Collection
We collect information in several ways through our Digital Properties. When you use our Digital Properties, we collect personal information about you that you affirmatively choose to provide to us. For instance, when you create an account, we will ask you for your first name, last name, email address, company affiliation, and password.
Similarly, if you have made public posts from your other social media accounts that include our specialized hashtags (including, but not limited to, #ExtraordinaryALX and #LetsGetTogether), we may collect and use that information to help provide you with more relevant, personalized content about Alexandria, VA. You can control whether we see this information by not using our specialized hashtags. We may also collect information from you in-person or through the mail if you provide us with a business card or other document that includes your name, email address, phone number, and/or other personal information.
Cookies
To help us serve you better, we collect information that identifies the computer or browser used to access our Digital Properties, as well as the user account associated with that computer/browser if you are logged in. Cookies are pieces of information placed in the settings of your web browser by a website server to identify your computer when you return to a website. Whenever a site welcomes you and tailors data to your specifications, it is reading a cookie left in your browser and identifying information that you may have registered during previous visits, such as your viewing preferences.
The use of cookies is a standard practice among Internet websites and most Internet web browsers may be customized to reject cookies, to only accept or reject cookies by user intervention, or to delete cookies. Please note that some website features may not function properly if all cookies are blocked.
Certain cookies placed by our Digital Properties do not collect any personal information, and are essential to provision of a functional website and/or app, which we have a legitimate interest in providing (these are known as “Necessary Cookies” and include cookies that drive your navigation on one of our Digital Properties).
You are not, however, required to accept other types of cookies that collect personal information in order to use our Digital Properties. When you access our home page, you will see an option to update your cookie preferences at the bottom of the page. We encourage you to personalize your experience by clicking on that option. This includes a choice as to whether you accept placement of cookies that collect personal information. You may withdraw this consent at any time by altering these settings.
When you interact with our Digital Properties, we also collect limited non-personally identifying information that the browser you used makes available automatically. This information includes the internet address of the computer or network you used to access our site, the date, time, location and page(s) you visited on our site, the browser and operating system you used, and the referring page (the webpage that contained the link to our site that you clicked on to get there). Once you leave our Digital Properties, you have the right to request that we delete selected cookies or to ask that we delete all cookies by altering your cookie preferences as noted above.
Use
We have a legitimate business interest in ensuring that our Digital Properties operate correctly and efficiently. To that end, we use the aggregated nonpersonal data and information from all users of our Digital Properties to measure server performance, analyze user traffic patterns, and improve the content of our Digital Properties. We sometimes track the keywords that are entered into our search engines to measure interest in specific topics and to improve the consumer experience on the site.
With your consent, we will use your e-mail address and/or other personal information to provide you with information we think you will be interested in, for example, to send you our newsletters. Even after you have agreed to receive such messages, you can let us know at any time if you would prefer not to receive any or all of this information either directly or through our Digital Properties, by following the unsubscribe instructions in any email you receive from us, or by sending an e-mail to [email protected] that contains the email address you wish us to unsubscribe from our lists.
We may share your information with key business partners, marketing partners, and affiliates, who may perform functions on our behalf, who may have products and services we believe are of interest to you. We have contractual relationships with all such partners and affiliates that require them to safeguard your information and allow you to opt out of receiving further information from them. Their use of your data is also governed by their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review. When reviewing your cookie preferences on our website, you will also see direct links to these key business partners so that you can easily view and modify your preferences with those organizations as well.
We also have a legitimate business interest in complying with our legal obligations. To that end. we may release personal information if we believe in good faith that: the law or legal process requires it; we have received a valid administrative request from a law enforcement agency; or such release is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our respective affiliates, business partners, customers, or others.
In the event the Visit Alexandria conducts an online promotion, contest, or sweepstakes (collectively, a “Promotion”), information we collect will be used consistent with the terms and conditions outlined in the promotion guidelines or rules, which may include a reference to this Policy. You can elect to provide permission for Visit Alexandria to use the email address and/or telephone number you provide when entering a Promotion for sending you marketing messages. However, you are only required to provide such permission in order to participate in a Promotion if it is necessary for the running of the promotion. For instance, if we request your email address or your social media handle because it is used to notify you if you’ve won and/or to send your prize, and you do not want to provide it, you will not be able to participate in the promotion. Information you provide us will be used to administer the promotion. If you have not opted in to receive further communications about upcoming promotions, your identifying data will be retained only for as long as it is necessary to administer the promotion and legally comply with our obligations.
If you would like to revoke your consent to receiving commercial messages you have previously opted in to receive as the result of a promotion, you can use the unsubscribe link in any marketing message.
Visit Alexandria uses third parties to process your personal data when it serves a legitimate business purpose. Our contracts with these third party processors require them to comply with the terms and the intent of this privacy policy, and to make all commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard your information.
Remarketing/Retargeting Policy
This website uses the Google AdWords remarketing service to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who have not completed a task on our site or visited key pages, for example requesting a visitors guide. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. This website also uses Arrivalist technology to monitor how effective our advertisements are at inspiring you to visit Alexandria. Third-party vendors, including Google, use tracking tools such as cookies, or other technologies or methods of integration that may be placed in the browser of your device (e.g., computer or mobile phone), cookies to serve ads based on (i) someone’s past visits to the Visit Alexandria website or (ii) the IP addresses collected from your device, sometimes across multiple devices, which provide general location data. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy. You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads Settings (www.google.com/settings/ads). Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page (www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp).
Access
Pursuant to your reasonable request, we will provide you with a list of all of your personal information that Visit Alexandria has collected.
Similarly, upon your request, we will make corrections to our records of your personal data.
Retention
As described above, some of the online services available through our Digital Properties allow you to register for an account or provide personal information. You will be asked for applicable information to create an account, including name, email address, and a preferred password for your account. All personal information we collect is stored and processed in the United States.
We will retain your personal information while you have an active relationship with Visit Alexandria, including if you have subscribed to a newsletter, or opted in to receive commercial content from us, have visited the site while logged in, have ordered a product, participated in a promotion, or have affirmatively made requests of us that we, or our data processors, are fulfilling. We will maintain your information and for twenty-four (24) months after that relationship ends (unless you request that we delete your information prior to the expiration of that period). If Visit Alexandria determines that it no longer requires your information for the purposes set forth above, it will delete your information.
If you would like us to delete all of your personal information and/or remove your name and address from promotional lists (including any personal information gathered by our service providers) and place your name on our “do not contact” list, contact our Data Privacy Team at [email protected] and request that you be placed on our “do not contact” list. Please note that because names may be similar, you must include in your request all associated email addresses and phone numbers (if any) that you wish to be removed in the body of the email. We reserve the right to contact you for administrative purposes to request more information in order to assist us in deleting your content. We will make commercially reasonable efforts to delete your information within thirty (30) days from our active files, provided, however, that we may retain—for legal compliance purposes only—your request and associated email in a hashed format so that we do not inadvertently restore your information to our database. Please note that requests to update your personal information may take up to five (5) days. You may also request that we stop processing your information without deleting it, and we will comply within ten (10) days of receipt of such a request.
Notwithstanding the above, Visit Alexandria will retain your information indefinitely if it believes in good faith that it has a legal obligation to do so.
Do-Not-Track Signal
The Do-Noto-Track Signal (DNT) is used by some web browsers to automatically request that a web application disable site tracking. Because the DNT often does not reflect the actual preferences of an individual consumer, our website does not respond to the DNT. Instead, and in order to allow you to personalize your experience with our Digital Properties, you may elect not to receive marketing messages and/or have certain cookies placed on their browser, as discussed earlier in this Policy.
Children’s Access
Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and its revisions in 2013, our website is a general audience website, intended for adult use only. Visit Alexandria does not market to, and does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from, children under thirteen (13) years of age. Children between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18) must get permission from their parents before sending any personal information about themselves (such as their names, email addresses, and phone numbers) over the Internet, to us or to anyone else. If you are based in the EEA you may only use our Digital Properties if you are over the age at which you can provide consent to data processing under the laws of your country (the “Age of Consent”) or if verifiable parental consent for your use of our Digital Properties has been provided to us. If you’re under age thirteen (13) or the Age of Consent, please do not register for any of our Digital Properties or provide us with any personally identifying information (such as your name, email address or phone number). Please contact our customer service department if you are aware of any personal information supplied to the Site by a child under the age of thirteen (13) or under the Age of Consent so that in can be removed.
Links
Our website may contain links to other sites, including those of our business partners. Those sites may have their own privacy policies, or no privacy policies at all. Visit Alexandria is not responsible for the privacy practices employed by other sites and those other sites have not agreed to our privacy policy. Visit Alexandria has no control over or responsibility for any unaffiliated third party sites or the content contained in them, and we provide these links solely for the convenience of our visitors. We do not sponsor, endorse, or otherwise recommend such sites or any products or services they may offer. In short, once you leave our Digital Properties, we are no longer responsible for the collection practices of the companies operating those sites.
Site Security
We take reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect unauthorized access, alteration or destruction of data located on and collected by our Digital Properties. We exercise reasonable care to protect your non-public personal information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to protect your non-public personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from us while it is in transit. Once we receive your personal information, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect it. If a data breach occurs, we will notify you and the proper EEA authority (if required) within seventy-two (72) hours (if reasonably feasible).
Dispute Resolution
Step 1: If you have an inquiry or complaint regarding whether Visit Alexandria has violated its obligations under this Privacy Policy as to you or if you are an EU, UK or Swiss resident with an inquiry or complaint regarding whether Visit Alexandria has violated its obligations under the Privacy Shield Principles as to you (your “Complaint”), you should first contact our Data Privacy Team by email to [email protected]:
We will acknowledge your Complaint within forty-eight (48) hours, and respond to your complaint within forty-five (45) days. We may ask that you provide additional information and/or request a one-on-one discussion or conference.
Step 2: If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our U.S.-based third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge) at https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request.
EU/US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks
Visit Alexandria complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union and Switzerland to the United States, respectively. Visit Alexandria has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/. Personal data from the European Union or Switzerland and/or on EU or Swiss citizens may be collected by Visit Alexandria and may be stored and processed in the United States.
In compliance with the US-EU Privacy Shield Principles and the Swiss-US Privacy Shield Principles, Visit Alexandria commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information (using the dispute resolution procedure set forth above). You have the right to access your personal data, and to have the data corrected, amended or deleted where it is inaccurate or processed in violation of the Privacy Shield Principles (as described in detail above).
Policy Changes
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove any portion of this Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, at any time. Modification of changes in the Agreement will be disseminated via our Digital Properties. By using this website you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit the page to determine the then current terms of use to which you are bound.
Choice/Opt-Out
1. To unsubscribe from our digital newsletters, please follow the instructions/link at the bottom of the newsletter.
2. To mail a request to us, use the following postal address:
Visit Alexandria, 625 N. Washington Street, Suite 400, Alexandria, Virginia 22314
3. You can call the following telephone number: 800-388-9119
Contacting the Web Site
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact:
Visit Alexandria
[email protected].
