Privacy Policy

Hostl is a universal interaction and identity platform. We provide tools that allow people to send and receive interactive messages including approvals, RSVPs, polls, and forms. Our registered business operates under the name Hostl and can be reached at privacy@hostl.cloud.

We collect information in three ways: information you give us directly, information collected automatically when you use our Services, and information from third parties.

Information you provide directly

• Account information: your name, email address, @handle, and password when you create an account.
• Profile information: any additional details you add to your public profile, such as a display name or bio.
• Message content: the content of messages you send and receive through our platform, including approval requests, RSVP responses, poll answers, and form submissions.
• Communications: emails or messages you send to our support team.
• Verification information: documents or information you submit as part of a badge verification request.

Information collected automatically

• Usage data: pages visited, features used, actions taken, and time spent on the platform.
• Device information: browser type, operating system, device type, screen resolution, and language settings.
• Log data: IP address, access times, referring URLs, and error logs.
• Cookies and similar technologies: session identifiers, preference cookies, and analytics identifiers. See our Cookie Policy for details.

Information from third parties

• We do not purchase data from data brokers.
• If you connect a third-party service or integration, we may receive limited information from that service as described at the time of connection.

We use the information we collect to operate, improve, and protect our Services. Specifically:

• Provide and maintain the Services, including delivering messages, processing responses, and managing your account.
• Verify your identity and process badge verification requests.
• Send transactional communications such as account confirmations, password resets, and security alerts.
• Respond to your support requests and inquiries.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
• Analyze usage patterns to improve the platform and develop new features.
• Comply with legal obligations.

We do not use your message content to train machine learning models or to serve advertising. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

We share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

With other users

Your @handle and public profile information are visible to other users and to anyone who visits your public profile URL at hostl.cloud/u/yourhandle. Message content is shared only with the intended recipients of each message.

With service providers

We work with a small number of trusted service providers who help us operate the platform, including cloud infrastructure, email delivery, and analytics. These providers are contractually bound to use your data only to provide services to us and not for their own purposes.

For legal reasons

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or government authority, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Hostl, our users, or the public.

Business transfers

If Hostl is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you before your information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with advertisers or data brokers.

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with the Services. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal, regulatory, or fraud prevention purposes.

Message content is retained for as long as the relevant conversation exists. You can delete individual messages or your entire account at any time from your account settings.

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Deletion: request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
• Portability: request a machine-readable copy of your data.
• Objection: object to certain types of processing, including direct marketing.
• Restriction: request that we restrict processing of your information in certain circumstances.
• Withdrawal of consent: where processing is based on consent, withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@hostl.cloud. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or California, you have additional rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, or the CCPA respectively. We honor all applicable rights regardless of your location.

We take the security of your information seriously. We use industry-standard measures including:

• TLS 1.3 encryption for all data in transit.
• AES-256 encryption for data at rest.
• Role-based access controls limiting internal access to personal data.
• Multi-factor authentication required for all production system access.
• Regular security reviews and penetration testing.

No system is completely secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at privacy@hostl.cloud. For security vulnerability reports, see our Security page.

Our Services are not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will delete it promptly. If you believe we may have collected information from a child under 13, contact us at privacy@hostl.cloud.

Hostl operates globally. Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than the country in which you reside. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from those in your country.

Where we transfer personal data from the European Economic Area or United Kingdom to countries that have not been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection, we use appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email or by posting a prominent notice on our platform before the changes take effect. The effective date at the top of this page will always reflect the date of the most recent version.

Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

• Email: privacy@hostl.cloud
• Website: hostl.cloud
• Response time: we aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 5 business days.