Data Retention Policy

1. Data Retention Principles

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymized so that it can no longer be associated with you.

2. Retention Schedule

3. Active Account Data

While your account is active, we retain all data necessary to provide our services, including your profile information, booking history, communications, and AI conversation history. “Active” means you have not requested account deletion.

If your account has been inactive (no login, booking, or other activity) for twenty-four (24) consecutive months, we may send you a notification asking whether you wish to keep your account active.

4. Financial Records

We are required by federal tax law (IRS regulations under 26 U.S.C. § 6001) to retain financial transaction records for a minimum of seven (7) years. This includes:

• Booking records (trip, dates, and the price the Guide listed)

Hooks.ly does not currently process payments, so we do not hold card data, payment-processor transaction records, or refund records — payment is made directly between Client and Guide. These booking records are retained even after account deletion and are stored securely with restricted access.

5. AI Conversation Data

Conversations with Barb, our AI concierge, are retained as follows:

• Active account: Conversation history is retained to provide continuity and improve matching quality
• On request: You may request deletion of your entire AI conversation history at any time by contacting [email protected]
• Account deletion: AI conversations are anonymized (your identity is removed, but anonymized conversation data may be retained for service improvement)
• Anthropic processing: Data sent to Anthropic's Claude API for processing is handled in accordance with Anthropic's commercial API data retention policies, which do not use commercial API data for model training

6. Communications

Messages sent through the Platform (between Guides and Clients, or to support) are retained while your account is active. Upon account deletion:

• Your messages are anonymized (your name and identifying information are removed)
• The other party's copy retains the message content but your identity is replaced with “Deleted User”
• Messages related to active disputes or chargebacks may be retained until the dispute is resolved

7. Crawled Data (Placeholder Profiles)

Placeholder profiles created from publicly available information are retained until:

• The Guide claims the profile (becomes an active account)
• The Guide requests delisting/removal (processed within 10 business days)
• We determine the profile data is no longer accurate or the business no longer exists

Crawled data is periodically reviewed for accuracy and outdated profiles may be removed during routine maintenance.

8. Account Deletion Process

When you request account deletion:

1. Immediate actions: Your profile is deactivated and removed from public visibility. Any active Bookings are handled according to the applicable cancellation policies.
2. 30-day recovery window: Your account data is retained for 30 days in case you change your mind. During this period, you may contact support to reactivate your account.
3. After 30 days: Personal data (name, email, phone, profile information) is permanently deleted. Communications and AI conversations are anonymized. Financial records are retained for the legally required 7-year period.
4. Anonymized data: Aggregated, de-identified data may be retained indefinitely, as it can no longer be associated with you.

9. Data Deletion Requests

You may request deletion of specific categories of data without deleting your entire account:

• AI conversation history (Barb)
• Search and browsing history
• Specific messages (subject to the other party's copy being anonymized)

We will process such requests within thirty (30) days, subject to our legal retention obligations. To request data deletion, contact us at [email protected].

10. Third-Party Data Retention

Our service providers maintain their own data retention policies. When we delete your data from our systems, we request deletion from our service providers where technically feasible. However, service providers may retain certain data in accordance with their own policies:

• Anthropic — Commercial API data is handled per their data retention policy
• SendGrid — Email delivery logs retained per their policy
• Twilio — SMS delivery logs retained per their policy

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Data Retention Policy from time to time. Material changes to retention periods will be communicated via email at least thirty (30) days before taking effect.

12. Contact

For questions about data retention or to request data deletion, contact us at:

Guidepole LLC
Seattle, WA
Email: [email protected]