Visit Santa Barbara

Privacy Policy

Last update: August 7, 2020

This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) discloses the privacy practices for the website www.SantaBarbaraCA.com (“us”, “we”, or “Visit Santa Barbara”) and various related services provided by Visit Santa Barbara.  Throughout this document, we will refer to our website and these services as the “Site”.  We respect the privacy and confidentiality of individuals who visit the Site. We maintain this Privacy Policy to help you understand our commitment to safeguard and protect the privacy of the information you provide to us on the Site.

This Privacy Policy outlines the following information:

  1. What Information Do We Collect?
  2. Do We Collect Information From Minors?
  3. How do We Collect Your Information?
  4. How Do We Use Your Information?
  5. Do We Disclose Your Information?
  6. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?
  7. How Do We Protect Your Information?
  8. What Are Your Data Privacy Rights?
  9. How Can You Change or Delete Your Information?
  10. How Do We Change Our Privacy Policy?
  11. How Can You Contact Us About This Policy?

By accessing and using the Site, you agree to be bound by all of its terms and conditions, including this Privacy Policy. You also consent to our collection and use of the information described in this Privacy Policy (and by Target Third Parties, as defined below, in which case, once such Target Third Party is in possession of your Personally Identifiable Information, we cannot control such Target Third Party’s use of that information). 

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Site. This policy may change from time to time (see How Do We Change Our Privacy Policy?). Your continued use of this Site after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

  1. What Information Do We Collect?

Our mission is to provide you with personalized services and offerings designed to enhance your Santa Barbara experience. To do so effectively, Visit Santa Barbara collects the following information:

Personally Identifiable Information:  This refers to information that lets us know the specifics of who you are, including but not limited to name, email address, postal address, signature, and telephone phone number (collectively, “Personally Identifiable Information”).  We only collect personally identifiable information about you when you voluntarily provide such Personally Identifiable Information to us by using the Site. This includes engaging in such activities as entering a contest or sweepstakes, signing up for our electronic newsletter, completing forms, or requesting a copy of or publications. If you do not wish your personally identifiable information to be collected, please do not submit it. We do not collect or process sensitive data about you (e.g., race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs).

Non-Personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. We gather certain information about you based upon where you visit on our Site in several ways. This information is compiled and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This information may include the website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that you just came from, which URL you go to next, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address.

Information from the Use of “Cookies”: The Site employs “cookie” technology. Cookies are small pieces of data stored in files on your computer allowing us to track your use of the Site as you visit and revisit the Site. Cookies do not spy on you or otherwise invade your privacy, and they cannot invade your hard drive and steal information. Rather, they help you navigate a website as easily as possible. We use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests and to prevent you from reentering all your data at each connection. If you do not want to accept cookies, you can block them by adjusting the settings on your internet browser. Please note that because this is a setting on your browser, this adjustment may also block cookies for any website you visit. You can visit www.aboutcookies.org, which provides detailed information on managing cookies in popular browsers. Blocking cookies may affect your ability to benefit from the conveniences afforded by the use of cookies, may affect your ability to use certain customization features associated with creating an account, and, in the case of cookies that are strictly necessary for the Site to operate properly, may affect your experience of the Site.

  1. Do We Collect Information From Minors?

You must be at least 18 years old to have our permission to use this Site. Our policy is that we do not knowingly collect, use or disclose Personally Identifiable Information about visitors that are under 18 years of age. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at [email protected].

  1. How Do We Collect Your Information?

We collect data from you in different ways. Some of them are direct (for example when you sign up for our newsletter). Others are by visiting the Site or interacting with us even without having an account (such as through social media).  Some other information may also be collected by simply visiting an affiliate or sales partner.

Our collection endpoints include when you:

  • Sign-up for our newsletter;
  • Make inquiries;
  • Engage with us on social media; and
  • Communicate with us.

Through engaging with us on social media, you may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted”) on public areas of the Site, or transmitted to other users of the Site or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although we limit access to certain pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Site with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

  • Automated services and Interactions

As you interact with the Site, we may automatically collect technical data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns.

This may include information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type as well as details of your visits to our Site, including traffic data, location data, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Site. We may also collect tracking data when you use the Site and/or the services, or when you click on one of our adverts.

We may also receive personal data about you from various types of third parties, including:

  • Technical data and/or tracking data from analytics providers, advertising networks and search information providers; and
  • Identity and contact data from deal and sales partners that you have agreed to share your information with us.

In the future, we may use an outside ad serving company to display banner advertisements on our Site. As part of their service, they will place a separate cookie on your computer. We will not provide any third-party ad server with any of your Personally Identifiable Information. We and our third party ad server will collect and use Non-Personally Identifiable Information about you, such as your IP address, browser type, the server your computer is logged onto, the area code and zip code associated with your server and whether you responded to a particular ad. Other advertisers may also place banner ads on our Site in the same manner as above, but we will not disclose any Personally Identifiable Information to them.

  1. How Do We Use Your Information?

We routinely collect, compile, and report statistics and information reflecting the use of our Site and information services in order to enhance membership services, advertising services, improve marketing and promotional efforts, analyze the Site usage, improve the Site’s content and layout, generate aggregate reports on trends, interests and behavior and enhance service offerings.

We use your internet protocol address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer the Site. Due to the communications standards on the World Wide Web, when you visit the Site, we automatically receive the URL of the website from which you came and the website to which you are going when you leave the Site. Additionally, advertisers receive the URL of the page you were on when you click on an advertisement or partner link on the Site. The Site also receives the internet protocol address of your computer (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), your computer operating system and type of web browser you are using, email patterns, your mobile device (including your unique device identifier) and mobile operating system (if you are accessing the Site using a mobile device), as well as the name of your internet service provider or your mobile carrier.

We may also use your Personally Identifiable Information to deliver information to you and to contact you regarding administrative notices, to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our agreements with you, including our Site’s Terms of Use and this Private Policy.

We reserve the right to take any action we deem prudent or necessary to safeguard the Site and your Personally Identifiable Information in our systems and databases from malicious or unwarranted attack by viruses, hackers, or other miscreants. 

  • Google Analytics Remarketing and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting

Users can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads using the Ads Settings.

  • Electronic Newsletters

We offer free, electronic newsletters, updates and e-mail reminders as a service to our registrants, based upon your voluntary subscription. You will only receive an electronic newsletter if you have requested it (opted-in). We do not share our mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers or partners.

  1. Do We Disclose Your Information?

It is our policy not to sell, share, transfer, or rent to third parties any information you provide to us through the use of the Site without your written consent except as required by operation of the law or in compliance with legal authorities.

We may share your Personally Identifiable Information with certain third parties (“Target Third Parties”) without your written consent in order to further the purpose for which you voluntarily provide us with the information. We do provide some of our services through contractual arrangements with affiliates, services providers, partners and other third parties. We and our service partners use your Personally Identifiable Information to operate our sites and to deliver their services. For example, we must release your address information to the delivery service to deliver products that you requested (for example if you order our Santa Barbara Visitors Magazine) and provide order information to third parties that help us provide customer service.

Additionally, we engage third party information management service providers to help maintain efficient operations. Because such information management service providers may access our systems, they may have access to your Personally Identifiable Information. We do not transfer or relinquish ownership of information maintained about you within our systems and databases to such information management service providers and require these information management service providers to sign confidentiality agreements to keep all confidential information and other proprietary information found in our systems confidential.

We may be required to disclose your Personally Identifiable Information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a reasonable belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Site. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies. All such sharing of information by you on the Site is done at your own risk.

  • Third Party Advertisers

We may also provide Non-Personally Identifiable Information about traffic patterns and related site information to third party advertisers, but these statistics do not include any Personally Identifiable Information.

Please note that we strive to use only reputable third-party service providers; however, their use of your Personally Identifiable Information is governed solely by the privacy policies of those third-party service providers. We do not have control over policies and practices of third parties and we do not have any responsibility for their policies and practices. 

  • Links to Third Party Sites

Our Site may contain links to other third party websites. Other websites accessible through our Site have their own privacy policies and data collection, use and disclosure practices. Please consult each Site’s privacy policy. We have no control over such third party sites and are not responsible for the policies, practices, or content of third parties.

  1. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this policy will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 1 year past the start of idle period of the user’s account.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

  1. How Do We Protect Your Information?

The importance of security for your personal information is of utmost concern to us. We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. You can be assured that we use commercially reasonable means consistent with current industry standards to protect your Personally Identifiable Information.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Nevertheless, while we strive to protect your Personally Identifiable Information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. The information you share, whether on the site or through our social media outlets, may be viewed by any user of the Site.

  1. What Are Your Data Privacy Rights?

You may have rights under European and other laws to have access to your personal information and to ask us to rectify, erase and restrict use of, your personal information. You may also have rights to object to your personal information being used, to ask for the transfer of personal information you have made available to us and to withdraw consent to the use of your personal information. Further information on how to exercise your rights is set out below.

We will honor your rights under applicable data protection laws.  You have the following rights under European laws, and may have similar rights under the laws of other countries.

  • Right of subject access: The right to make a written request for details of your personal information and a copy of that personal information;
  • Right to rectification: The right to have inaccurate information about you corrected or removed;
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”): The right to have certain personal information about you erased;
  • Right to restriction of processing: The right to request that your personal information is only used for restricted purposes;
  • Right to opt out of marketing: You can manage your marketing preferences by unsubscribe links found in the communications you receive from us or by visiting the Site;
  • Right to object: The right to object to processing of your personal information in cases where our processing is based on the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or we have let you know the processing is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests;
  • Right to data portability: The right to ask for the personal information you have made available to us to be transferred to you or a third party in machine-readable format; and
  • Right to withdraw consent: The right to withdraw any consent you have previously given us to handle your personal information. If you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal information prior to the withdrawal of your consent.

These rights are not absolute and they do not always apply in all cases.

In response to a request, we will ask you to verify your identity if we need to, and to provide information that helps us to understand your request better. If we do not comply with your request, whether in whole or in part, we will explain why.

In order to exercise your rights, please contact us at [email protected].

If you are a California resident, California law may provide you with additional rights regarding our use of your personal information. To learn more about your California privacy rights, visit https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa.

California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Site that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Please contact us at [email protected].

If you are resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.

  1. How Can You Change or Delete Your Personal Information?

If you indicated upon registration that you are interested in receiving offers or information from us, we may occasionally send you email about products and services that we feel may be of interest to you. You may opt out of email marketing by using the unsubscribe link in such email.  You may also request that we change or delete your Personally Identifiable Information in our systems and databases by submitting a detailed description of the desired action to the following e-mail address: [email protected].

Please note that after we process a change or delete your Personally Identifiable Information from our active systems and databases, it is possible that non-active residual copies of your information may still exist in our systems and on archive or backup media.

  1. How Do We Change This Privacy Policy?

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. Such changes, modifications, additions or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice, which may be given in various ways including by posting the revised Privacy Policy on this page. You are responsible for reviewing this Site and Privacy Policy periodically for any modifications. Your continued use of the Site after any modifications will constitute your: (a) acknowledgment of the modified Privacy Policy; and (b) agreement to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.

  1. How Can You Contact Us About This Policy?

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or any of our use of your information, please contact us at the following e-mail address: [email protected].