External Privacy Policy

Australian Bed and Breakfast Booking (ABBB) is a business dedicated to bed and breakfast booking sales in the eCommerce environment.

ABBB understands that privacy is important to you. We are bound by the Information Privacy Principles (IPP's) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Australia). If ABBB communicates with you by email, it is also bound by the Spam Act 2003 (Australia).

ABBB also strives to handle personal and financial information in a manner which is consistent with the local privacy laws that apply in the various state jurisdictions in which ABBB operates.

 Section 6 contains specific provisions relating to online privacy (this applies to personal and financial information that is collected through ABBB websites).



        1.                  What Personal and financial Information Does ABBB Collect?

The types of personal information that we collect will depend on the nature of your dealings with us. For example, we may collect personal information directly from you when you:

• Book a bed and breakfast accommodation (data collected is name, contact details, and details of booking such as date and place.)
• Apply as a bed and breakfast associate
• Have business dealings with us (whether as an employee of one of our external service providers, or if you work for one of the associated bed and breakfasts or travel agencies) In each case, we only collect the personal and financial information that we need to carry out our specific functions.

We also collect personal information about our employees and contractors (personnel records). Details about the personal and/or financial information contained in personnel records and in other records held by ABBB. Take note that the only financial information collected is the credit card number for online payment of accommodation.


        2.                  How do we use Personal and financial Information?

We need to collect personal and financial information so that we can provide you with the publications or services you have requested, or so that we can carry out specific statutory functions (or both). The particular purpose for which we collect personal or/and financial information will either be explained when we collect that information, or will be obvious from the context in which it is collected. Under the IPP's, we must only use personal or/and financial information for the particular purpose we collected it for, or for other purposes that are directly related to that purpose. If we want to use personal or/and financial information for any other purpose we must obtain your consent.


     3.  Will Your Personal and/or financial Information be Given to Anyone Else?

ABBB does not share, distribute or sell information to any other organisation or institution. However the exception is to external service providers who help us operate our business (eg IT consultants, bank staff). If ABBB engages external service providers, we require those contractors to comply with contractual privacy obligations that reflect ABBB's own strict privacy obligations under the IPP's. Otherwise, ABBB will only disclose personal and/or financial information with your express consent, or if this is required by law or permitted under the Privacy Act.


        4.                  Security of Personal and financial Information

ABBB takes security of personal and/or financial information seriously. Most electronic records of personal and/or financial information collected by ABBB are stored in secure external hard drives in encrypted formate with password protection and physical barrios. If you do not live in Australia, and we want to store your personal information on external hard drives that are located in Australia, we will generally ask you to consent to this at the time we collect personal information from you. If you don't want your personal and/or financial information to be transferred to Australia, please don't provide us with your personal and/or financial information. If you have dealt with ABBB in the past, and don't want your personal and/or financial information stored in Australia, you can ask to be removed from our databases at any time (using the contact details at section 7 below). We also require our staff to ensure that paper records containing personal and/or financial information are stored securely. ABBB’s personnel are bound by confidentiality obligations as a condition of their employment, and this extends to ensuring that personal and/or financial information collected by ABBB is kept confidential.


        5.                  Access and Correction

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to seek access to the records of personal and/or financial information that ABBB holds about you. You also have the right to ask us to alter your personal and/or financial information to ensure it is accurate and up to date. If you wish to access the personal and/or financial information that we hold about you, please set out your request in writing, and forward this to our general email, using the contact details set out at the end of this Privacy Policy.

        6.                  Online Privacy Issues

If you use ABBB’s websites, you are understood to consent to the terms and conditions set out on our websites. This includes consenting to the terms of this privacy policy. In general, you can visit ABBB’s websites without telling us who you are or revealing any personal and/or financial information about yourself. However there are times when we may need to collect personal and/or financial information from you. For instance, if you make a bed and breakfast booking via our website, we will need to collect some personal and financial information from you. At the time of collection, we will seek your permission to send you further electronic communications, and for your personal and/or financial information to be stored in databases that are hosted in Australia. No attempt will be made by ABBB to identify website users or their browsing activities except in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect server logs. The statistics and log files may be preserved indefinitely and used at any time and in any way necessary to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the information supplied by ABBB.

In general on ABBB’s website, IP address (the Internet address of a computer) are logged to track a user's session while the user remains anonymous. We analyse this data for certain trends and statistics, such as which parts of our site users are visiting and how long they spend there. We do not link your IP addresses to anything that identifies you.

        a)         Cookies
Some ABBB web pages use "cookies", which are small files that may be placed on your hard disk for record-keeping purposes. A cookie helps us remember who you are. Cookies can make your subsequent visits to the web page simpler and more seamless. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. (However, by not accepting cookies, some web pages may not display properly or you may not be permitted to access certain information.) A server cannot find out a name or email address, or anything about a user's computer, by using cookies.
           b)         Online Security
ABBB strives to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of personal and financial information submitted to our sites, and periodically updates its security measures in light of current technologies.
You need to be aware of inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the Internet. ABBB cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any personal and/or financial information you submit to our sites. However there is powerful and effective security area’s of our website that restrict access to unauthorised persons, and software.

7.           Additional Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to make a complaint about how ABBB has handled the personal and/or financial information about you, please contact our Risk and Administration Manager, using the contact details below:

By E-mail:        info@abbb.com.au

ABBB periodically reviews its Privacy policy and reserves the right, at its discretion, to modify or remove portions of this policy at any time.

Policy updated: June 2008