Introduction
YourHostel ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how your personal information is collected, used, and disclosed by YourHostel. This Privacy Policy applies to our website, and its associated subdomains (collectively, our "Service") alongside our application, YourHostel. By accessing or using our Service, you signify that you have read, understood, and agree to our collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Information We Collect
We collect information from you when you visit our service, register on our site, place an order, subscribe to our newsletter, respond to a survey or fill out a form:
- Name / Username: For account creation and identifying bookings.
- Phone Numbers: For communication with hosts and verification.
- Email Addresses: For booking confirmations and important platform updates.
- Student ID / Institutional Information: To verify your student status for exclusive accommodations.
- Usage & Behavioral Data: Automatically collected via analytics tools (see Analytics & Tracking section below), including pages visited, clicks, session duration, device type, and approximate location.
How We Use Your Information
Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:
- To process hostel bookings and verify your identity to property managers.
- To improve our platform and customer service offerings.
- To personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
- To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.
- To analyze website usage patterns and improve user experience through third-party analytics services.
Analytics & Tracking Tools
We use third-party analytics and behavior tracking tools to understand how visitors interact with our platform. These tools help us improve performance, fix usability issues, and optimize the user experience. The tools we use are:
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
We use Google Analytics 4, provided by Google LLC, to collect anonymized usage data about how visitors interact with our website. GA4 collects information such as:
- Pages viewed and navigation paths
- Time spent on pages and session duration
- Device type, browser, and operating system
- Approximate geographic location (country/city level)
- Referral source (how you arrived at our site)
This data is processed by Google and governed by Google's Privacy Policy. IP addresses are anonymized and we do not use GA4 to identify individual users. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking via the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Microsoft Clarity
We use Microsoft Clarity, provided by Microsoft Corporation, to understand user behavior through session recordings and heatmaps. Clarity may collect:
- Mouse movements, clicks, and scrolling behavior
- Session replays (recordings of your interactions on our pages)
- Heatmap data showing which areas of a page receive the most attention
- Rage clicks and dead clicks to identify usability problems
Clarity automatically masks sensitive input fields (such as passwords and form data) and does not capture personally identifiable information. Data collected by Clarity is governed by Microsoft's Privacy Statement. You can opt out of Clarity by visiting Microsoft's opt-out page.
By using YourHostel, you consent to processing of your usage data by these analytics tools for the purposes described above. You may withdraw consent at any time using the opt-out options provided.
Cookies
Our website uses cookies — small text files stored in your browser — to enable core functionality and analytics. Specifically, Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity set first- and third-party cookies to distinguish users and sessions. You can control cookie preferences through your browser settings; however, disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some parts of our Service.
Data Security
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway provider's database, only accessible by those authorized with special access rights.
Third-Party Services
Our Service may contain links to third-party websites or integrate third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you interact with through our platform, including Google and Microsoft as detailed in the Analytics section above.
Need to update your data or have a privacy concern?
You can review, correct, update or delete your personal data directly through your account settings or by contacting our data protection officer at [email protected]. For analytics-related requests, please include "Analytics Opt-Out" in your subject line.