Privacy Policy.

Who we are

The Travel Mine is a travel management company. It is a proprietorship owned by Syed Asif Imam. When this policy says "The Travel Mine", "we", "us" or "our", it means this business. Under the DPDP Act, we are the "Data Fiduciary" for the personal data you share with us. You are the "Data Principal".

This policy covers personal data we collect through our website, by phone, by email, on WhatsApp and in person.

Information we collect

We only ask for what we need to plan and deliver your travel. Depending on what you book, this may include:

• Contact details: your name, phone number (including your WhatsApp number) and email address.
• Travel and booking details: destinations, travel dates, the people travelling with you, and your hotel, flight, seating, meal and other preferences.
• Passport and visa details: passport information, visa documents and related details, but only when a booking needs them. Airlines, visa processing and some hotels require these.
• Payment information: payment providers handle your payments. We receive confirmation of payment and the transaction details we need for our accounts and invoices.
• Website usage data and cookies: basic technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, and pages visited. Our hosting and service providers may log this when you visit our website. See Cookies.
• Messages you send us: the content of your emails, calls and WhatsApp messages about your trip.

If you share details about other travellers, such as family members or colleagues, please make sure they know you are sharing them with us for the booking. For travellers under 18, we collect and use their details with the consent of a parent or lawful guardian.

How we use it

We use your personal data to:

• Plan, quote for, process and manage your bookings with airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers.
• Send booking confirmations, tickets, vouchers and invoices.
• Send document checklists and reminders, for example for passports, visas and travel insurance.
• Send travel reminders and trip support before, during and after your journey.
• Answer your questions and give customer service.
• Meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations, such as GST invoicing and record-keeping.

Only with your consent, we may also use your contact details to send you travel offers and trip ideas, and to ask for feedback about your trip. You can withdraw this consent at any time (see Your rights). Withdrawing it will not affect your bookings or the service messages you need for them.

We process your personal data on the basis of the consent you give us when you make an enquiry or booking, and for the legitimate uses the DPDP Act allows, such as complying with the law.

WhatsApp communication

We use the official WhatsApp Business Platform by Meta to keep you updated about your trip. When you share your WhatsApp number with us and agree to receive updates on it, we may send you:

• Booking confirmations
• Document reminders, for example for passports, visas and the documents you need for your trip
• Departure reminders
• Arrival messages and hotel check-in and check-out messages

How to stop messages

• To stop WhatsApp messages from us: reply STOP to any of our WhatsApp messages at any time. This stops all our WhatsApp messages to your number, including booking updates; we will then send your booking updates by email or phone instead.
• To receive them again: reply START.
• You can also contact us at info@thetravelmine.com or +91 8657215721.

Meta processes messages sent through WhatsApp under WhatsApp's own terms and privacy policy, which you can read on WhatsApp's website.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only when we need to deliver your trip or meet the law:

• Travel service providers needed to fulfil your trip: airlines, hotels, transport and chauffeur providers, cruise lines, visa processing services and travel insurance providers.
• Payment gateways and banks, to process your payments and refunds.
• Meta (WhatsApp), to deliver our WhatsApp messages to you.
• Government and regulatory authorities, such as immigration and tax authorities, when the law requires it or to process your visa or travel documents.

If you travel abroad, we will need to share your details with airlines, hotels, embassies and other suppliers outside India. We share only what is needed for your booking.

How long we keep it

We keep your personal data only as long as we need it to:

• Deliver and support your booking, including handling changes, cancellations, refunds and queries afterwards.
• Meet legal, tax and accounting requirements, which require us to keep booking and invoice records for a set period.

When we no longer need it, or when you ask us to erase it and the law allows us to, we delete it or make it anonymous.

How we protect it

We take reasonable steps to keep your personal data safe. These include limiting access to the people in our team who need it to work on your booking, and using established service providers for email, messaging and payments.

No method of storing or sending information over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a personal data breach affects you, we will inform you and the authorities as the DPDP Act requires.

You can help too. Please share passport and payment details only through the channels we ask you to use, and tell us at once if you think your information has been misused.

Your rights

Under the DPDP Act, you have the right to:

• Access: ask for a summary of the personal data we hold about you and how we use it.
• Correction: ask us to correct, complete or update your personal data.
• Erasure: ask us to delete your personal data when it is no longer needed. We may still need to keep some records to meet the law, for example tax records.
• Withdraw consent: withdraw your consent at any time. This does not affect what we did before you withdrew it. If you withdraw consent for data we need for an active booking, we may not be able to complete that booking.
• Raise a grievance: complain to us about how we have handled your personal data (see below).
• Nominate: nominate another person to exercise these rights for you if you die or become unable to do so.

To use any of these rights, email info@thetravelmine.com. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on your request.

Grievances & contact

If you have a concern or complaint about how we handle your personal data, please contact us:

We will respond to your grievance within 30 days of receiving it. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

Cookies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. Our website does not currently use advertising cookies. Our website host and the font provider we use may collect basic technical data, such as your IP address and browser type, so that pages and fonts load correctly.

If we add analytics or other tools that use cookies, we will update this section. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when our services or the law change. We will post the updated version on this page and change the "Last updated" date at the top. If the changes are significant, we will also let our existing customers know by email or WhatsApp.

Questions about this policy? Write to us at info@thetravelmine.com.