Privacy Policy

What we collect

Travel inquiries

When you send an inquiry, we collect your email address and anything else you enter: your name, phone number, destination, dates, notes and the stays you selected. No account, booking or payment is needed to send one. Stays you save are kept in your browser for the current visit and reach us only if you include them in an inquiry.

WhimTown Sublets accounts

• Sign-in. If you sign in with Google, Google shares your name, email address and profile photo with us. If you sign up with email, we collect your email address and a password, which our sign-in provider stores only in protected (hashed) form.
• Profile. Your first or preferred name, photo and bio, and any of these you add: hometown, time zone, gender, work and education, phone number, Instagram and LinkedIn links.
• Phone verification. Hosts verify a US mobile number with a code sent by text before publishing a listing.
• Listings. What hosts enter about a place, including its photos, videos, rent, availability and exact address.
• Conversations. Messages and attachments you send, and the contact details you choose to share with Connect.
• Activity. Favorites, saved searches, reports, blocks and messages to support.

Technical information

Our hosting and service providers receive your IP address and browser information with each request. We use IP addresses to limit abuse, such as too many requests in a short time. Signing in keeps a session in your browser’s storage. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies or trackers.

How we use it

• To reply to your inquiry and help you plan and arrange a stay.
• To run WhimTown Sublets: show listings and profiles, deliver messages, share contact details when both people choose Connect, verify host phone numbers and send sign-in emails.
• To keep people safe: review reports, look into misuse and enforce our rules. WhimTown staff may read a conversation when this is needed for safety or support, and each such access is recorded.
• To operate, secure and fix the website.

We do not sell your personal information, use it for advertising, or use your messages to train AI models.

What other members see

• Your first or preferred name, profile photo and bio are public, along with any profile details you choose to show.
• Listings show an approximate location. The exact address, phone numbers, email addresses and social links are shared only after both people in a conversation choose Connect.
• A host may publish their own reply on a listing. It never shows the guest’s message, name or identity.

Who we share it with

We share information only with service providers that help us run WhimTown, and only for that purpose:

• Supabase: database, sign-in, file storage and server functions.
• DigitalOcean: website hosting.
• Google: Google sign-in, and Google Maps for place suggestions, commute times and maps. Text you type into a location search is sent to Google.
• Twilio: verification texts.
• Resend: email delivery, including notices to our staff about new inquiries.
• Google Workspace: our business email, which we use to reply to you.
• Stripe: payment for a confirmed resort stay, on Stripe’s own payment page. We do not receive your full card number.

We may also share information when the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of WhimTown, our members or others.

Information from Google

When you sign in with Google, we receive only your name, email address and profile photo. We use them only to sign you in and set up your profile, which you can change. We do not sell this information, use it for advertising, or share it except with the service providers above. WhimTown’s use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

How long we keep it

• Inquiries are kept for 180 days from submission.
• WhimTown Sublets account information is kept while your account is open. When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your information, except what we must keep for safety, legal or record-keeping reasons.

Your choices

• Edit your profile at any time, and choose which optional details are public.
• Deactivate your profile, or ask us to delete your account.
• Ask for a copy of your information, or ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing [email protected].
• Sending an inquiry does not sign you up for marketing, and we do not send marketing email.

Security

We use encrypted connections, limit staff access, and keep private details out of public pages. No method of storing or sending information is completely secure.

Children

WhimTown is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We will post any change on this page with a new effective date.

Contact us

WhimTown LLC · [email protected] · (650) 336-8529