Cookie Policy

1. What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer, tablet, or smartphone when you browse a website. They allow web applications to respond to you as an individual, remember your preferences, and maintain secure sessions.

2. Scope and Legal Compliance (PECR & UK GDPR)

This Cookie Policy governs all cookies, tags, scripts, and local storage mechanisms deployed on matthewthomasvrchota.com. We adhere to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and UK GDPR guidelines requiring clear consent for non-essential cookies.

3. Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for the operation of our portal. They enable security features, load balancing across servers, and store your cookie preference choice. These cookies do not require prior consent and cannot be switched off in our systems.

4. Analytical and Performance Cookies

Analytical cookies enable us to count visits, recognize traffic sources, and observe how visitors move around our guide. This helps us measure and improve site performance, ensuring that popular sections such as Southampton itineraries and Casino Royale guides are readily accessible.

5. Functional and Preference Cookies

Functional cookies allow our portal to remember choices you make, such as preferred currency viewing format, itinerary filter states, or mobile navigation drawer history, delivering an enhanced and personalized experience.

6. Marketing & Third-Party Cookies

We may utilize privacy-compliant analytics or conversion tags to assess the effectiveness of our informational campaigns. We do not deploy intrusive cross-site behavioural tracking cookies without your explicit affirmative consent.

7. Session vs. Persistent Cookies

Session cookies exist only during your active browsing session and are erased when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain on your device for a pre-determined duration (e.g. 6 to 12 months) or until manually deleted.

8. Local Storage and Client-Side Storage

In addition to cookies, we utilize HTML5 LocalStorage (such as storing your cookie banner dismissal state as `mtv_cookie_consent`) to prevent repetitive banners from disturbing your browsing experience.

9. Cookie Inventory Table

The following table summarizes the primary cookies deployed on our portal:

• mtv_cookie_consent: First-party persistent LocalStorage (Duration: 12 months) - Stores user consent decision.
• _mtv_session: First-party session cookie (Duration: Browser session) - Manages secure navigational state.
• _ga / _gid (Optional): Third-party analytics cookie (Duration: 2 years / 24 hours) - Aggregated traffic metrics.

10. Managing and Withdrawing Your Consent

You can withdraw or modify your cookie consent at any time by clearing your browser cache and reloading the page, which will re-trigger the consent banner, or by adjusting your web browser settings.

11. Browser Configuration Instructions

Most modern browsers allow you to manage cookie settings. You can set your browser to refuse all cookies, alert you when a cookie is issued, or delete cookies upon exit. Instructions for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge can be found in your browser's Help menu.

12. Impact of Disabling Cookies

If you choose to block all cookies (including strictly necessary cookies), certain elements of our portal (such as form submission validation and interactive category filters) may not function as intended.

13. Policy Updates and Regulatory Adjustments

We may revise this Cookie Policy periodically to accommodate technical advancements or changes in UK/EU electronic privacy directives. All updates become effective immediately upon posting.

14. Contact and Cookie Inquiries

If you have any questions regarding our use of cookies or tracking mechanisms, please contact our technical administration at info@matthewthomasvrchota.com.