Effective September 1, 2009

HouseTrip Privacy Policy

We at HouseTrip understand that making purchases online involves a great deal of trust on your part. We take this trust very seriously, and make it our highest priority to ensure the security and confidentiality of the personal information you provide to us. Please read the following policy to learn about our privacy practices. By visiting our website, www.housetrip.com, you are accepting the practices described herein.

HouseTrip provides this Privacy Policy to describe our procedures regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information we receive from users of www.housetrip.com ("This Site"). HouseTrip may update this Privacy Policy in the future. We will notify you about material changes to this Privacy Policy by sending a notice to the e-mail address you provided to us or by placing a notice on our website or blog.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER

YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE TRANSFERRED TO - AND MAINTAINED ON - COMPUTERS LOCATED OUTSIDE OF YOUR STATE, PROVINCE, COUNTRY OR OTHER GOVERNMENTAL JURISDICTION WHERE THE PRIVACY LAWS MAY NOT BE AS PROTECTIVE AS THOSE IN YOUR JURISDICTION. IF YOU ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE OF SWITZERLAND AND CHOOSE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO US, HOUSETRIP TRANSFERS PERSONAL INFORMATION TO SWITZERLAND AND PROCESSES IT THERE. YOUR CONSENT TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY FOLLOWED BY YOUR SUBMISSION OF SUCH INFORMATION REPRESENTS YOUR AGREEMENT TO THAT TRANSFER.

The collection of information and how we use it

The main reason why we collect information is to provide and improve our Site, services, features and content, to administer your Membership (together, the "Service") and to enable users to enjoy and easily navigate the Site.

What Information We Collect from You

When you register through HouseTrip.com to become a member, when you create or edit your profile pages and book a stay, we will ask you for information. This refers to information about you that can be used to contact or identify you (Personal Information). Personal Information includes, but is not limited to, your name, phone number, email address and home postal address, but does not include your credit card number or billing information. In order to finalize your booking and to process some of your transactions through HouseTrip, we may also ask for your credit card number and billing information. We also collect the other information that you provide as part of registration and the administration and personalization of your profile pages (for your accommodation or yourself).

Cookies

When you visit HouseTrip.com we will, like many other websites, use "cookies" to collect information. Cookies are small data files, which are transferred to a computer's hard disk in order to memorise information like registration IDs and passwords. We further utilize session ID cookies to enable certain features of the Site, to better understand how you interact with the Site and to monitor aggregate usage by HouseTrip Users and web traffic routing on the Site. Session ID cookies are, unlike persistent cookies, deleted from your computer when you log off from the Site and then close your browser. Third party advertisers on our website may also place or read cookies on your browser. Please note that you can always choose not to receive a cookie file by enabling your Web browser to refuse cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie. However, if you refuse cookies you may not be able to use all portions of the Site or all functionality of the service.

Automatic Information

We automatically collect some information about your computer when you visit HouseTrip.com, regardless of whether you are a HouseTrip member or a non-registered user just browsing our servers. For example, we will collect your IP address, Web browser software (such as Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer or Safari), and referring Web site. We also may collect information about your online activity, such as the properties you look at. Collecting this automatic information helps us customize your user experience. It allows us to monitor and analyze use of the Site and the Service and for the Site's technical administration, to increase our Site's functionality and user-friendliness. We do not treat Log Data as Personal Information or use it in association with other Personal Information, though we may aggregate, analyze and evaluate such information.

How we use Your Information

HouseTrip uses sensitive billing information (such as cardholder name, credit card number, and expiration date) for the purpose of completing the booking of a stay you conduct on our site. We use other information about you for the following general purposes: to provide you with the products and services you request; to provide you with travel confirmation and updates; to manage your account, including processing bills and providing travel notifications; to communicate with you in general; to respond to your questions and comments; to notify you about special offers and products or services that may be of interest to you; to prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities; to enforce our Terms of Use; and as otherwise described to you at the point of collection.

Phishing

Identity theft and the practice currently known as "phishing" are of great concern to HouseTrip. Safeguarding information to help protect you from identity theft is a top priority. We do not and will not, at any time, request your credit card information, your account ID, login password, or national identification numbers in a non-secure or unsolicited e-mail or telephone communication.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

Overview

HouseTrip is designed to allow Members who have accommodation to rent out ("Hosts") and Members who wish to find lodging ("Guests") to share information with one another in order to facilitate arranging stays. Listings posted by Hosts, ratings and reviews of Hosts and Guests, and the Profile Information (as defined below) of Hosts and Guests are, as far as you allow it, visible to any visitor to the site.

Information related to your Profile Page

When you register through the Site and submit your Personal Information to create a profile page, HouseTrip Users will see the information you provided. We do not allow our users to browse user profiles but they may arrive on your profile through various way (if you made a booking request, a Host may for instance look at your personal profile). Our network architecture and your privacy settings allow you to make informed choices about who has access to your information. You can review and revise your profile information at any time.
If you post a listing, we may also display the geographical location of your listing in the form of a map so that potential guests can see the general area and neighbourhood of your listing, but you can choose whether to display your actual street address or not. Note that members will never have access to your Billing Information.

Aggregate Information

We may share aggregated information that does not include Personal Information and we may otherwise disclose Non-Identifying Information and Log Data with third parties for industry analysis, demographic profiling and other purposes. Any aggregated information shared in these contexts will not contain your Personal Information.

How to delete your profile

All Members may review, update, correct or delete the Personal Information within their personal property related profile page. If you would like us to delete your record in our system, please contact us and we will attempt to accommodate your request if we do not have any legal obligation to retain the record. See below for privacy contact information.

Links to Other Sites

If any part of the HouseTrip.com Web site links you to other Web sites, those Web sites do not operate under this Privacy Policy. If you choose to visit an advertiser or click on another third party link, you will be directed to that third party's website. We do not exercise control over third party websites and therefore recommend you examine the privacy statements posted on these other Web sites to understand their procedures for collecting, using, and disclosing personal information.

Security

We want you to feel confident about using HouseTrip.com to plan and purchase your stay, so we are committed to protecting the information we collect. For that reason, we have implemented appropriate administrative, technical, and physical security procedures to help protect the personal information you provide to us. We use encryption when transmitting your sensitive personal information between your system and ours, and we employ firewalls and intrusion detection systems to help prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to your information.

How long will we keep your personal data?

We will retain your personal data only as long as is necessary for the purposes to which you consent under the Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy, or as is required by applicable law, and then we will delete it.

Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement

HouseTrip cooperates with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We will disclose any information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas), to protect the property and rights of HouseTrip or a third party, to protect the safety of the public or any person, or to prevent or stop any activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, unethical or legally actionable.

Business Transfers

HouseTrip may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of its assets, including your Personal Information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets or in the event of bankruptcy.

Our Policy Toward Children

This Site is forbidden to users less than 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should contact us at info@housetrip.com. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with Personal Information, we will delete such information from our files.

Court of jurisdiction and applicable law

This policy and all matters arising out of or relating to this policy shall be governed by the substantive laws and principles of Switzerland, without regards to conflicts of laws and principles thereof.
Any controversy, claim or dispute between a User and HouseTrip arising out of or relating to this policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Cour Civile du Tribunal Cantonal Vaudois in Lausanne, and each party hereby irrevocably consents to the jurisdiction and venue of such Court.

Date of issue of these Terms of Use: August 2009

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@housetrip.com.