Politique de Confidentialité

Effective date: 29th September 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Hillwalk Tours Limited (« Hillwalk Tours », « we », « us », « our ») collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data when you visit https://www.hillwalktours.fr, contact us, or book or buy any of our products and services. It also explains your rights and how to exercise them.

We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide how and why it is used, and we are responsible for protecting it under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Irish Data Protection Acts 1988–2018 and the ePrivacy Regulations 2011.

1. Who we are and how to contact us

Hillwalk Tours Limited, 33 Platform 94, Mervue Business Park, Wellpark Road, Galway, H91 2Y20, Ireland.

• Email: dataprotection@hillwalktours.com
• Telephone: +353 91 763994
• Post: the address above

We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. Please send any questions about this policy or your personal data to the contact details above.

2. Summary

• We collect the information we need to answer your enquiries, organise your walking holiday, take payment and keep you informed.
• We share your details only with the providers needed to deliver your tour (such as accommodation, luggage transfer and GPS navigation) and with the service providers who help us run our business.
• We never sell your personal data.
• We only send marketing emails if you have agreed to receive them, or if you are an existing customer and have not opted out. You can unsubscribe at any time.
• We keep your data only for as long as we need it, as set out in section 4.
• You have rights over your data, including access, correction, deletion and objection (section 9).

3. What we collect, why, and our legal basis

Under GDPR we must have a legal basis for each use of your data. The bases we rely on are: contract (to provide a service you have asked for), legal obligation (for example tax and accounting law), legitimate interests (running and improving our business in ways you would reasonably expect, balanced against your rights), and consent (which you can withdraw at any time).

3.1 Website visits and cookies

We use strictly necessary cookies to make our website work, and, only if you agree via our cookie banner, analytics cookies from Google Analytics. Analytics cookies record information such as pages viewed, time on site, browser and device type, and approximate location. Google Analytics processes your IP address, which counts as personal data; we have configured it to minimise the data retained.

• Purpose: to operate the website securely and understand how it is used so we can improve it.
• Legal basis: strictly necessary cookies – legitimate interests; analytics cookies – consent.
• Changing your choice: reopen the cookie banner at any time using the « Manage consent » link on our website. You can also block cookies in your browser settings.

See our Cookie Policy for a full list of the cookies we use.

3.2 Enquiries and live chat

When you contact us by our contact form, email, phone or live chat, we collect your name, email address and any details you choose to give us, such as your telephone number, country and the content of your enquiry. Our live chat is provided by Tawk.to, which also records technical information such as your IP address, browser and device during the chat.

• Purpose: to answer your enquiry and, if you go on to book, to link your conversation to your booking.
• Legal basis: steps taken at your request before entering into a contract, and our legitimate interest in responding to customer questions.

3.3 Bookings

When you book a tour we collect:

• the lead booker’s name, postal address, telephone number, email address, gender and date of birth;
• the first name, last name and age of every other participant;
• your tour choices, dates and any special requests;
• payment information (processed by our payment providers, see section 5).

If you book for other people, please make sure they know you are sharing their details with us and point them to this policy.

• Purpose: to arrange and deliver your tour, send your travel documents, communicate with you before and during the tour, and handle payments, refunds and complaints.
• Legal basis: contract; legal obligation for financial records; legitimate interests for handling disputes and claims.

3.4 Dietary preferences and allergies

Our booking form includes an optional field where you can tell us about dietary preferences or allergies. Where this reveals an allergy or a medical dietary need (for example coeliac disease), it counts as health data, a special category of personal data under GDPR.

• Purpose: to pass on to accommodation and other suppliers so they can cater for you safely.
• Legal basis: your explicit consent, given by choosing to fill in this field. It is entirely voluntary; if you leave it blank, suppliers won’t be aware of your needs. You can ask us to delete this information at any time.
• We share this information only with the suppliers who need it for your tour.

3.5 Gift card purchases

We collect your name and email address, and the recipient’s name and (optionally) email address.

• Purpose: to process your purchase, deliver the gift card and let the recipient redeem it.
• Legal basis: contract; legal obligation for financial records.

3.6 Newsletter and marketing

We collect your name and email address, and occasionally your city or country so we can tailor content.

• Purpose: to send you news, tour ideas and special offers.
• Legal basis: consent when you sign up. If you have booked with us, we may also email you about similar tours as permitted under the ePrivacy Regulations, provided you did not opt out when booking.
• Unsubscribing: click the unsubscribe link in any email or contact us. We will stop straight away.
• Our newsletter is not intended for anyone under 16.

3.7 Surveys and competitions

Taking part is always optional. Surveys may ask for your name, email, age range, country and opinions about our services. Competitions may ask for your name, email address and, if a prize needs posting, your postal address. We only ask for information we actually need.

• Purpose: to improve our products and services, and to run competitions and deliver prizes.
• Legal basis: consent (surveys); contract, under the competition terms (competitions).

3.8 Automated decision-making

We do not make any decisions about you based solely on automated processing, including profiling, that have legal or similarly significant effects.

4. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected for, then delete or anonymise it upon your request.

5. Who we share your data with

We never sell your personal data. We share it only as follows.

Tour suppliers. To deliver your tour, we share the names and telephone number of the lead booker, the names of other participants, and any dietary or allergy information you’ve asked us to pass on, with the accommodation, luggage transfer, transport and activity providers we book for you. These suppliers use your data under their own privacy policies.

HiiKER (GPS navigation). For self-guided tours, we share your email address, tour itinerary and tour end date with our partner HiiKER so they can give you free PRO+ access to GPS navigation. The subscription expires 7 days after your tour ends and does not auto-renew. HiiKER handles your data under its own privacy policy. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in providing reliable navigation for your tour. If you prefer us not to share your email with HiiKER, tell us when booking or email bookings@hillwalktours.com.

Payment providers. Card payments for bookings and gift cards are handled by PayPal and Stripe. You enter your card details directly with them; we never see or store your full card number. They process payment data as independent controllers under their own privacy policies. Bank transfers are received into our Allied Irish Banks (AIB) account in Ireland for euro payments, or our Ulster Bank account in the UK for sterling payments. The banks process transaction details under their own privacy policies.

Service providers who work on our behalf (processors), under written contracts that require them to protect your data and use it only on our instructions:

Others where required. We may disclose data to professional advisers (such as accountants and lawyers), insurers, or authorities such as Revenue, the Gardaí or courts where the law requires it or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. If our business is sold or restructured, data may transfer to the new owner, who will be bound by this policy.

6. International transfers

Some of our service providers and our sterling bank account are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA). When your data is transferred there, we make sure it is protected by one of the safeguards GDPR recognises:

• an EU adequacy decision, including the EU–US Data Privacy Framework for US providers that are certified under it, and the adequacy decisions for the United Kingdom and Canada; or
• Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission, with additional measures where needed.

You can ask us for more information about the safeguard used for a particular provider.

7. How we protect your data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encrypted (HTTPS) connections on our website, access controls so only staff who need data can see it, secure password practices, and contracts with our processors requiring equivalent protection. No system is completely secure, but if a breach occurs that poses a risk to you, we will notify you and the Data Protection Commission as the law requires.

8. Children

Our services are booked by adults. We collect details about children only when a parent or guardian includes them as participants in a booking, and only what we need to deliver the tour safely (name and age).

9. Your rights

You have the following rights over your personal data:

• Access – ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification – ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure – ask us to delete your data. We may need to keep some records where the law requires it, such as booking records for tax purposes.
• Restriction – ask us to limit how we use your data, for example while a correction is checked.
• Portability – receive data you gave us in a commonly used electronic format, or have it sent to another organisation.
• Objection – object to our use of your data based on legitimate interests. You have an absolute right to object to direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. This does not affect processing already carried out.

To exercise any right, contact us using the details in section 1. We may ask you to verify your identity. We will respond within one month. If your request is complex or we receive many requests, we may extend this by up to two further months, and we will tell you within the first month if so. Exercising your rights is free of charge.

10. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your data, please contact us first so we can try to put things right. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish supervisory authority:

Data Protection Commission
Online: forms.dataprotection.ie/contact (the DPC’s preferred channel)
Telephone: +353 1 765 0100 or 1800 437 737 (general information only; complaints must be made in writing)
Post: 6 Pembroke Row, Dublin 2, D02 X963, Ireland
Website: www.dataprotection.ie

If you live in another EU/EEA country, you can also complain to the data protection authority where you live or work.

11. Links to other websites

Our website may link to other websites, such as suppliers, tourism bodies and HiiKER. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their privacy policies when you visit them.

12. Changes to this policy

We review this policy regularly and may update it from time to time. The effective date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make significant changes, we will let you know by email (if we have your address) or by a clear notice on our website before the changes take effect.