Privacy

Privacy Policy for the United States

For a list of Privacy Policies by jurisdiction, click here.

This Privacy Policy describes how The Whisper Chateau, Inc. and its affiliates (“we,” “us,” or “The Whisper Chateau”), process personal information in relation to your use of the Whisper Chateau website. Depending on where you live and what you are doing on the Whisper Chateau Website, the supplemental privacy pages listed below may apply to you. Please follow the links and review the supplemental information describing how we process personal information for those regions and services.

IMPORTANT SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

Outside of the United States. If you reside outside of the United States, such as in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) visit our “Outside of the United States” page to learn about (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, visit our “California and Vermont” page to learn about specific privacy information that applies to you.

China. If you reside in the People’s Republic of China, which for purposes of this Privacy Policy does not include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (“China”), The Whisper Chateau Internet (Beijing) Co. Ltd. (安彼迎网络（北京）有限公司) (“The Whisper Chateau China”) is the controller of your personal information for all activities except in relation to the booking or offering of any Host Service located outside China. Visit our “China” page to learn more about the data controller and how your information is handled in relation to activities within China and your rights.

Enterprise Customers and The Whisper Chateau for Work. If you use our enterprise services or have linked your account with an The Whisper Chateau for Work customer, visit our “Enterprise Customers and The Whisper Chateau for Work” 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 Service (“Terms”).

  1. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

2.1 Information needed to use the Whisper Chateau Website.

We collect personal information about you when you use the Whisper Chateau Website. Without it, we may not be able to provide all services requested. This information includes:

  • Contact Information, Account, Profile Information. Such as your first name, last name, phone number, postal 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 ID (as permitted by applicable laws), your ID number or other verification information, bank account or payment account information. ​​If you are not an The Whisper Chateau user, we may receive payment information relating to you, such as when an The Whisper Chateau user provides your payment card to complete a booking. If a copy of your ID is provided to us, we may scan, use, and store information contained in your ID to verify your identity.

2.2 Information you choose to give us.

You can choose to provide us with additional personal information. This information may include:

  • Additional Profile Information. Such as gender, preferred language(s), city, and personal description. Some of this information as indicated in your account settings is part of your public profile page and will be publicly visible.
  • Information About Others. Such as a payment instrument belonging to another person or information about a co-traveler. By providing us with personal information about others, you certify that you have permission to provide that information to The Whisper Chateau for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, have shared the Whisper Chateau Privacy Policy with them, and they have read and understood that it applies to them.
  • Address Book Contact Information. Address book contacts you import or enter manually.
  • Other Information. Such as when you fill in a form, add information to your account, respond to surveys, post to community forums, participate in promotions, communicate with our customer care team and other Members, or share your experience with us. This may include health information if you choose to share it with us.

2.3 Information Automatically Collected by Using the Whisper Chateau Website and our Payment Services.

When you use the Whisper Chateau Website and Payment Services, we automatically collect personal information. This 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. We may also collect this information when you’re not using the app if you enable this through your settings or device permissions.
  • Usage Information. Such as the pages or content you view, searches for Listings, bookings you have made, and other actions on the Whisper Chateau Website.
  • Log Data and Device Information. Such as details about how you’ve used the Whisper Chateau 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 Whisper Chateau Website. We may collect this information even if you haven’t created an The Whisper Chateau 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 postcode, PayPal email address, IBAN information, your address, and other related transaction details.

2.4 Personal Information We Collect from Third Parties.

We collect personal information from other sources, such as:

  • Third-Party Services. If you link, connect, or login to the Whisper Chateau Website with a third party service (e.g. Google, Facebook, WeChat), you direct the service to send us information such as your registration, friends list, and profile information as controlled by that service or as authorized by you via your privacy settings at that service.
  • Background Information. For Members in the United States, to the extent permitted by applicable laws, we may obtain, for example, reports of criminal records, sex offender registrations, and other information about you and/or your background. For Members outside of the United States, to the extent permitted by applicable laws and with your consent where required, we may obtain the local version of police, background, or registered sex offender checks. We may use your information, including your full name and date of birth, to obtain such reports.
  • Enterprise Product Invitations and Account Management. Organizations that use our Enterprise products may submit personal information to facilitate account management and invitations to use enterprise products.
  • Referrals and co-travelers. If you are invited to the Whisper Chateau Website, such as a co-traveler on a trip, the person who invited you can submit personal information about you such as your email address or other contact information.
  • Other Sources. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may receive additional information about you, such as references, 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. For example, we may receive background check results or fraud warnings from identity verification service providers for use in our fraud prevention and risk assessment efforts. We may receive information about you and your activities on and off the Whisper Chateau Website, or about your experiences and interactions from our partners. We may receive health information, including but not limited to, health information related to contagious diseases.
  1. HOW WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

If you reside outside of the United States, click here to learn about our legal bases for collection and processing personal information. We use personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

3.1 Provide, Improve, and Develop the Whisper Chateau Website. Such as to:

  • enable you to access the Whisper Chateau Website and make and receive payments,
  • enable you to communicate with other Members,
  • process your request,
  • perform analytics, debug and conduct research,
  • provide customer service, training,
  • 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 your referral invitations, (ii) to share your 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 customize your experience based on your interactions with the Whisper Chateau Website, your search and booking history, your profile information and preferences, and other content you submit, and
  • enable your use of our enterprise products.

3.2 Create and Maintain a Trusted and Safer Environment. Including to:

  • detect and prevent fraud, spam, abuse, security and safety incidents, and other harmful activity,
  • study and combat discrimination consistent with our Nondiscrimination Policy,
  • conduct security investigations and risk assessments,
  • verify or authenticate information provided by you,
  • conduct checks against databases and other information sources, including background or police checks,
  • comply with our legal obligations, protect the health and well-being of our Guests, Hosts, Hosts’ employees, and members of the public,
  • resolve disputes with our Members, including sharing information with your co-Host or additional Guests about disputes related to your role as a co-Host or additional Guest,
  • enforce our agreements with third parties,
  • comply with law, respond to legal requests, prevent harm, and protect our rights (see section 4.5),
  • enforce our Terms and other policies (e.g. Nondiscrimination Policy), and
  • in connection with the activities above, we may conduct profiling based on your interactions with the Whisper Chateau Website, your profile information and other content you submit to The Whisper Chateau, and information obtained from third parties. In limited cases, automated processes, which analyze your account and activities on the Whisper Chateau website as well as information in relation to activities on and off the Whisper Chateau website that can be associated with you, could restrict or suspend access to the Whisper Chateau Website if such processes detect activity that may pose a safety or other risk to The Whisper Chateau, our community, or third parties. If you would like to challenge decisions based on automated processes, please contact us via the Contact Information section below.

3.3 Provide, Personalize, Measure, and Improve our Advertising and Marketing. For example to:

  • send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information based on your preferences and social media advertising through social media websites,
  • personalize, measure, and improve our advertising,
  • administer referral programs, rewards, surveys, sweepstakes, contests, or other promotional activities or events sponsored or managed by The Whisper Chateau 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 relevant opportunities.

3.4 Provide Payment services. Personal information is used to enable, or authorize third parties to use, Payment Services such as to:

  • detect and prevent money laundering, fraud, abuse, and security incidents,
  • conduct security investigations and risk assessments,
  • comply with legal obligations (such as anti-money laundering regulations),
  • enforce the Payment Terms and 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, and,
  • provide and improve Payment Services.
  1. SHARING & DISCLOSURE

If you reside outside of the United States, learn about safeguards we rely on for transferring personal information to recipients outside of the EEA here.

4.1 Sharing With Your Consent or at Your Direction.

Where you provide consent, 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 Whisper Chateau account or participating in promotional activities by The Whisper Chateau partners or third parties.

Where permissible under applicable law, we may use certain information about you, such as your email address, de-identify it, and share it with social media websites, to generate leads, drive traffic to The Whisper Chateau, or otherwise promote our products and services.

4.2 Sharing Between Members.

To help facilitate bookings or other interactions between Members, we may need to share certain information such as:

  • When a booking request is made, when there is a co-host, or a dispute is submitted, certain information may be shared between Guest(s) and Host(s), 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 Host have a confirmed booking, certain information is shared with the Guest (and any additional Guests they invite, if applicable) to coordinate the booking, such as your profile, full name, phone number, and Listing address.
  • When you as a Host invite another Member to host with you, you authorize that person to access and update your information and Member 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 you as a Guest invite additional Guests to a booking, your name, travel dates, Host name, Listing details, Accommodation address, and other related information will be shared with each additional Guest.

4.3 Information You Publish in Profiles, Listings, and other Public Information.

You can make certain information publicly visible to others, such as:

  • Your public profile page, which includes your profile photo, first name (or initials where applicable), 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 public 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, websites, and apps.

Information you share publicly on the Whisper Chateau Website may be indexed through third-party search engines. In some cases, you may opt-out of this feature in your account settings.

4.4 Host Service Providers.

Hosts 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 Whisper Chateau Website to share information about the Guest (like check-in and check-out dates, Guest name, Guest phone number) with such third-party service providers.

4.5 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 to: (i) comply with our legal obligations, (ii)  comply with a valid legal request (such as a subpoena or court order) or to respond to claims asserted against The Whisper Chateau, (iii) 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 (more information on The Whisper Chateau’s Law Enforcement Guidelines here), (iv) enforce and administer our agreements with Members, including our Terms, Additional Legal Terms, and Policies, or (v)  protect the rights, property or personal safety of The Whisper Chateau, its employees, its Members, or members of the public. For example, if permitted due to the foregoing circumstances, Host 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 Whisper Chateau, our Members, or expose The Whisper Chateau to a claim of obstruction of justice.

Where legally required or permissible according to applicable law, we may disclose Hosts’ and/or Guests’ information to tax authorities for the purpose of the tax authorities’ determination of proper compliance with relevant tax obligations. Relevant tax obligations include The Whisper Chateau’s tax obligations on its service fees, its facilitation of taxes on accommodations and withholding taxes, and Hosts’ individual tax obligations. Information that may be disclosed includes, but is not limited to, Host and Guest names, listing addresses, Host addresses, tax/business identification number(s), date of birth, and/or contact information, property parcel identification numbers, payout information, transaction dates and amounts, number of nights and Guests booked, gross and net booking value and payout amounts, taxes collected by The Whisper Chateau on behalf of Guests and Hosts, to the extent any of this information is known by The Whisper Chateau.

In jurisdictions where The Whisper Chateau facilitates or requires a registration, notification, permit, or license application or number of a Host with a governmental authority, we may share information of participating Hosts with the relevant authority, both during the application process, when the Listing is published, and periodically thereafter, such as the Host’s full name and contact details, Accommodation address, tax identification number, registration, permit, or license number, Listing details, reservation information, and number of nights booked subject to applicable laws.

4.6 Programs with Managers and Owners.

We may share personal information of Hosts and Guests with landlords, management companies, and/or property owners (“Building Management”), such as booking information and information related to compliance with applicable laws, 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.

4.7 Host Information Provided to The Whisper Chateau for Work Customers.

If a booking is designated as being for a business or work purpose and (1) is made by a Guest affiliated with an Enterprise and (2) the Enterprise is enrolled in The Whisper Chateau for Work, we may disclose information related to the booking to the Enterprise (e.g., name of the Host, Accommodation address, booking dates, Listing details, etc.) to the extent necessary for the adequate performance of The Whisper Chateau’s contract with the Enterprise and to provide the 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.

4.8 Service Providers.

We share personal information with affiliated and unaffiliated service providers to help us run our business and for their compliance purposes, including service providers that help us: (i) verify your identity or authenticate your identification documents, (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 Whisper Chateau Services through third-party websites and software tools (e.g. through the integration with our APIs), (vi) provide customer service, advertising, or payments services, or (vii) process, handle or assess insurance claims or similar claims. These providers are contractually bound to protect your personal information and have access to your personal information to perform these tasks.

4.9 Business Transfers.

If The Whisper Chateau undertakes or is involved in any merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or insolvency event, then 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.

4.10 Corporate Affiliates.

To support us in providing, integrating, promoting and improving the Whisper Chateau Website, Payment Services, and our affiliates’ services, we may share personal information within our corporate family of companies that are related by common ownership or control. Some examples are:

  • Sharing with The Whisper Chateau, Inc. Even if your country of residence is not the United States, your information will be shared with The Whisper Chateau, Inc. which provides the technical infrastructure for the Whisper Chateau Website.
  • Sharing with The Whisper Chateau Payments. In order to facilitate payments on or through the Whisper Chateau Website, certain information as described in the “Outside of the United States” section, will be shared with the relevant The Whisper Chateau Payments entity.
  • Sharing with The Whisper Chateau Ireland. Even if your country of residence is outside EEA (e.g. United States, Japan, China) your information may be shared with The Whisper Chateau Ireland which provides customer support and other business operation services to other The Whisper Chateau entities and may be disclosed in line with section 4.5 above.
  • Sharing with The Whisper Chateau GSL. Even if your country of residence is not Japan, your information may be shared with The Whisper Chateau GSL which provides customer support and other business operation services to other The Whisper Chateau entities.
  • Sharing with The Whisper Chateau China. Even if your country of residence is not China, information you provided will be shared with The Whisper Chateau China in the following circumstances:
    • Public data. Information you share publicly on the Whisper Chateau Website.
    • Creating a Listing. If you create a Listing in China, information shared includes: (i) your name, phone number, email address, nationality, and passport/ID details, (ii) (if you use a Chinese corporate entity for hosting) entity name, incorporation address, phone number, unified social credit code (or business registration number), name of legal representative and person in charge, business scope, registered capital, expiry date, other details on the business license and industry permit), (iii) host operation data (e.g., type of e-commerce business, industry permit provided, type of host/listing, entity registration obligation, account/operation active status, revenue, attestations, or url links to any such information), (iv) information relating to the Listing (e.g., address, descriptions, photos), (v) booking and check-in/out information relating to the Listing, such as Guest details as set out below in Host Services, dates, time, and payment amounts, and (vi) messages between you and prospective and confirmed Guests at the Listing. Learn more
    • Host Services. If you inquire about or book a Host Service located in China, information shared includes: (i) your name, phone number, and email address (ii) booking and check-in/out information, including city, dates, times, payment amount, listing address and publicly available data about your listing, (iii) messages between the Host and you or other Guests on the same booking, and (iv) the names, nationalities, gender, date of birth, and passport/national ID details (including type of ID, ID number and expiry date) of any Guests. Learn more
    • Sending Messages. If you send a message to a Host in relation to that Host’s Listing in China, information shared includes your name, profile picture, and message content. Learn more

The data sharing described above is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us to enable you to list or book Host Services in China and connect with Members in China, and vice versa. Chinese government agencies require The Whisper Chateau China to disclose host and listing information relating to China listings, and guest booking and check-in/out information relating to reservations in China. Similar to other hospitality or short term rental companies that do business in China, The Whisper Chateau China will disclose your information above to Chinese government agencies without further notice to you. Your information may be further shared with service providers (including in China) to help run our business. Our service providers may also disclose your information where required by law.

  1. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

5.1 Analyzing your Communications.

We may review, scan, or analyze your communications on the Whisper Chateau Website 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 of Service, 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 investigations and customer support, or to assess and improve the functionality of these automated tools. 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.

5.2 Linking Third-Party Accounts.

You can link your The Whisper Chateau 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 Whisper Chateau Website may be displayed to your Friends on the Whisper Chateau Website and/or that third-party service,
  • a link to your public profile on that third-party service may be included in your The Whisper Chateau public profile,
  • other The Whisper Chateau 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 Whisper Chateau 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 Whisper Chateau Website through this linkage is subject to your settings and authorizations on the Whisper Chateau Website and the third-party service.

5.3 Third-Party Partners & Integrations.

Parts of The Whisper Chateau may link to third-party services, not owned or controlled by The Whisper Chateau, such as Google Maps/Earth. Use of these services is subject to the privacy policies of those providers, such as Google Maps/Earth Additional Terms of Use, Google Privacy Policy (see here for more information on how Google uses information), and Citi Privacy Policy. The Whisper Chateau does not own or control these third parties and when you interact with them you are providing your information to them.

  1. YOUR RIGHTS

You can exercise any of the rights described in this section consistent with applicable law. See here for information on data subject rights requests and how to submit a request. We may ask you to verify your identity and request before taking further action on your request.

Learn more about rights under GDPR here.

If your country of residence is China, learn more about your rights here.

6.1 Managing Your Information.

You can access and update some of your personal information through your Account settings. If you connected your The Whisper Chateau Account to a third-party service, like Facebook or Google, you can change your settings and unlink from that service in your Account settings. You are responsible for keeping your personal information up to date.

6.2 Data Access and Portability.

In some jurisdictions, applicable law may entitle you to request certain copies of your personal information or information about how we handle 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).

6.3 Data Erasure.

In some jurisdictions, you can request that your personal information be deleted. Please note that if you request deletion of your personal information, or if your account is suspended, terminated, or voluntarily closed:

  • 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 an The Whisper Chateau Account for fraud or safety reasons, we may retain information from that The Whisper Chateau Account to prevent that Member from opening a new The Whisper Chateau 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 Whisper Chateau and The Whisper Chateau 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 Whisper Chateau, even after your The Whisper Chateau Account is canceled. 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 take measures to protect data 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.
  1. SECURITY

While no organization can guarantee perfect security, we are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration.

  1. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time in accordance with applicable law. If we do so, we will post the revised Privacy Policy and update the “Last Updated” date at the top. In case of material changes, we will also provide you with notice of the modification by email at least thirty (30) days before the effective date. If you disagree with the revised Privacy Policy, you can cancel your Account. If you do not cancel your Account before the date the revised Privacy Policy becomes effective, your continued access to or use of the Whisper Chateau Website will be subject to the revised Privacy Policy.

  1. CONTACT INFORMATION AND RESPONSIBLE THE WHISPER CHATEAU ENTITIES

For questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or The Whisper Chateau’s handling of personal information (i) If you reside in the United States contact The Whisper Chateau, Inc., Legal Privacy, 888 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 USA; (ii) for payments related matter please use the contact information provided in the Payments Terms of Service page, and (iii) if you reside outside the United States, please use the contact information for your controller provided in the Outside of the United States page.