Privacy Policy

Last modified on: 19th March 2020

This Privacy Policy should help you to understand the nature of the personal information that anchorage.co.za (the Website) collects and how we (the Publisher) use this personal information. See our Terms of Use Agreement for more information. We respect your privacy and limit the amount of data we take to a minimum in order to give you the experience required of modern websites today. We also apply best security practices to ensure that there is as little exposure to your information as possible. Please read our policy carefully and feel free to contact us should you have any questions.

We use your Personal Information only for providing and improving the Website. By using the Website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Who we are

Our website address is https://anchorage.co.za. It is published by Anchorage Guesthouse. Anchorage Guesthouse is a brand and we manage it in collaboration between our business units, cloud solutions, CRM and marketing platforms.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

As fellow human beings, we try to limit the amount of information we need, as much as possible. We are not interested in anything but a positive and mutually respected relationship with our users and customers. In order to provide you with the services you are used to, we collect and use the following kinds of personal information:

  • information that you supply to us by way of forms that you fill in, including consent to our Terms of Use. 
  • information about how and when you use our website – also known as log data. This includes cookies and server logs.
  • information about your browser, device, screen resolution and public IP address most commonly used for logging and statistical purposes, and to adapt the content to better suit your browsing experience. Location information (normally from the IP address) may be used in some systems, especially where maps and directions are involved. 
  • information on any subscription or transactions that you may initiate on our website. We never store your credit card information, as we use the 3rd party payment processor that you choose on checkout. We currently use PayPal and may use other processors over time.
  • If you select to choose one of our subscription services with recurring payments, this will be handled directly via PayPal or our 3rd party payment processors.
  • the information you may submit to us including any comments, contributions, articles, pictures, videos, links and all other user-submitted information or content.
  • we make use of the HTML5 web standards that include offline storage of information in your browser and cache. This is not only more secure but offers great user experience functionality. Most browsers (such as Google Chrome) give you full control over how to manage this information.
  • For registered users, all information stored about you is visible to you through your profile page and subscription, items, product or services page. This is typically your name, email address and any other information that you supply.
  • If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
  • When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
  •  If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. All uploaded files are usually publicly accessible
  • We retain information submitted via a contact form for a response. This is normally in the usual email format, and we don’t keep this information on the website. We do make use of CRM and customer support logging services to ensure rapid response and escalation of any issues. We may add your details to our newsletter if you consented in the submission request.

Cookies

Cookies are files with a small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Like most sites, we use “cookies” to collect information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our website. Cookies have been instrumental to the success of services on the internet. Internet banking, blogging, social media etc. all make use of cookies. They are part of the web standard protocol.

  • Cookies are used to help track your session between page requests and in some cases may be used to link you to your user account. The information stored usually does not identify you using personal information – it normally uses a unique reference number. This reference number is used to reference your personal information we may have of you.
  • Some cookies are persisted in the browser, however most expire at short intervals or when the browser is closed.
  • Third-party cookies are used to allow partner websites, such as social media websites, to offer their services on our website for your benefit. The social media share buttons are a good example of where these cookies are used.
  • If you browse the internet through a shared device, any public wifi or untrusted internet provider, it is always recommended to browse in privacy mode – a common setting in modern browsers. It is also advisable to browse using the https protocol to encrypt the communication, rather than using a straight HTTP protocol. In this situation, you should also clear the browser cache of the shared browser after browsing.
  • If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to save your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
  • If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
  • When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
  • If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

  • Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
  • These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to track usage and statistics on our site to improve the offering and measure performance. We do not track individually identifiable users, all statistics are generalised and not associated with users. We also make use of Google and Facebook advertising features that include: Remarketing with Google Analytics, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting, Facebook Pixel, Integrated services that require Facebook and Google Analytics to collect data for advertising purposes, including the collection of data via advertising cookies and identifiers. We don’t connect any of our identification data with any of our analytics data. The analytics gives us a better understanding of our user’s interest in our own content so that we can offer more value back to our users. We also use analytics data for possible advertising campaigns. Here is a tool to opt-out from Google Analytics, should you not want to be included in the analytics.

Embedded content from other websites

  • Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
  • These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Web beacons

We use web beacons on our website and in our user emails. When we send emails, we may track behaviour such as who opened the emails and who clicked the links. This allows us to measure the performance of our email campaigns and to improve our features and content. To do this, we include single-pixel gifs, also called web beacons, in emails we send. Web beacons allow us to collect information about when you open the email, your IP address, your browser or email client type, and other similar details.

Use of personal information

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • to enhance your experience through custom content, secure access and to help secure your identification.
  • we may automate certain aspects of the information presented to you based on your preferences and usage in some cases.
  • we mostly use information aggregated (not personally identifiable) with other user data to determine performance, popularity and other patterns for better user experience.
  • we may use your profile photo or name as part of the information you submit to the website. e.g. comments or posts
  • we may use your email address to verify your user information ownership, to change your password or for general correspondence and notifications to subscribed services or posts
  • we may send you copies of invoices, orders, payment confirmations, notifications relating to your subscriptions, services, paid services or any other aspects of our service offering
  • should you use any e-Commerce or payment service as part of our website, we may collect authorised payments via a merchant facility. We never store your credit card details – this will always be handled by the payment provider only.
  • we may send you marketing information from time to time as well as news or updates on our services.
  • for any legal requirements, support, system status alerts, notification of safety and security issues

We may disclose or share certain information between our partner sites in order to maintain security and offer a more engaging user experience for you. We will not sell your personal identification information to external companies, marketing agencies etc. We treat your data the way we expect to be treated on other sites. Any employees, agents, partners or subcontractors are required to uphold our privacy and confidentiality policies, further protecting you.

In the case of sale of the organisation, brand or website, or for mergers, acquisitions etc, we may transfer your data under the same terms herein to the acquiring party.

Anchorage Guesthouse may disclose your personal information to the extent that it is required to do so by law under our legal system or as part of investigations into potential infringements or violations of the Terms of Use Agreement.

Due to the nature of modern network infrastructure, your data could be transferred between servers internationally. This could be for redundancy, performance or for specific services only available in other countries.

Who we share your data with

Anchorage Guesthouse does not share data with outside parties or services other than those mentioned here. All services are secured on hosted infrastructure and cloud-hosted services for internal CRM and other services. We use Google Analytics and various social media management tools via our social media pages. We also use YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and Google Web Fonts. We use 3rd party hosting and support consultants to help us manage our infrastructure, security and data.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can view your data on your personal account under your profile. Comments are public and can be found via our search facility.  You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Data submitted for the site may be subject to moderation by our team before inclusion in our site. Any rejected content will be deleted.

Data Security

We make use of encryption to protect user data that is sensitive or that can be used to identify you to the greatest extent possible, bearing in mind that some information at your discretion in public. Encryption can hamper server performance, so we try to balance the encryption by mainly encrypted identification data. We do not store credit card data on our servers, only a reference to a transaction through a merchant or banking facility.

Consent to Electronic Communications

By accessing the Website and/or using the Services, you consent to receive electronic communications from us. Such communications may include notices about your account and information concerning or relating to our services. You agree that any electronic notices, agreements, disclosures or other communications will satisfy any legal communication requirements, including any requirements that such communications be in writing.

Changes and Updates

This and our other policies may change without your consent. We will post the new changes to our website and services. We will try to notify you where possible of the changes, however, you should check back to this page to ensure you are familiar with any changes.

Other Website Links

We link to third-party websites for certain security, anti-spam, social media, social login, advertising and analytics functionality. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of these sites, however, we only use services that we would trust ourselves, as a user, with our own private data. We try to minimise exposure as much as possible, and we keep within the acceptable practice of the community and mainstream websites on the Internet.

Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us by filling in the form on the Contact Us page. See our Terms of Use Agreement for more information.