Pricing

Privacy Policy

Hostel Mate ("we," "our," "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website hostelmate.co, including any other media form, media channel, mobile website, or mobile application related or connected thereto (collectively, the "Site"). Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access the Site.

We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time and for any reason. We will alert you about any changes by updating the "Effective Date" of this Privacy Policy. You are encouraged to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed of updates. You will be deemed to have been made aware of, will be subject to, and will be deemed to have accepted the changes in any revised Privacy Policy by your continued use of the Site after the date such revised Privacy Policy is posted.

Collection of Your Information

We may collect information about you in a variety of ways. The information we may collect on the Site includes:

Personal Data

Personally identifiable information, such as your name and email address, that you voluntarily give to us when you register with the Site or when you choose to participate in various activities related to the Site, such as online chat and message boards. This data is collected to create and manage your user account, provide our services, and communicate with you. You are under no obligation to provide us with personal information of any kind; however, your refusal to do so may prevent you from using certain features of the Site.

Derivative Data

Information our servers automatically collect when you access the Site, such as your IP address, your browser type, and your access times. This data helps us ensure the security of our Site and improve your Browse experience.

Financial Data

Financial information, such as data related to your payment method (e.g., valid credit card number, card brand, expiration date) that we may collect when you purchase, order, return, exchange, or request information about our services from the Site. We store only very limited, if any, financial information that we collect directly. Otherwise, all financial information is stored by our payment processor (e.g., Stripe, PayPal), and you are encouraged to review their privacy policy and contact them directly for responses to your questions.

Mobile Device Data

Device information, such as your mobile device ID, model, and manufacturer, and information about the location of your device, if you access the Site from a mobile device. This data helps optimize our service for your device.

Third-Party Data

Information from third parties, such as personal information or network friends, if you connect your account to the third party and grant the Site permission to access this information. This data helps enhance your profile and interaction with our services.

Data From Contests, Giveaways, and Surveys

Personal and other information you may provide when entering contests or giveaways and/or responding to surveys. This data is used to administer the contest/giveaway or to gather feedback for service improvement.

Use of Your Information

Having accurate information about you permits us to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience. Specifically, we may use information collected about you via the Site to:

  • Create and manage your account.
  • Process your transactions and send related information, including purchase confirmations and invoices.
  • Manage and respond to your inquiries and requests.
  • Monitor and analyze usage and trends to improve your experience with the Site.
  • Prevent fraudulent transactions, monitor against theft, and protect against criminal activity.
  • Comply with legal obligations.

Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

For users located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), and Switzerland, we rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal data:

  • Necessity for the performance of a contract: When processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (e.g., creating your account, processing bookings).
  • Compliance with a legal obligation: When processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject (e.g., tax and accounting requirements).
  • Legitimate interests: When processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms (e.g., improving our services, preventing fraud, ensuring network and information security).
  • Consent: Where you have given your explicit consent for specific processing purposes (e.g., for certain types of marketing communications or non-essential cookies, where required). You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Disclosure of Your Information / Recipients of Data

We may share your information with the following categories of recipients to provide and improve our services:

  • Service Providers: We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include:
    • Payment Processors: (e.g., Stripe, PayPal) for processing transactions.
    • Hosting Providers: For hosting our website and data storage.
    • Analytics Providers: (e.g., Google Analytics) to monitor and analyze the use of our service.
    • Communication Services: For sending emails or notifications.
  • Business Transfers: We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
  • Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
  • Protection of Rights: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
  • Affiliates: We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. A cookie is a small piece of data stored on your device that helps us provide and improve our Site.

We use essential cookies which are strictly necessary for the operation of our Site (e.g., to enable secure login). For non-essential cookies, such as those used for analytics or advertising, we will seek your explicit consent through a consent management platform or cookie banner when you first visit our Site, where required by applicable law (e.g., GDPR).

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. You can control cookies through your browser settings to remove or reject cookies. Please be aware that removing or rejecting cookies could affect the availability and functionality of the Site.

Third-Party Websites

The Site may contain links to third-party websites and applications of interest, including advertisements and external services, that are not affiliated with us. Once you have used these links to leave the Site, any information you provide to these third parties is not covered by this Privacy Policy, and we cannot guarantee the safety and privacy of your information. Before visiting and providing any information to any third-party websites, you should inform yourself of the privacy policies and practices (if any) of the third party responsible for that website, and should take those steps necessary in your discretion to protect your information. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of any third parties, including other sites, services, or applications that may be linked to or from the Site.

Security of Your Information

We use administrative, technical, and physical security measures designed to help protect your personal information. These measures include data encryption, firewalls, and access controls to secure our data storage systems and communication channels. While we have taken reasonable steps to secure the personal information you provide to us, please be aware that despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse. Any information disclosed online is vulnerable to interception and misuse by unauthorized parties. Therefore, we cannot guarantee complete security if you provide personal information.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as 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). 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.

Options Regarding Your Information

Account Information

You may at any time review or change the information in your account or terminate your account by:

  • Logging into your account settings and updating your account.
  • Contacting us using the contact information provided below.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use, and/or comply with legal requirements.

Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), or Switzerland, you have certain rights regarding your personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These include:

  • The right to be informed: You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent, and easily understandable information about how we use your personal data and your rights.
  • The right to access: You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning you are being processed, and, where that is the case, access to the personal data.
  • The right to rectification: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
  • The right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): You have the right to request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
  • The right to restrict processing: You have the right to block or suppress the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
  • The right to data portability: You have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services.
  • The right to object: You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
  • Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling: You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@hostelmate.co. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. For a list of European Data Protection Authorities, you can refer to the European Data Protection Board.

Contact Us

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Hostel Mate
Email: privacy@hostelmate.co