at any time subject to applicable law. Moreover, where we process your personal data based on legitimate interest or the public interest, you have the right to object at any time to that use of your personal data subject to applicable law.

We rely on you to ensure that your personal data is complete, accurate and current. Please do inform us promptly of any changes to or inaccuracies of to your personal data by contacting us.

If you have an online user account, you can access a significant amount of your personal data through our website/apps. Our website/apps generally present you with the option to add, update or remove information we have about you.

If any personal data we have about you is not accessible through our website/apps, you can send us your request at no cost. For any of your requests in regards to this Privacy Statement and to exercise any of your rights or if you have a complaint, please contact us info@GeorgianTravelGuide.com. You may also contact your local data protection authority.

If you wish to object to the processing of your personal data on the basis of legitimate interest and no opt-out mechanism is available to you directly, please contact us at info@GeorgianTravelGuide.com.

Who is responsible for the processing of personal data via GeorgianTravelGuide.com and how to contact us?

Georgian Travel Guide LLC controls the processing of personal data as described in this Privacy Statement. Georgian Travel Guide is a private limited liability company, incorporated under the laws of Georgia.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement or about our processing of your personal data, please contact us officer via info@GeorgianTravelGuide.com and we’ll get right back to you. For questions about your reservation, please contact our customer service team via info@GeorgianTravelGuide.com.

Cookie Statement

Whenever you use our online services, including our applications, cookies and other tracking technologies can be used in various ways, such as making the GeorgianTravelGuide.com website work, to analyse traffic, or for advertisement purposes. These technologies are either used by us directly, or by our business partners, including third party service providers and advertisers we work with.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small amount of data that is placed in the browser of your computer or on your mobile device. So-called “first party cookies” (not as much fun as they sound) are cookies which are served by the entity operating the domain through which the cookie is served. GeorgianTravelGuide.com’s own cookies are therefore “first party cookies”. In case we allow others to service cookies through the GeorgianTravelGuide.com websites and apps, these cookies are so-called “third party cookies”.

In addition, there is a difference between session cookies and permanent cookies. Session cookies will only exist until you close your browser. Permanent cookies have a longer lifespan and are not automatically deleted once you close your browser. We strive to serve cookies or allow the serving of cookies with a maximum lifespan of 5 years. Only in exceptional circumstances, such as for security purposes and where absolutely necessary, will a cookie have a longer lifespan than that.

Next to cookies, other tracking technologies are used which are similar to cookies. These can include web beacons (also known as pixel tags, web bugs or gifs), tracking URLs or software development kits (SDKs). A web beacon is a tiny graphic image of just one pixel that can be delivered to your computer as part of a web page request, in an app, in an advertisement or in an HTML email message. Pixels can be used to retrieve information from your device, such as your device type or operating system, IP address, and time of visit. They are also used to serve and read cookies in your browser. Tracking URLs are used to understand from which referring website the GeorgianTravelGuide.com websites or apps are used. SDKs are small pieces of code included in apps, which function like cookies and web beacons.

All these technologies are together referred to in this Cookie Statement as “cookies”.

How are cookies used?

Cookies are used for different purposes. They allow you to be recognized as the same user across the pages of a website, between websites or when you use an app. The types of information that we collect through cookies include IP address; device ID; viewed pages; browser type; browsing information; operating system; internet service provider; timestamp; whether you have responded to an advertisement; the referring URL; and features used or activities engaged in within the website/apps.

They allow you to be recognized as the same user across the pages of a website, across devices, between websites or when you use our apps. When it comes to purpose, they are divided into three categories – functional cookies, analytical cookies and marketing cookies.

Functional cookies

These are cookies required for our websites and apps to function and they must be enabled in order for you to use our services.

Functional cookies are used to create technologically advanced, user-friendly websites and apps that adapt automatically to your needs and preferences, so you can browse and book easily. This also includes enabling essential security and accessibility features.

More specifically, these cookies:

• Enable our website and apps to work properly, so you can create an account, sign in, and manage your bookings.

• Remember your selected currency and language settings, your past searches and other preferences to help you use our website and apps efficiently and effectively.

• Remember your registration information, so that you don’t have to retype your login credentials each time you visit our website or app. (Don’t worry, passwords will always be encrypted.)

Analytical cookies

These cookies measure and track how our website and apps are used. We use this information to improve our website, apps and services.

More specifically, these cookies:

• Help us understand how visitors and customers like you use georgiantravelguide.com and our apps.

• Help improve our website, apps, and communications to make sure we're interesting and relevant.

• Allow us to find out what works and what doesn't on our website and apps.

• Help us understand the effectiveness of advertisements and communications.

• Teach us how users interact with our website or apps after they have been shown an online advertisement, including advertisements on third-party websites.

• Enable our business partners to learn whether or not their customers make use of any accommodation offers integrated into their websites.

The data we gather through these cookies can include which web pages you have viewed, which referring/exit pages you have entered and left from, which platform type you have used, which emails you have opened and acted upon, and date and time stamp information. It also means we can use details about how you’ve interacted with the site or app, such as the number of clicks you make on a given screen, your mouse movements and scrolling activity, the search words you use and the text you enter into various fields.

Marketing cookies

These cookies are used by georgiantravelguide.com and our trusted partners to gather information about you over time, across multiple websites, applications, or other platforms.

Marketing cookies help us to decide which products, services and interest-based advertisements to show you, both on and off our website and apps.

More specifically, these cookies:

• Categorise you into a certain interest profile, for instance, on the basis of the websites you visit and your click behaviour. We use these profiles to display personalised content (such as travel ideas or specific accommodations) on Georgiantravelguide.com and other websites.

• Display personalised and interest-based advertisements both on the Georgiantravelguide.com website, our apps and other websites. This is called ‘retargeting’ and is based on your browsing activities, such as the destinations you’ve been searching for, the accommodation you’ve viewed and the prices you’ve been shown. It can also be based on your shopping habits or other online activities.

• Retargeting ads can be shown to you both before and after you leave Georgiantravelguide.com, as their purpose is to encourage you to browse or return to our website. You might see these ads on websites, in apps or in emails.

• Integrate social media into our website and apps. This allows you to like or share content or products on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and LinkedIn.

These ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons work using pieces of code from the individual social media providers, allowing third party cookies to be placed on your device.

These cookies can be purely functional, but they can also be used to keep track of which websites you visit from their network, to build a profile of your online browsing behaviour and to show you personalised ads. This profile will be partly built using comparable information the providers receive from your visits to other websites in their network.

To read more about what social media providers do with your personal data, take a look at their cookie and/or privacy statements.

Non-cookie techniques – email pixels

We may also use techniques, such as pixels, which we don’t mark as cookies because they do not store any information on your device.

We sometimes place pixels in emails, such as newsletters. A ‘pixel’ is an electronic file the size of a single pixel, that is placed in the email and loaded when you open it. By using email pixels, we can see if the message was delivered, if and when you read the message and what you click on.

We also receive this information about the push notifications we send you. These statistics provide us with feedback about your reading behaviour, which we use to optimise our messages and make our communication more relevant to you.

What are your choices?

To learn more about cookies and how to manage or delete them, simply visit allaboutcookies.org and the help section of your browser. In the settings for browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Safari, Firefox or Chrome, you can set which cookies to accept and which to reject. Where you find these settings depends on which browser you use. Use the "Help" function in your browser to locate the settings you need.

If you choose not to accept certain technical and/or functional cookies, you may not be able to use some functions on our website. We currently do not support “Do Not Track” browser settings.

If you have any questions about this Cookie Statement, please send an email to info@GeorgianTravelGuide.com. Our Cookie Statement may also be amended from time to time. So visit this page regularly to keep abreast of updates.