Last updated: 26th of October 2022

This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) applies to your use of websites owned or operated by Staytus Ltd (BVI) or its affiliates or partners (“Staytus”, “us” or “we”), including staytus.com and askthehotel.com as well as other banded derivatives thereof (collectively, the “Staytus Website”) and the software applications for mobile devices created and/or owned by Staytus (collectively, the “Staytus App”) (the “Staytus Website” and the “Staytus App,” collectively or separately, “the Service”).   This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, process, share, store, and delete personal information we may have about you; what rights and choices you may have with respect to your personal information; how you may contact us; and how we protect your personal information. 

Information We Collect

The Service is designed for use by guests, visitors, and prospective guests (each a “Subscriber”) of hotels and resorts. When you visit or interact with the Service, you may provide us with information, and we will collect certain information automatically.  

A. Information You Provide Directly to Us 

We collect the following information directly from you when you use the Service:

• Registration Information – We obtain information from you when you register as a Subscriber on the Service. When you register, you provide us with your email address or, if you use an approved third-party social media account to login, you authorize us to collect, store, and use information they may give us, such as your email address or the unique identifier used by your social media account to identify you. We may also collect your mobile phone number to allow for chat communications via SMS text message or for the purpose of delivering notifications. 
• Optional Demographic, Interest, and Travel Information – You may also optionally provide additional information during or after registration such as your gender, nationality, date of birth, information about your travel habits, personal interests and preferences, and other profile information, which we may use to provide you with an enhanced experience and to personalize the Service for you. 
• Other Information You Provide – We may also collect certain interaction-related information from you, such as any communications between you and a hotel or property that is a member of the Staytus program (the “Member Hotel”), anything you type or say in a chat exchange, information you provide to respond to offers or when you contact us for help, and other information you provide to us when using the Service, which may include contact information, a profile photo, your room number in a Member Hotel, and the check-in and check-out date of your stay, if you provide it. 
• Location Information – We collect device location information if you enable our location features, which allows the Service to determine your current location in order to identify the Member Hotel where you are located and display relevant information that you may use while you are visiting that specific hotel or resort, and for diagnostics and troubleshooting purposes such as if you are having trouble with our app’s location features.  If you do not want us to use your location for the purposes set forth above, you should turn off the location services for the Service. You may turn on or off location services in your mobile phone settings. However please note that if you turn off location services, you may not be able to use certain features of the Service, including special offers and privileges offered by the Member Hotel. 

B. Information We Collect From Member Hotels 

We may collect information about you from a Member Hotel, such as your name, gender, date of birth, passport information, number of adults or children in your party, a group code associated with your stay, the purpose of your visit (e.g., business or leisure), your room number, and your status with a Member Hotel’s loyalty program. 

C. Information We Collect Automatically

We collect certain information automatically from you, your device, and your usage of the Service: 

• Usage Information — We collect information about your activity on the Service, such as how you use the Service and its features, your Service settings, and the time of your activities and interactions. We also collect information from log files that relate to your usage of the Service and its performance. 
• Device Information – We collect information about the device you use when you access the Service, including the type of mobile device you use and unique identifiers associated with your mobile device, such as a unique device identifier,  MAC addresses, the IP address and WiFi network to which your device is connected, your mobile operating system, its cellular network, and the type of mobile Internet browsers you use, and information about the types of apps installed on your device, such as a preferred email app that you may prefer to use when verifying your email address. 
• Aggregate statistical information – We may collect other aggregated statistical information provided to us through analytics services. 
• Cookies – We collect usage and device information using cookies, which are small files that a website sends to your computer or device while you are viewing the Service, or other technical methods to track visitor usage on the Service.  Our policy regarding the use of cookies is set forth below.

We and other companies use cookies and other tracking technologies for a variety of purposes related to our operation of, and your use of, the Service. For instance, when you return to the Service after logging in, cookies provide information to the Site so that the Site will remember who you are.  We may use cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies to analyze the traffic patterns on the Site, such as the frequency with which our users interact with various parts of the Service. 

We use different types of cookies to deliver different services and features. These types of cookies include: 

• Necessary Cookies: These are required for operation of the Service. 
• Analytics Cookies: These provide information on traffic to the Service and how our users interact with it. 
• Functional Cookies: These allow us to personalize the Service to recognize when you are using it or when you return, without needing to sign in again, and so you can easily continue where you left off such as in the middle of a chat dialogue with the hotel.  These cookies also allow us to remember your preferences. 

You may be able to have your browser warn you when a cookie is sent, and you may be able to disable the use of cookies through your browser settings. If you turn cookies off, you may not have access to features that may improve your use of the Service, such as the features mentioned above, and some of our services may not function properly. 

• Additional Information Collection Practices.  The Service may contain links to websites operated by third parties, and your personal information may be collected by those third parties if you use their websites.  Should you choose to visit these third-party sites, you should review their privacy policies to ensure you understand and are comfortable with their practices concerning your information.  We do not accept, and do disclaim, any responsibility for the privacy policies and information collection, use, and sharing practices of any third-party website (whether or not such site is linked on or to the Service).  These links are provided to you for convenience purposes only, and you access them at your own risk.  Any personal information collected by third-party websites will be governed by their respective privacy policies. 

D. Sensitive Personal Information 

As described above, we may collect certain information considered sensitive personal information under applicable data protection laws, including your geolocation information if you have enabled location services, and your passport number if you have provided it to a Member Hotel in connection with your stay.  We also may collect the contents of any communications between you and a Member Hotel via the Service.   

We do not sell or share your sensitive personal information or use it for automated decision-making, profiling, or any purpose other than as described in this Privacy Policy.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect about you primarily to establish and maintain a commercial relationship with you and provide the Service to you. Subject to applicable laws, we may use your personal information to: 

• Personalize and enhance the Service to provide you with content tailored to your preferences and assist Member Hotels in providing you with enhanced services; 
• Provide you with private access to digital content such as vouchers, chat services, documents, photos, or videos; 
• Provide you with customer support; 
• Allow us to evaluate, analyze, and improve the functionality of the Staytus Website, the Staytus App, and the Service; 
• Provide you with information, offers, and promotions for discounted or free goods and services from a Member Hotel; 
• Administer contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions; 
• Prevent, detect, and investigate fraud, cyber incidents, or other illegal or harmful activity; 
• Communicate with you about our relationship and our products and services, including updates to the Privacy Policy or other important legal or business changes; 
• Administer general record keeping;
• Meet legal or regulatory requirements or compliance obligations, including to comply with a court order or subpoena; 
• Test and evaluate new products or services; and
• For other purposes as disclosed to you in accordance with applicable law or with your consent. 

We use and retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it is being processed, subject to any applicable legal or regulatory obligations. 

How We Share Or Disclose Your Information:

A. Service Providers 

We share your information with third-party service providers, such as vendors, suppliers, and other professionals to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Service. These service providers require access to your information to support our operations and delivery of the Service.  These service providers include vendors, suppliers, web hosting providers, data storage services, and analytics services, such as Google Analytics. 

When we share information with third-party providers, we require them to use your information in accordance with our instructions and terms.

B. Affiliated Companies

We may share information with our affiliated companies for purposes of providing the Service to you. 

C. Third Parties (Member Hotels) 

We may share certain personal information with Member Hotels, such as the Member Hotel you are currently visiting, to enable the Member Hotel to provide better services to you, for example, to deliver your food or beverage order to you.  If you have enabled location services, we may share your location with the Member Hotel you are visiting.  We share your information with specific Member Hotels that you have linked to by providing them with information on any offers or privileges you have redeemed and related data such as the time and location when the redemption took place. We may also share additional information with Member Hotels such as your profile information and Staytus App usage details. Any such information shared with Member Hotels is made available on a temporary, restricted basis in connection with your visit to a Member Hotel.  

We may also share certain aggregated information with Member Hotels that does not contain personally identifiable information, such as chat messages or common requests from visitors, to help Member Hotels provide better service. 

We do not sell or share your personal information as that term is commonly understood.  However, you may have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, or to limit uses of your sensitive personal information, as described below in the section titled “Your Privacy Choices and Rights.”

D. Legal Rights and Obligations 

We may disclose your personal information to enforce our policies, or where we believe in good faith that we are required to do so by applicable law, such as in response to a request by a law enforcement or governmental authority, in connection with actual or proposed litigation, or to protect and defend our property, people and other rights or interests.  We may also share your personal information pursuant to a subpoena or other legal or governmental request, or if disclosure is necessary to protect your safety or the safety of others, or to investigate fraud.

E. Corporate Transactions

We may share your information in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a divestiture, merger, consolidation, assignments or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy. In the case of any acquisition, we will inform the buyer that it must use your personal information only for the purposes disclosed in this Privacy Policy. 

Your Privacy Choices and Rights

A. Your Privacy Choices

You have certain choices and rights available when it comes to how we collect and use your personal information. Below is a summary of those choices and rights and how to exercise them.

If you would like to manage, change, limit, or delete your information, we allow you to do so as follows:

• Change or Limit Service Settings – You can change your Service settings within your mobile device settings in order to manage or limit certain information. For example, you may disable Location Services to stop sharing your location with the Service, or you may disable push notifications.
• Stop Future Collection of Information – You can stop all collection of information by us easily by discontinuing use of the Service, which may include uninstalling the Staytus App. You may use the standard uninstall processes as may be available as part of your mobile device or via the mobile application marketplace or network.  Please be aware that, even if you delete the Staytus App, your information may remain on our servers unless you request we delete your information as described in the section below. 

B. Your Privacy Rights 

Depending on applicable law, which may take into consideration where you are located, you may have certain rights in connection with your personal information that we obtain. These rights vary depending on your jurisdiction. These rights may include, but are not limited to:

• Right to Know the categories and specific pieces of your personal information we have collected in the previous 12 months. 

• Right to Deletion of your personal information we have collected. 

• Right to Request Information about the collection, sale, and disclosure of your personal information in the previous 12 months. 

• Right to Opt-out of the Sale or Sharing of Personal Information we have collected about you. 

• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information we have collected about you. 

• Right to Non-Discrimination for exercising any of your rights.

You may exercise these rights, to the extent they apply to you, by contacting us at [email protected] or by using a web form available here.

You can review and change your personal information under applicable law by sending us an email at [email protected]. You may also request to access or delete any personal information that you have provided to us by sending us an email at staytus.com. We may need to collection additional information to verify your identity and residence, and we may not be able to accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.  We will respond to a verified, valid request to exercise your privacy rights within the timeframe required under applicable law. 

“Do Not Track”

Your browser and other mechanisms may permit you to send do-not-track signals or other similar signals to express your preferences regarding online tracking. We do not currently respond to such signals. Third parties, such as our analytics providers, may collect data that relates to you on the Staytus Website, across time, and over other websites. We cannot control third-parties’ responses to do-not-track signals or other such mechanisms. Third-parties’ use of data relating to you and responsiveness to do-not-track signals is governed by their respective privacy policies.

Minimum Age Requirements to Use the Service

The Service is not intended for use by children under the age of 18 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from children under the age of 18, we take steps to delete that information. We encourage parents to supervise their children so that they do not disclose any personal information about themselves. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected].

Security

We are concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your information. We provide reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect information we process and maintain. Please be aware that, although we endeavor to provide reasonable security for information we process and maintain, no security system is perfect and it is impossible to guarantee absolute security.

California Shine the Light Disclosures 

If you are a California resident, you have the right to request certain information from us regarding how we share certain categories of information with third parties that identifies you for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.  If you wish to exercise this right, please email us at [email protected].  For additional information about your privacy rights and how to exercise those rights, please refer to “Your Privacy Choices and Rights” above. 

Information for Nevada Residents

We comply with the requirements of the Nevada Privacy law, which provides Nevada residents with choices regarding how we share information. Nevada residents who wish to exercise their sale opt-out rights under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A may submit a request to [email protected].  However, please know we do not currently sell personal information covered under this law.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We periodically review and update this Privacy Policy to describe new Services or changes to our practices.  You can determine when this Privacy Policy was last revised by referring to the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Notice. Updates to this Privacy Policy will become effective immediately upon posting, unless we explicitly provide otherwise.  We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you interact with us to stay informed about our privacy practices and your rights and choices.  If you do not agree with the privacy practices disclosed in the Privacy Policy, we recommend you stop using the Service. 

Contact Us:

If you have any questions regarding privacy while using the Service, or have questions about our practices, please contact us via email at [email protected].