Cookies
…and beacons and scripts on TravelPortland.com
From a technical perspective TravelPortland.com is a typical modern website and, like most other websites, uses a variety of different tools and techniques to
- provide functionality to website visitors,
- improve the visitor experience,
- support our marketing efforts and
- evaluate the success of those marketing efforts.
If you’re not in the business of building websites or digital marketing then the variety and vocabulary of these tools and techniques (e.g. cookies, beacons, scripts etc) can feel a bit overwhelming. The purpose of this page is to make things clearer, at least in terms of what we’re up to.
This document is an adjunct to our Privacy Policy and describes in plain language exactly what information we’re collecting from website visitors, why we’re collecting it and how it’s used.
If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact privacy@travelportland.com.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
Travel Portland and our third-party providers set and use cookies and similar technologies to store and manage user preferences, deliver targeted advertising, enable content, and gather analytic and usage data, for example. The use of cookies and other tracking technologies is standard across websites and apps through which information is collected about your online activities across applications, websites, or other services. More information about how we use cookies and similar technologies and how you can control and manage them is set out below.
What Is a Cookie?
A cookie is a small text file that is placed on a computer or other device and is used to identify the user or device and to collect information. Cookies are typically assigned to one of four categories, depending on their function and intended purpose: strictly necessary cookies, performance cookies, functional cookies, and cookies for marketing purposes.
Types of Cookies and How We Use Them
Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential to enable you to move around a website and use its features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for, like logging into a secure area of our site, cannot be provided.
Analytical/performance cookies. These cookies collect information about how you use our websites. Information collected includes, for example, the Internet browsers and operating systems used, the domain name of the website previously visited, the number of visits, average duration of visit, and pages viewed. These cookies don’t collect information that personally identifies you and only collect aggregated and anonymous information. Performance cookies are used to improve the user-friendliness of a website and enhance your experience.
Functionality cookies. These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your username or ID, language preference, or the area or region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for, such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymized, and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
Targeting and advertising cookies. These cookies track browsing habits and are used to deliver targeted (interest-based) advertising. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an ad and to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organizations, such as advertisers.
We primarily use information from cookies as follows:
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to learn how people find our website, what our most popular content is, and, more broadly, what’s working and what isn’t. In this instance, Google is the data processor. We place their script on our webpage and it runs in your browser and data from your use of this site (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. We can then view anonymized, aggregated reports based on this data through our Google Analytics dashboard e.g.
- Device operating system and other technical facts
- The city, state, and country from which a user accesses your website
- Pages visited and content viewed
- On-site searches conducted
- Links and buttons clicked
- URLs visited before and after visit
Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf.
Targeted Advertising
We may also use other third-party services, such as Google AdWords and Google Display Network, to serve online advertisements to you on other websites after you’ve visited the Site. This practice is known as remarketing, and you will see our advertisements across the Internet unless you opt-out, as discussed below. We, along with third-party vendors, Google and DoubleClick, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics’ cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and deliver advertisements based on your online activity, including your past visits to the Site. If you would like to learn more about this program, you can do so here.
If you would like to opt-out of receiving targeted advertising like this from Google, you can manage these settings by visiting the Google Ads settings page. Also, Google recommends installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Ad-on. Alternatively, you can opt-out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page. Note that even if you opt-out, you may still see our advertisements, but they will not be delivered based on your online activity.
BlueConic
We use third-party software from BlueConic to provide relevant content to website visitors based on the pages they’ve looked at, their browser settings or their geographical location. BlueConic uses a visitor’s IP address to determine where they might be geographically (at a pretty broad level i.e. nearest city at best). For example, if there’s a significant power outage or extreme weather conditions in Portland we can place a notification across our website providing extra relevant information for current visitors, while not inhibiting the user experience if you’re currently sitting in New York or Dakar. Or if we see you are viewing the site from Bordeaux we can pop up a message in French letting you know that we have French-language content if that would be of use to you. In this instance, BlueConic is the data processor. We place their script on our webpage and it runs in your browser and sends data to them. We log into their dashboard to set up customized content that you would see or not based on pages viewed, browser settings or location. Data is anonymized and siloed, meaning there is no attempt to associate website visits with specific individuals.
Arrivalist
We deploy pixels from Arrivalist, a digital advertising and analytics service, on our webpages in order to determine if there is a correlation between exposure to our advertising and visitation to Portland. Which hopefully there is. In this instance, Arrivalist is the data processor. We place their pixels on our webpages which display in your browser and send data to them. You can learn more about Arrivalist and their privacy policies here.
Site Retargeting Cookies
You are probably familiar with the phenomenon of finding a pair of shoes, say, on an e-commerce website and subsequently seeing ads for that same pair of shoes everywhere you go on the internet. We deploy third party pixels from Facebook and Google on our webpages to much the same end i.e. it gives us the opportunity to target ads for Portland at people who have already shown an interest in Portland by visiting this website. In this instance, Facebook and Google are the data processors; we place their pixels on our webpages which display in your browser and send data to them.
Ad Success Tags
We occasionally deploy tags on our site from third parties that we have advertised with in order to determine if there is a correlation between said advertising and subsequent visits to our website. Currently, we deploy a pixel from Sojern to this end. In such instances the advertising network is the data processor; we place their pixels on our webpages which display in your browser and send data to them. You can learn more about Sojern and their privacy policies here.
Other Tracking Technologies
Web beacons
Our web pages may contain electronic images known as web beacons (also called single-pixel gifs and transparent graphic images) that we use to help deliver cookies on our sites, count users who have visited those sites, deliver services, and analyze the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, for example. We may also include web beacons in our marketing email messages or newsletters to determine whether an email is opened or if links are clicked.
Managing Cookies
You can manage website cookies in your browser settings, and you always have the choice to change these settings by accepting, rejecting, or deleting cookies. If you choose to change your settings, you may find that certain functions and features will not work as intended. All browser settings are slightly different, so to manage cookies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser.
How to Contact Us
If you have any questions about this policy or the cookies we use, please contact us at privacy@travelportland.com.
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