Updated June 21, 2023
SSA Group, LLC, its subsidiaries, and business partners (collectively “Company,” “We,” or “Us”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.
This policy describes the types of personal information we may collect from consumers (“You” or “Your”) or that you may provide to us and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. “Personal Information” means any information that is linked to your identity, such as name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, etc. The purpose of this policy is to inform you of the Personal Information we may collect from you, how we may use it, how we retain it, the types of third parties to whom we may disclose your Personal Information and the choices and rights you have regarding your Personal 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, please do not use our websites, apps, or facilities, and do not provide us with your Personal Information. By providing your personal information to us, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time, and any updates will be posted on our “Website:” TheSSAGroup.com. Your continued interaction with us after any policy changes are deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
OUR BUSINESS PURPOSE
We provide best-in-class bundled services to cultural attractions, including, but not limited to, zoos, museums, aquariums, libraries, botanic gardens, and various other venues. Our business partners use our services to provide food and beverage operations at their facilities, to manage the sale of admissions tickets and memberships, to staff and operate retail stores within their facilities and online, to provide catering and event services, and to create and run digital shows, among various other similar services.
As part of providing services to our business partners and You, we may collect personal information as detailed below.
THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND THE PURPOSE WE MAY USE IT.
Presently, and in the prior twelve months, We, or third parties acting in connection with Us, collect Personal Information you provide directly to Us or information that may be provided to us by our business partners to provide a service to you. For example, you may provide your Personal Information to us when you purchase an admission ticket to a cultural attraction, order food and beverage, or place an online order from one of our retail partners. We may collect Personal Information when you visit one of our business partner’s facilities in person, use our Website or our business partner’s websites, use one of our mobile applications, or contact Us or a business partner by telephone. This information we collect may include:
- Personal Information
Real Name. We use your real name to provide a service to you. Some examples of this include issuing admission tickets to you for cultural attractions and events, fulfilling food and beverage orders that you may place, processing payments, identifying you as a member at a zoo, museum, or other cultural attraction, booking catering or events, emailing you when you provide your email address to our business partner’s email lists, fulfilling and shipping online merchandise orders, verifying customer information, delivering advertising and marketing services to you on behalf of our business partners, and performing other customer services.
An Alias. We do not request aliases; however, if you provide an alias in lieu of your real name, it is possible that the alias will be used in the same manner indicated as Real Name above.
Postal Addresses. We may use your postal address to issue an admission ticket to you for cultural attractions and events, fulfill food and beverage orders that you may place, process payments, identify you as a member at a zoo, museum, or other cultural attraction, book catering or events, send bills for catering or event, send mail to you when you provide your mailing address for our business partner’s mailing lists, fulfill and ship online merchandise orders, verify customer information, provide advertising and marketing services to you on behalf of our business partners, and perform other customer services.
Email Addresses. We may use your email address to issue admission tickets to you for cultural attractions and events, fulfill food and beverage orders that you may place, process payments, identify you as a member at a zoo, museum, or other cultural attraction, book catering or events, email you when you provide your email address for our email lists or our business partner’s email lists, fulfill and ship online merchandise orders, verify customer information, provide advertising and marketing services to you on behalf of our business partners, respond to you if you send us an inquiry, conduct post-visit surveys, and perform other customer services.
Phone Numbers. We may use your phone number to perform customer service to you, such as texting you when a food and beverage order that you placed is ready for pick-up, looking up a past food and beverage order that you placed, identifying you as a member at a zoo, museum, or other cultural attraction, communicating with you when you book or inquire about catering or events, responding to you if you send us an inquiry.
Date of Birth. We may use your date of birth to identify you as a member at a zoo, museum, or other cultural attraction, issue admission tickets to cultural attractions where prices are tiered based on age, verify your identity, perform internal analytics, or as legally required to verify your age when alcohol is served.
Credit Card, Debit Card, Bank Account Numbers, or Other Payment Information We may collect information including credit card numbers, name of cardholder, CCV number, bank account numbers, routing numbers, account holder name, bank name, address, and email address to process payments, complete purchases, and place deposits on events.
Signatures. Some instances when we may collect your signature include when processing a payment at a point of sale, when you sign a contract with us for catering or event services, or when you sign a membership card.
Insurance Policy Numbers. We do not collect personal insurance numbers (i.e., medical insurance, homeowner’s insurance, etc.) However, to the extent that any insurance may interpreted as Personal Information, We may collect insurance policy numbers when certificates of insurance are required for hosting events within our venues and facilities.
- Internet or Online Information
IP Addresses. We collect device information, including Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses, information about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Websites, and usage details. We may use this information to….
An Account Name. We may collect an account name that you create to log in to our business partner’s websites. This account may allow you to access our business partner’s website to maintain your account, make purchases, renew memberships, and store your name, address, email address, or other personal information to facilitate transactions.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies. As you navigate through and interact with our Website, our business partners’ websites, or our Spark’d Eat app; We may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
- Details of your visits to our Website or our business partners’ websites, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources you access and use on the websites.
- Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
The information we collect automatically is statistical data and may not include personal information, but we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our websites and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
- Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
- Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our business partners’ websites according to your individual interests.
- Speed up your searches.
- Recognize you when you return to our websites.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include the following:
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on your computer’s hard drive. You may refuse to accept browser Cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website, our business partners’ websites, or our Spark’d Eat app. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting to refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our websites.
- Flash Cookies. Certain features of our websites may use locally stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our websites. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
- Web Beacons. Pages of our websites and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit Us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
It is possible that this automatic information may be associated with personal information about you that we collect from other sources or you provide to us. We may also use your information to contact you about our own and third-parties goods and services that may interest you.
- Sensitive Personal Information
Medical Information. We may collect food allergy information from you when you book our catering services or if you register for one of our educational events where food may be served to you or members of your household. We use this information to provide an allergen-free meal to keep our guests safe. Sometimes, a consumer may disclose a disability to alert us that a service animal may be present at our business partner’s facilities and venues. We use this information in limited instances where wildlife is present at the facility and to determine the best course of action to keep the guest, the wildlife, and the service animal safe.
Precise Geolocation. Our mobile application, Spark’d Eat, collects geolocation if allowed by You. The Spark’d Eat app allows users to find food and beverage locations that are near the user’s geographical location. This feature collects real-time information about the location of your device and requires the app user’s permission to turn on tracking information by clicking on an “allow us to use your location” pop-up. Once you allow the app to find your location, the app will notify you of nearby food and beverage options. Collecting this information makes it convenient for consumers to find food and beverage facilities. We do not retain or store this information for more than reasonably necessary to achieve the above-stated purpose and do not sell or share this information. This information is also not associated back to an individual user. Geolocation information is not collected unless activated by the user.
If you do not want us to collect geolocation information, do not click on the “allow us to use your location” pop-up.
Gender. Some of the websites that we maintain on behalf of our business partners may have a fillable field titled “gender” when you are submitting your personal information to purchase admission tickets or cultural attractions memberships. Some state statutes consider this to be “sensitive personal information.” We use this information to create a salutation to address you in emails, by mail, online, or in person.
- Additional Information We May Collect.
Deidentified Information. We may collect information that is about you but individually does not identify you for internal research, analytics, technological research, and development.
Any other information that you may provide. We may collect any additional information that you send.
HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
We may collect information online, in person, over the telephone, or through our relationships with our business partners. Specific instances of how we collect information include:
- Directly from you when you provide it to us.
- Automatically as you navigate our website or our business partner’s websites. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
- From our business partners when you provide it to them.
- Information you provide by filling in forms on our Website or Spark’d Eat app. This includes information provided by utilizing our “Contact Us” form on our Website, subscribing to email lists, placing orders through our mobile app, placing orders through our business partner websites, posting material, or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website.
- Corresponding with us in writing. Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses) may be retained if you contact us to respond and for any other reason that may be required by law.
- Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.
- Transactions you carry out through our Website or our business partner’s websites.
- Your search queries on the Website or our apps to improve our Website.
- Information that you may provide to Us in person, including at event fairs such as bridal shows and catering events, in-person when you meet with a sales representative to host an event at one of our business partner’s venues, in-person when you visit a cultural attraction and purchase admission tickets or memberships on-site.
- Information you provide to Us over the telephone when you speak with a sales representative or customer service provider or when you speak to one of our business partner’s representatives.
- You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted“) on public areas of the Website or on social media sites that may be transmitted to other users of the Website or social media sites 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 and may set certain privacy settings for such information by logging into your account profile, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Website with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that unauthorized persons will not view your User Contributions.
ADDITIONAL WAYS WE USE YOUR INFORMATION:
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information:
- To present our Websites and their contents to you.
- To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
- To fulfill online and mobile orders.
- To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
- To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts between you and us, including for billing and collection.
- To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide through it.
- To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website.
- To fulfill any legal or statutory obligations we may have.
- In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
- For any other purpose with your consent.
DATA SECURITY:
We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers behind firewalls. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology and the use of “tokens” as an extra security measure.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website, Spark’d Eat app, or our business partner’s websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Website, like message boards. Any user of the Website may view the information you share in public areas.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website, business partners’ websites, or our Spark’d Eat app. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the websites or app.
DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION:
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual without restriction.
We may disclose Personal Information that we collect, or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
- To our subsidiaries, affiliates, and business partners.
- To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by policy obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Service Systems Associates, Inc.’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Service Systems Associates, Inc., about our Website users is among the assets transferred.
- To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you give us an email address to use the “email a friend” feature of our Website, we will transmit the contents of that email and your email address to the recipients.
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
- With your consent.
We may also disclose your personal information:
- To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including responding to any government or regulatory request.
- To enforce or apply our terms of sale and other agreements, including billing and collection.
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of our customers, employees, business, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
DISCLOSURE REGARDING SELLING AND SHARING
Your personal information is transmitted between Us, our business partners, and any third-party service providers or contractors we retain to fulfill our business purposes.
We do not share your Personal Information for cross-content behavioral advertising, whether or not for monetary or other valuable consideration.
We do not sell Personal Information. Your Personal Information is not sold. rented, released, disclosed, disseminated, made available, transferred, orally communicated, communicated in writing, or other electronic means, for monetary or other valuable consideration.
We may supply your Personal Information to companies that help us fulfill our business goals as a service provider as outlined throughout this policy. We may also provide your Personal Information to third parties for the following purposes:
- To better facilitate our business functions, including analytics and diagnostics.
- To conduct consumer surveys to better understand consumer preferences and satisfaction.
- For assistance with marketing and promotion.
- As required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal requirement.
- As part of any future business merger or acquisition.
- To any third party with your prior consent.
CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION:
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
- Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse cookies on our Website. To learn how to manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
- Promotional Emails. When you sign up for Our or our business partners’ email lists, you may be contacted from time to time about our products, events, charitable initiatives, and other customer services. If you do not wish to have your email address used to promote our own or third party products or services, you can opt out by clicking on an unsubscribe link within the email or by emailing us at digitalcompliance@thessagroup.com. This opt-out does not apply to information provided to Us in any other manner than email list sign-up.
CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 16:
We may collect personal information from the parent or legal guardian of a child under the age of 16 to complete admission into our cultural attractions (such as zoos and aquariums), to issue memberships to cultural attractions, to host school groups at our zoo and aquarium events (i.e., field trips), and for other educational programs that we may facilitate on behalf of our business partners. The information We may collect is used for limited purposes and in the same manner described above.
However, our Website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on our Websites or on or through any of its features/register on the Websites, make any purchases through the Websites, use any of the interactive or public comment features on the Websites or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at digitalcompliance@thessagroup.com or call us toll-free at 855-945-2110.
CALIFORNIA RESIDENT PRIVACY RIGHTS:
Effective January 1, 2023, California Residents have a right to:
- Know what personal information a business has collected, sold, shared for cross-context behavioral advertising, or disclosed about them, including the specific pieces of information held.
- Require a business to correct inaccurate personal information.
- Require a business to delete personal information (unless the information is required to be maintained by law or for certain statutory business purposes)
- Opt-out of the sale or sharing of their personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. (We do not share Personal Information in this manner).
- Restrict the use and disclosure of their sensitive personal information as defined by California statute; and
- Not be retaliated against or receive discriminatory treatment for exercising these rights.
California residents have a right to request twice in a twelve-month period, the following information:
- The categories of sources from which we collected information.
- Our business or commercial purposes for collecting that information.
- The categories of third parties to whom that information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose; and
- The business or commercial purpose(s) for which the information was sold or disclosed.
To submit a request regarding these rights, please email digitalcompliance@thessagroup.com or call 855-945-2110. We will process your request in the following manner:
- We will confirm that we have received your request within 10 days.
- We must verify that you are the consumer or agent authorized to make the request. This may include asking for verification of identity and proof of California residency.
- Once your identity is verified, We will make every attempt to substantively respond to your request within 45 days. If We need an additional 45 days to process your request, We will inform you that extra time is required and state the reason for the delay.
CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY:
Our policy is to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page with a notice that the privacy policy has been updated on the Website home page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ personal information, we will notify you through a notice on the Website home page. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for periodically visiting our Website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at: digitalcompliance@thessagroup.com or toll-free at 855-945-2110.