Last Updated: November 20, 2020
The Vakay exists to facilitate connections by and among vacationing renters and vacation home owners (collectively, “Users”). The Vakay seeks to provide Users with a clear understanding of how information is protected and used, in accordance with Users’ privacy rights.
This Privacy Policy describes how The Vakay, LLC and its affiliates (“we,” “us,” or “The Vakay”), process personal information collected through TheVakay.com platform (the “Website”). Depending on where you reside and how you are using the Website, the supplemental privacy pages listed below may apply to you.
IMPORTANT SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Outside of the United States. If you reside outside of the United States, such as in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) kindly review our “Outside the United States” page in order to understand (i) the controller(s) of your personal information; (ii) legal bases, including legitimate interests, for collecting and processing your personal information, (iii) safeguards relied upon for transferring personal information outside the EEA; (iv) your rights, and (v) contact details of the controller(s) and Data Protection Officer.
California and Vermont. If you reside in California or Vermont, kindly review our “California and Vermont” page to learn about specific privacy information that applies to you.
1. DEFINITIONS
Undefined terms in this Privacy Policy have the same definition as in our Terms of Use (or, “Terms”).
2. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE RETAIN
2.1. Information needed to use The Vakay’s Website.
We collect personal information about you when you use the Website. Without it, we may not be able to provide you with all services you desire or require. This personal information includes:
• Contact Information, User Account, Profile Information. Such as your first and last name, telephone number, mailing address, email address, date of birth, and profile photo, some of which will depend on the features you use.
• Identity Verification and Payment Information. Such as images of your government issued identification, your ID number, or other information, such as Users’ bank account or payment account information.
2.2. Information you opt to share with us.
You may choose to provide us with additional personal information including:
• Additional Profile Information. Such as preferred language(s), city, and personal description. Some of this information will be part of your public profile page and will be publicly available to Users.
• Other Information. Such as when you fill in a required and/or optional form or field, add information to your account or Listing, participate in promotions, communicate with us and other User(s), or communicate with us regarding your experience. This may include health information if you choose to share it with us.
2.3. Information Automatically Collected by Using The Vakay’s Website The Vakay and Payment Services.
When you use the The Vakay Website and/or Payment Services, we automatically collect personal information. Such information may include:
• Geo-location Information. Such as precise or approximate location determined from your IP address or mobile device’s GPS depending on your device settings.
• Usage Information. Such as the pages or content you view, searches for Listings, bookings you have made, and other actions on the The Vakay Platform.
• Log Data and Device Information. Details regarding your use of the Website (including if you clicked on links to third party applications), IP address, access dates and times, hardware and software information, device information, device event information, unique identifiers, crash data, cookie data, and the pages you’ve viewed or engaged with before or after using the The Vakay Platform. We may collect this information even if you haven’t created a The Vakay account or logged in.
• Cookies and Similar Technologies as described in our Cookie Policy.
• Payment Transaction Information. Such as payment instrument used, date and time, payment amount, payment instrument expiration date and billing zip code, PayPal email address, IBAN information, your address and other related transaction details.
2.4. Personal Information Collected by Us from Third Parties.
We collect personal information from other sources, such as:
• Referrals and co-travelers. If you are invited to the The Vakay Platform such as a co-traveler on a trip, the person who invited you can submit your personal information to us, such as your email address, phone number, or other contact information.
• Other Sources. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may receive additional information about you, such as, demographic data or information to help detect fraud and safety issues from third party service providers and/or partners, and combine it with information we have about you. We may receive information about you and your activities on and off The Vakay Platform, or about your experiences and interactions from our partners.
3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
If you reside outside of the United States, review the below information to learn about our legal bases for collection and processing personal information.
3.1. APPLICATION
This subpage (“Subpage”) applies if you reside outside the United States and is intended to supplement our Privacy Policy. It contains important information we are required by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) to disclose, including (i) the controller(s) of your personal information; (ii) legal bases for retention and/or use of Users’ personal information, (iii) your legal rights, (iv) protectory measures which we use when transferring your personal information outside the EEA; and (v) the contact details of the controller and Data Protection Officer. This page also contains important information about the Payments Controller (defined below) and the information processed in connection with the Payments Services.
3.2. WHO CONTROLS MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?
3.3. Controller
Where this Subpage mentions “The Vakay,” “we,” “us,” or “our,” it refers to The Vakay company which is responsible for your information under this Privacy Policy (the “Controller”).
3.4. Payments Controller
The Privacy Policy also applies to the Payment Services provided to you by The Vakay, pursuant to the Payment Terms (“Payment Terms”). When using the Payment Services, you be providing your personal information, to The Vakay’s Payments entity(s), which will be the responsible (the "Payments Controller"), for your information related to the Payment Services, generally depending on your country of residence.
3.5. Changing Your Country of Residence
If you change your country of residence, the Controller and/or Payments Controller will be determined by your new country of residence as specified above, from the date on which your country of residence changes. To this end the Controller and/or Payments Controller that originally collected your personal information will need to transfer such personal information to the new applicable Controller and/or Payments Controller. The new Controller and/or Payment Controller will continue to process your personal information as described in the Privacy Policy and Subpage (when applicable).
3.6. Contact Us
4.1. Information Necessary for Use of Payment Services
4. PROCESSING OF PAYMENTS INFORMATION
The Payments Controller needs to collect the following information necessary for the adequate performance of the contract with you and to comply with applicable law (such as anti-money laundering regulations). Without it, you will not be able to use Payment Services:
• Payment Information. When you use the Payment Services, the Payments Controller requires certain financial information (such as your bank account or credit card information) in order to process payments and comply with applicable law.
• Identity Verification and Other Information. The Payments Controller may require identity verification information (such as images of your government issued ID document(s), passport, national ID card, tax ID or driving license) or other authentication information (such as your date of birth, your address, email address, phone number) and other information in order to verify your identity, provide the Payment Services to you, and to comply with applicable law.
4.2. How the Payments Controller Uses Personal Information Collected
We may use the personal information as a part of Payment Services to:
• Enable or authorize third parties to use the Payment Services
• Detect and prevent money laundering, fraud, abuse, security incidents
• Conduct security investigations and risk assessments
• Comply with relevant legal obligations (such as anti-money laundering regulations)
• Enforce the Payment Terms and/or other policies
• With your consent, send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information that may be of interest to you based on your preferences
• Provide and improve the Payment Services
5. LEGAL BASES FOR PROCESSING PERSONAL INFORMATION
We process personal information for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy in line with the lawful bases set out below. For more information on the processing activities, please refer to the relevant section of the Privacy Policy.
5.1. Processing of Payments Information (Section 3, this Subpage)
SUB-SECTION
How the Payments Controller uses the personal information collected
LEGAL BASES
The Payments Controller processes personal information given its legitimate interest in improving the Payment Services and Users’ experience with it, and where it is necessary for the adequate performance of the contract with you and to comply with applicable laws.
5.2. Our Use of Information Collected
SUB-SECTION
• Provide, improve, and develop The Vakay.
• Create and maintain a trusted and safer environment.
• Provide, personalize, measure, and improve our advertising and marketing.
• How the Payments Controller uses the personal information collected
LEGAL BASES
• We process personal information for these purposes given our legitimate interest in improving The Vakay’s and Users’ experience with it, and where it is necessary for the adequate performance of the contract with you.
• We process this personal information for these purposes given our legitimate interest in protecting The Vakay and our users, to measure the adequate performance of our contract with you, to comply with applicable laws, for the protection of your or another person's vital interests, and for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health.
• We will process personal information with your consent or based on our legitimate interest in undertaking marketing activities to offer you products or services which may be of interest.
• Payments Controller processes personal information given its legitimate interest in improving the Payment Services and its users’ experience with it, and where it is necessary for the adequate performance of the contract with you and to comply with applicable laws.
5.3. Complying with Relevant Regulations and Laws, Responding to Judicial or other Inquiries, Preventing Injury and Protecting our Rights
SUB-SECTION
• Complying with Relevant Regulations and Laws, Responding to Judicial or other Inquiries, Preventing Injury and Protecting our Rights
LEGAL BASES
• These disclosures may be necessary to comply with our legal obligations, for the protection of a person's vital interests, for reasons pertaining to public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health, for reasons of substantial public interest, or for the purposes of The Vakay’s or a third party’s legitimate interest in keeping The Vakay secure, preventing regulatory breaches, harms, crimes, or enforcing or defending legal rights, claims, or obligations, facilitating the collection of taxes and prevention of tax fraud or preventing loss or damage.
5.4. Other important information
SUB-SECTION
• Analyzing your communications.
• Linking third party accounts, Third Party Partners & Integrations
LEGAL BASES
• These activities are carried out based on The Vakay’s legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with its Terms, all applicable laws, preventing fraud, promoting safety, and improving and ensuring the adequate performance of our services.
• We process personal information from linked third party accounts, third party partners, and integrations to the extent necessary to ensure the adequate performance of our contract with you, or to ensure that we comply with applicable regulations, or with your consent.
6. YOUR RIGHTS
If The Vakay is the Controller or The Vakay is the Payments Controller, or pursuant to applicable law, you benefit from a number of rights. Please note that, while some of these rights apply generally, certain rights apply solely in certain limited cases. We may ask you to verify your identity and request verification before taking further action on your request.
Exercising data subject rights
How to deactivate your account
Account deletion
Deleting your account is a permanent deletion of your personal data and closure of your The Vakay account. The Deletion of your account cannot be reversed. Once your request is processed, your personal information will be permanently deleted (except for certain information that we are legally required or permitted to retain, as outlined in our Privacy Policy). Meaning, we will no longer provide services to a User after their account is deleted. Users who delete their account will be required to create a new account, should they seek to user our Services after deletion.
How to delete your account
You can delete your account and its data by contacting Support@TheVakay.com.
Obtaining a copy of some or all of the personal data The Vakay holds about you.
For a complete copy of your data, you can request a file from Support@TheVakay.com.
Data portability
Right to portability
Exercising your right to portability
For a complete copy of your data, email Support@TheVakay.com.
Opting out of marketing communications
Exercising your right to opt out from receiving marketing emails, notifications, messages, or calls
Users may modify their respective marketing preferences at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any marketing email.
Should you continue receiving emails from The Vakay after opting out
We will continue to use the contact details you provide to send you notifications relating to a service you have requested or inquired into (e.g. booking confirmation emails, transactional emails). If you wish not to receive notifications from The VaKay (including service messages), you’ll need to de-activate or delete your account.
Opting out of The Vakay usage of personal data for direct marketing purposes, including sharing your data with third parties for marketing purposes
If permitted under the laws of the jurisdiction where you reside, you may opt out of our direct marketing activities as outlined in our Privacy Policy by contacting Support@TheVakay.com. For opting out of marketing communications, see above. Please see our Cookie Policy for information on how to manage your cookies.
Object to processing
Objecting to The Vakay’s processing personal data for specific purposes
Methods of requesting data subject rights
• Subject: “Privacy Data Subject Right Request”
• Your specific The Vakay ID
• Country of residence
6.1. Data Access and Portability
You have the right to request certain copies of your personal information held by us. In certain instances, you also have the right to request copies of personal information you provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and/or request us to transmit this information to another service provider (where technically feasible).
6.2. Rectification
You have the right to ask us to correct your inaccurate or incomplete personal information (and which you cannot update yourself within your The Vakay account).
6.3. Erasure
Generally, we retain your personal information for as long as is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us, to comply with our regulatory requirements, and as permitted by applicable law. You have the right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain limitations and restrictions listed above. Note that if you request the erasure of your personal information:
• We may retain your personal information as necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as prevention of money laundering, fraud detection and prevention and enhancing safety.
• For example, if we suspend a The Vakay account for fraud or safety reasons, we may retain information from that The Vakay account to prevent that Member from opening a new The Vakay account in the future, if we determine such action is necessary.
• We may retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example,
• The Vakay may keep your information for tax, legal reporting and auditing obligations.
• Information you have shared with others (e.g., Reviews, forum postings) will continue to be publicly visible on The Vakay, even after your The Vakay account is cancelled. However, attribution of such information to you will be removed.
• Some copies of your information (e.g., log records) will remain in our database, but are disassociated from personal identifiers.
• Because we maintain The Vakay to protect from accidental or malicious loss and destruction, residual copies of your personal information may not be removed from our backup systems for a limited period of time.
6.4. Withdrawal of Consent
If we are processing your personal information based on your consent you can withdraw your consent at any time by changing your account settings or by sending a communication to The Vakay specifying which consent you are withdrawing. Withdrawal of your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing activities based on such consent before its withdrawal.
6.5. Restriction of Processing
You have the right to limit the ways we use your personal information, in particular where (i) you contest the accuracy of such personal information; (ii) the processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal information; (iii) we no longer require your personal information for the purposes of the processing, but you require the personal information for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; or (iv) you have objected to the processing pursuant to Section 6.6, and pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of The Vakay override your own.
6.6. Objection to Processing
6.7. Lodging Complaints
7. RETENTION
We retain personal information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law. The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:
• the length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide The Vakay to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us, or continue using The Vakay);
• whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); and/or
• whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).
8. OPERATING GLOBALLY & INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
To facilitate our global operations The Vakay may transfer, store, and process your information within our family of companies, partners, and service providers based in the United States of America. Laws in this nation differ from the laws applicable to other nations Users may reside in. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in the United States may be entitled to access your personal information. Measures have been taken pursuant to applicable data protection law.
8.1. Other Methods of Ensuring Adequate Levels of Data Protection
8.2. Provide, Improve, and Develop the The Vakay Platform.
We use personal information to:
• enable you to access the The Vakay Platform and make and receive payments,
• enable you to communicate with other Members,
• perform analytics, debug and conduct research,
• provide customer service,
• send you messages, updates, security alerts, and account notifications,
• if you provide us with your contacts’ information such as your friends or co-travelers, we may process this information: (i) to facilitate referral invitations, (ii) to share trip details and facilitate trip planning, (iii) for fraud detection and prevention, and (iv) to facilitate your requests or for any other purpose you authorize,
• personalize and/or customize your experience based on your interactions with the Website, your search and booking history, your profile information and preferences, and other content you submit, and
• enable your use of our enterprise products.
8.3. Create and Maintain a Trusted and Safer Environment.
We use personal information to:
8.4. Provide, Personalize, Measure, and Improve our Advertising and Marketing.
We may use personal information to:
• send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information based on your preferences and social media advertising through social media platforms,
• personalize, measure, and improve our advertising,
• administer referral programs, rewards, surveys, sweepstakes, contests, or other promotional activities or events sponsored or managed by The Vakay or its third-party partners,
• analyze characteristics and preferences to send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information that we think might be of interest to you, and
• invite you to events and offer information regarding relevant opportunities.
8.5. Provide Payment services.
Personal information is used to enable or authorize third parties to use Payment Services:
• Detect and prevent money laundering, fraud, abuse, security incidents.
• Conduct security investigations and risk assessments.
• Comply with legal obligations (such as anti-money laundering regulations).
• Enforce the Payment Terms and/or other payment policies.
• With your consent, send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information that may be of interest to you based on your preferences.
• Provide and improve the Payment Services.
9. SHARING & DISCLOSURE
9.1. Sharing with Your Consent or at Your Direction.
By consenting, we share your information as described at the time of consent, such as when authorizing a third-party application or website to access your The Vakay account or participating in promotional activities by The Vakay partners or third parties. Where permissible pursuant to applicable law, we may use certain information about you, such as your email address, de-identify it, and share it with social media platforms, to generate leads, drive traffic to The Vakay or otherwise promote our products and services.
9.2. Sharing Between Members.
To facilitate services such as bookings, or other interactions between Members, it may be necessary to share certain information such as:
• When a booking request is made or dispute is submitted, certain information may be shared between Users, including profile, name, names of any additional Guests, cancellation history, review information, age of guest (unless prohibited by applicable law), dispute outcome (when applicable) and other information you choose to share and submit. When a booking is confirmed, additional information is shared to assist with coordinating the trip, like profile photo and phone number. When you as a User have a confirmed booking, certain information is shared with the Guest(s) (and the additional Guests they invite, if applicable) to coordinate the booking, such as your profile, full name, phone number, and Listing address.
• When Users invite another Member to host with you, you authorize that person to access and update your information and User Content, including but not limited to certain information like your full name, phone number, Accommodation address, calendar, Listing information, Listing photos, and email address.
• When Users invite additional Guests to a booking, your full name, travel dates, Host name, Listing details, the Accommodation address, and other related information will be shared with each additional User.
9.3. Information Published in Users’ Profiles, Listings, and other Public Information.
You can make certain information publicly visible, such as:
• Your public profile page, which includes your profile photo, first name, description, and city.
• Listing pages that include information such as the Accommodation or Experience’s approximate or precise location description, calendar availability, profile photo, aggregated demand information (like page views over a period of time), and additional information you choose to share.
• Reviews, ratings and other feedback.
• Content in a community or discussion forum, blog or social media post.
We may display parts of your public profile and other Content you make available to the public like Listing details on third-party sites, platforms and/or apps. Information you share publicly on the The Vakay Platform may be indexed through third-party search engines.
9.4. Host Service Providers.
Owner Users may use third-party services to help manage or deliver their services, such as cleaning services or lock providers. Hosts may use features on the The Vakay Platform to share information about the Renter User (like check-in and check-out dates, name, phone number) with such third-party service providers.
9.5. Complying with Law, Responding to Legal Requests, Preventing Harm and Protecting our Rights.
We may disclose your information to courts, law enforcement, governmental or public authorities, tax authorities, or authorized third parties, if and to the extent we are required or permitted to do so by law or where disclosure is reasonably necessary: (i) in order to comply with our legal obligations, (ii) to comply with a valid legal request or to respond to claims asserted against The Vakay, (iii) to respond to a valid legal request relating to a criminal investigation to address alleged or suspected illegal activity, or to respond to or address any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other of our Users to legal or regulatory liability, (iv) to enforce and administer our agreements with Members, or (v) to protect the rights, property or personal safety of The Vakay, its employees, its Members, or members of the public. For example, if permitted due to the forgoing circumstances, Owner Users’ tax information may be shared with tax authorities or other governmental agencies.
Where appropriate, we may notify Members about legal requests unless: (i) providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order we receive, or by applicable law, or (ii) we believe that providing notice would be futile, ineffective, create a risk of injury or bodily harm to an individual or group, or create or increase a risk of fraud upon or harm to The Vakay, our Members, or expose The Vakay to a claim of obstruction of justice, and/or any other claim(s).
For jurisdictions where The Vakay facilitates the collection and remittance of Taxes where legally permissible according to applicable law, we may disclose Users’ information about transactions, bookings, Accommodations and occupancy Taxes to the applicable tax authority, such as Users’ names, Listing addresses, transaction dates and amounts, tax identification number(s), the amount of taxes received (or due), and contact information.
In jurisdictions where The Vakay facilitates or requires a registration, notification, permit, or license application of a User with a local governmental authority through The Vakay in accordance with local law, we may share information of participating Users with the relevant authority, both during the application process and, periodically thereafter, such as the User’s full name and contact details, Accommodation address, tax identification number, Listing details, and number of nights booked.
9.6. Programs with Owner and Renter Users
We may share Users’ personal information, such as booking information, and information related to compliance with applicable laws such as short-term rental laws with landlords, management companies, and/or property owners (the “Building Management”), in order to facilitate programs with Building Management. For example, guest booking and personal information, including guest contact information, may be shared with the Building Management of the building, complex, or community where a host lives and/or the listing is located, to facilitate hosting services, compliance with applicable laws, security, billing, and other services.
9.7. Host Information Provided to The Vakay for Work Customers.
If a booking is designated as being for business or work purpose and (1) is made by a Guest affiliated with an Enterprise, (2) the Enterprise is enrolled in The Vakay for Work, we may disclose information related to the booking to the Enterprise (e.g., name of the Owner User, Accommodation address, booking dates, Listing details, etc.) to the extent necessary for the adequate performance of The Vakay’s contract with the Owner User or Enterprise to provide services. At the request of the Enterprise or the Guest, we may also share this information with third parties engaged by the Enterprise to provide support services.
9.8. Service Providers.
We share personal information with affiliated and unaffiliated service providers to help us run our business, including service providers that assist us in: (i) verifying your identity, (ii) check information against public databases, (iii) conduct background or police checks, fraud prevention, and risk assessment, (iv) perform product development, maintenance and debugging, (v) allow the provision of the The Vakay Services through third-party platforms and software tools (e.g. through the integration with our APIs), (vi) provide customer service, advertising, or Payments Services, (vii) process, handle or assess insurance claims or similar claims, or (viii) facilitate non-profit and charitable activities consistent with The Vakay’s mission. Providers are contractually bound to protect your personal information and have access to your personal information to perform these tasks.
9.9. Business Transfers.
If The Vakay undertakes or is involved in any merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or insolvency, we may sell, transfer or share some or all of our assets, including your information in connection with such transaction or in contemplation of such transaction (e.g., due diligence). In this event, we will notify you before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
9.10. Corporate Affiliates.
To support us in providing, integrating, promoting and improving the The Vakay Platform, Payment Services, and our affiliates’ services, we may share personal information.
10. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
10.1. Analyzing your Communications.
We may review, scan, or analyze your communications occurring on or over The Vakay Platform for reasons outlined in the “How We Use Information We Collect” section of this Policy, including fraud prevention, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, investigation, product development, research, analytics, enforcing our Terms, and customer support purposes. For example, as part of our fraud prevention efforts, we scan and analyze messages to mask contact information and references to other sites. In some cases, we may also scan, review, or analyze messages to debug, improve, and expand product offerings. We use automated methods where reasonably possible. Occasionally we may need to manually review communications, such as for fraud or other investigations and/or for customer support, or to assess and improve the functionality of our automated services. We will not review, scan, or analyze your messaging communications to send third-party marketing messages to you and we will not sell reviews or analyses of these communications.
10.2. Linking Third-Party Accounts.
You can link your The Vakay account with certain third-party services like social networks. Your contacts on these third-party services are referred to as “Friends.” When you direct the data sharing by creating this link:
• some of the information provided to us from linking accounts may be published on your public profile,
• your activities on The Vakay Platform may be displayed to your Friends on The Vakay Platform and/or that third-party service,
• a link to your public profile on that third-party service may be included in your The Vakay public profile,
• other The Vakay users may be able to see any Friends that you may have in common with them, or that you are a Friend of their Friend if applicable,
• other The Vakay users may be able to see any schools, hometowns or other groups you have in common with them as listed on your linked social networking service,
• information you provide to us from the linking of your accounts may be stored, processed and transmitted for fraud prevention and risk assessment purposes, and
• publication and display of information that you provide to The Vakay Platform through this linkage is subject to your settings and authorizations on The Vakay Platform and the third-party service.
10.3. Third-Party Partners & Integrations.
Parts of The Vakay may link to third-party services, which may not be owned or controlled by The Vakay, such as Google Maps or Google Earth. Use of these services is subject to the privacy policies of those providers. The Vakay does not own or control these third parties and when you interact with them you are providing your information to them.
11. YOUR RIGHTS
11.1. Managing Your Information.
You can access and update some of your personal information through your Account settings. If you connected your The Vakay Account to a third-party service, like Facebook or Google, you can change your settings and unlink from that service in your Account settings. Users are responsible for keeping your personal information up to date.
11.2. Data Access and Portability.
In some jurisdictions, applicable law may entitle you to request certain copies of your personal information or information pertaining to our use of your personal information, request copies of personal information that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and/or request that we transmit this information to another service provider (where technically feasible).
11.2. Data Access and Portability.
In certain jurisdictions, you are permitted to request that your personal information be deleted. If you request the erasure of your personal information:
• We may retain your personal information as necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as prevention of money laundering, fraud detection and prevention, and enhancing safety.
For example, if we suspend a The Vakay Account for fraud or safety reasons, we may retain information from that The Vakay Account to prevent that Member from opening a new The Vakay Account in the future.
• We may retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example, The Vakay and The Vakay Payments may keep information for tax, legal reporting and auditing obligations.
• Information you have shared with others (e.g., Reviews, forum postings) will continue to be publicly visible on The Vakay, even after your The Vakay Account is cancelled. However, attribution of such information to you will be removed. Some copies of your information (e.g., log records) will remain in our database, but are disassociated from personal identifiers.
• We take measures to protect data from accidental or malicious loss and destruction, for that reason, residual copies of your personal information may not be removed from our backup systems for a limited period of time.
12. SECURITY
No organization can guarantee perfect security. However, we are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration.
13. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
In accordance with relevant regulations, we preserve our right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. Should we make such modification(s), the revised Privacy Policy will be posted, and we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top. In case of material changes, we will make efforts to provide you with notice of the modification by email at least thirty (30) days before the effective date. Users disagreeing with any revised Privacy Policy may cancel their Account. However, if you do not cancel your Account before the date the revised Privacy Policy becomes effective, your continued access to or use of The Vakay Platform will be subject to the revised Privacy Policy.
14. CONTACT INFORMATION AND RESPONSIBLE THE VAKAY ENTITIES
For questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or The Vakay’s handling of personal information (i) If you reside inside or outside of the United States contact The Vakay, LLC, Legal Privacy, at P.O. Box 250 Saugatuck, MI 49453 USA; (ii) for payments related matters please use the contact information provided in the Payment Terms page, and (iii) if you reside outside the United States, please use the contact information provided above.
Outside of the United States
1. APPLICATION
This subpage (“Subpage”) applies if you reside outside the United States and supplements our Privacy Policy. It contains important information we are required by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) to disclose, including (i) the controller(s) of your personal information; (ii) legal bases, (iii) your legal rights, (iv) safeguards we rely on for transferring your personal information outside the EEA; and (v) the contact details of the controller and Data Protection Officer. This page also contains important information about the Payments Controller (defined below) and the information processed in connection with the Payments Services. Please read this page carefully. If you have any questions, you can contact us at the details below.
2. WHO CONTROLS MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
2.1. Controller
Where this Subpage mentions “The Vakay,” “we,” “us,” or “our,” it refers to the The Vakay company that is responsible for your information under this Privacy Policy (the “Controller”).
2.2. Payments Controller
The Privacy Policy also applies to the Payment Services provided to you by The Vakay Payments pursuant to the Payment Terms. When using the Payment Services, you will also be providing your personal information, to either The Vakay, LLC, or one or more affiliated payment entities, which will be the responsible (the "Payment Controller"), for your information related to the Payment Services, generally depending on your country of residence.
2.3. Modifying Your Country of Residence
Should you modify or change your country of residence, the Controller and/or Payments Controller will be determined by your new country of residence as specified above, from the date on which your country of residence changes. In such cases, either the Controller and/or Payments Controller which first collected your personal information will have to transmit such personal information to the new applicable Controller and/or Payments Controller. Your personal information, as described in the privacy policy and Subpage (where applicable), will be processed by the new Controller and/or Payment Controller.
2.4. Contact Us
3. PROCESSING PAYMENT INFORMATION
3.1. Information Required by Payment Services
The Payments Controller must collect the below information in order to perform under its agreement(s) with Users, and to comply with all other applicable laws (such as anti-money laundering regulations). Without such information, Users may not access or use Payment Services:
• Payment Information. Using Payment Services requires Users to provide financial information (such as credit card or bank account information) to process payments and remain compliant with applicable regulation(s).
• Identity Verification and Other Information. The Payments Controller may require Users’ identity verification information (such as images of Users’ government issued identification document(s), for example passport, driver’s license, or tax identification) or other authentication information (such as birth date, mailing address, email address, or telephone number) and other information in order to verify your identity, provide the you with access to Payment Services, and to comply with applicable regulations.
3.2. How the Payments Controller Uses Personal Information Collected
• Authorize third-parties to use Payment Services
• Find and protect against instances of fraud, abuse, money laundering, or security incidents
• Conduct investigations into risk assessments or security
• Comply with legal requirements (such as anti-money laundering regulations)
• Enforce Payment Terms and other policies regarding payment
• With your consent, send you information regarding promotions or advertising, along with other information which you may find to be of interest, based on your preferences
• Improve, and provide you with use and access of Payment Services
We may use personal information as a part of Payment Services in order to:
4. LEGAL BASES FOR PROCESSING PERSONAL INFORMATION
We process personal information for those reasons enumerated in the Privacy Policy in line with the lawful bases listed below. For more information on the processing activities, please refer to the applicable portion of the Privacy Policy.
4.1. Processing of Payment Information
SUB-SECTION
How the Payments Controller uses personal information collected
LEGAL BASES
The Payments Controller processes this personal information given its legitimate interest in improving the Payment Services and Users’ experience with it, and where such processing is required for the performance of the agreement with you, and to comply with relevant regulations.
4.2. Our Use of Information Collected
SUB-SECTION
Improve and provide services via, The Vakay.
Ensure and maintain a safe environment for Users.
Provide, personalize, measure, and improve our advertising and marketing.
Methods by which Payment Controller uses personal information
LEGAL BASES
We process personal information for these purposes, given our legitimate interest in improving The Vakay and ensuring the quality of Users’ experiences with it, and where it is necessary for the adequate performance of the agreement with you.
We process personal information for these purposes in accordance with our legitimate interest in protecting Users of The Vakay, to measure adequacy of our performance, to comply with relevant regulations, for the protection of any persons’ or Users’ vital interests, and for public health interests, for example protecting against cross-border threats to health.
We will process personal information with your consent, based on our legitimate interest in undertaking marketing activities to offer Users information they may find to be of interest.
The Payments Controller processes this personal information given its legitimate interest in providing access to and improving Payment Services for Users’ benefit, and when required to perform under its agreement with you, and to comply with applicable regulations.
4.3. Complying with Regulations, Responding to Judicial or other Enforcement Requests, Preventing Harm and Protecting our Entitlements
SUB-SECTION
Complying with Regulations, Responding to Judicial or other Enforcement Requests, Preventing Harm and Protecting our Entitlements.
LEGAL BASES
Disclosures may be required in order to comply with our legal requirements, for the protection of an individual's vital interests, for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health, for reasons of public interest, or for the purposes of The Vakay’s or a third party’s legitimate interest in ensuring The Vakay’s security, preventing a breaches of the law, harm or crime, enforcing or defending legal rights, claims, or other obligations, facilitating the collection of taxes and prevention of tax fraud or preventing other losses or damages.
4.4. Other important information
SUB-SECTION
Linking third party accounts and Third-Party Partners’ Integrations
Analyzing your communications.
LEGAL BASES
We process personal information from linked third-party accounts, third-party partners, and integrations to the extent necessary to ensure the adequate performance of our contract with you, or to ensure that we comply with applicable laws, or with your consent.
These activities are provided in light of The Vakay’s legitimate interest in remaining compliant with relevant regulations and with our Terms, in addition to mitigating and preventing fraud, to the extent possible, promoting safety, and improving the services that The Vakay endeavors to offer Users.
5. YOUR RIGHTS
5.1. Portability and Accessibility of Data
You have the right to request certain copies of your personal information we retain. In some cases, you may have the right to request copies of personal information you provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and/or request us to transmit this information to another service provider (where doing so would be technically feasible).
5.2. Rectification
You have the right to ask us to update your inaccurate or incomplete personal information (which cannot be updated via Users’ The Vakay account).
5.3. Erasure
We retain Users’ personal information for as long as is required for the performance of the contract between you and us, to comply with regulations and legal obligations, and as permitted by relevant law. You retain the right to request erasure of your personal information, with limitations and restrictions. Should you request the erasure of your personal information, please be aware of the following:
• We may retain personal information as required in furtherance of our legitimate business interests, such as prevention of money laundering, detecting and preventing fraudulent activity, to the extent feasible. For example, if we suspend a The Vakay account for fraud or safety reasons, we may retain information from that The Vakay account in order to prevent that Member or User from opening a new The Vakay account moving forward.
• We may retain and use personal information as required in order to comply with legal obligations. For example, The Vakay may retain information for taxation, legal reporting and/or auditing inquiries.
• Information you have shared with others (e.g., Reviews, forum postings) will continue to be publicly visible on The Vakay, even after an account is cancelled. However, attribution of such information to you will be removed.
• To a limited extent, copies of your information (e.g., log records) will remain in our database, but are disassociated from personal identifiers, to the extent feasible.
• Because we maintain The Vakay and endeavor to protect against accidental or malicious loss and destruction, residual copies of your personal information may not be removed from our backup systems for a limited period of time.
5.4. Withdrawing Consent
You may withdraw your consent for the processing of your personal information at any time by changing your account settings or by sending a communication to The Vakay, specifying which consent you are requesting to withdraw. Note that the withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing activities based on such consent before its withdrawal.
5.5. Restriction of Processing
You have the right to limit the ways in which we use your personal information, in particular where (i) you contest the accuracy of your personal information; (ii) processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal information; (iii) we no longer require your personal information for processing purposes, but you require the personal information for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; or (iv) you object to processing pursuant to Section 5.6 (below) and, pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of The Vakay override your own.
5.6. Objection to Processing
5.7. Lodging Complaints
6. RETENTION
We retain personal information for as long as is required, or so long as permitted considering the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with relevant regulations. The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:
• the length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide The Vakay to you (for example, for as long as you retain an account with us or continue to use The Vakay);
• whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); and/or
• whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).
7. OPERATING GLOBALLY & INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
To facilitate our operations, The Vakay may transfer, store, and process your information by or with our partners and/or service providers based in the United States. Laws in the United States may differ from the laws applicable to your country of residence. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in these other countries may be entitled to access your personal information. Some of these countries may become subject to a European Commission adequacy decision. In instances, measures have or will be taken pursuant to applicable data protection law, such as standard contractual clauses within The Vakay or with the relevant third party to protect this personal data.
7.1. Other Means to Ensure an Adequate Level of Data Protection
California and Vermont
If you reside in California or Vermont this page applies to you and supplements The Vakay’s Privacy Policy.
1. CALIFORNIA AND VERMONT RESIDENTS
The Vakay will not share information it collects about you with its affiliates or third parties (both financial and non-financial), except as required or permitted by your state’s law.
2. CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
California law permits Members who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their personal information (if any) for direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of personal information disclosed to those third parties. Direct requests for such information to Support@TheVakay.com. The Vakay does not share personal information with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes without your prior consent. Accordingly, you can prevent disclosure of your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes by withholding consent.
Effective January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) allows California residents, upon a verifiable consumer request, to request that a business that collects consumers’ personal information to give consumers access, in a portable and (if technically feasible) readily usable form, to the specific pieces and categories of personal information that the business has collected about the consumer, the categories of sources for that information, the business or commercial purposes for collecting the information, and the categories of third parties with which the information was shared. For more information about how we collect, use, and disclose personal information for business purposes, please review our Privacy Policy.
California residents also have the right to submit a request for deletion of information under certain circumstances. Consistent with California law, if you choose to exercise your rights, we won’t charge you different prices or provide different quality of services unless those differences are related to your information.
See here for information on data subject rights requests and how to submit a request. Please note that you must verify your identity and request before further action is taken. As a part of this process, government identification may be required. Consistent with California law, you may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. In order to designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, you must provide a valid power of attorney, the requestor's valid government issued identification, and the authorized agent’s valid government issued identification.
We do not sell personal information to third parties. We do allow third parties to collect personal information through the The Vakay Platform and share personal information with third parties for the business purposes described in the Privacy Policy, including without limitation advertising and marketing on the The Vakay Platform and elsewhere based on users’ online activities over time and across The Vakay, services, and devices.
3. YOUR RIGHTS
Please refer to the “Your Rights” section of the Privacy Policy.
Email & SMS Messaging Marketing
Users understand and agree that the Website may send Users SMS text messages, push notifications, emails and/or other forms of electronic or telephonic communications, generated by and/or through the Website to their personal email address, cellular, or other device in order to provide information including, but not limited to, travel booking confirmations and updates, for marketing purposes, and/or for other purposes described in, or implied by, this Privacy Policy.
Cookies Policy
Last updated: December 13, 2020
This Cookies Policy explains what Cookies are and how We use them. You should read this policy so You can understand what type of cookies We use, or the information We collect using Cookies and how that information is used.
Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies Users, but personal information that we store about You may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from Cookies. For further information on how We use, store, and keep your personal data secure, see our Privacy Policy.
We do not store sensitive personal information, such as mailing addresses, account passwords, etc. in the Cookies We use.
Interpretation and Definitions
Interpretation
The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.
Definitions
For the purposes of this Cookies Policy:
Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Cookies Policy) refers to The Vakay, LLC, 6312 Silver Lake Dr. Saugatuck, MI 49453.
Cookies means small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing details of your browsing history on that website among its many uses.
Website refers to The Vakay, accessible from TheVakay.com
You means the individual accessing or using the Website, or a company, or any legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Website, as applicable.
The use of the Cookies
Type of Cookies We Use
Cookies can be "Persistent" or "Session" Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close your web browser.
We use both session and persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:
Necessary / Essential Cookies
Type: Session Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website.
Functionality Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.
Tracking and Performance Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Third-Parties
Purpose: These Cookies are used to track information about traffic to the Website and how users use the Website. The information gathered via these Cookies may directly or indirectly identify you as an individual visitor. This is because the information collected is typically linked to a pseudonymous identifier associated with the device you use to access the Website. We may also use these Cookies to test new pages, features or new functionality of the Website to see how our users react to them.
Targeting and Advertising Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Third-Parties
Purpose: These Cookies track your browsing habits to enable Us to show advertising which is more likely to be of interest to You. These Cookies use information about your browsing history to group You with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, and with Our permission, third party advertisers can place Cookies to enable them to show adverts which We think will be relevant to your interests while You are on third party websites.
Social Media Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Third-Parties
Purpose: In addition to Our own Cookies, We may also use various third party plug-ins from social media networking websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google+ to report usage statistics of the Website and to provide social media features. These third party plug-ins may store Cookies. We do not control these Social Media Cookies. Please refer to the relevant social media networking's website privacy policies for information about their cookies.
Your Choices Regarding Cookies
If You prefer to avoid the use of Cookies on the Website, first You must disable the use of Cookies in your browser and then delete the Cookies saved in your browser associated with this website. You may use this option for preventing the use of Cookies at any time.
If You do not accept Our Cookies, You may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Website and some features may not function properly.
If You'd like to delete Cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse Cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser.
For any other web browser, please visit your web browser's official web pages.
More Information about Cookies
You can learn more about cookies here: All About Cookies by Terms Feed.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Cookies Policy, You can contact us:
