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, Trip listings, calendar data, booking history, and communications. “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. If you do not respond within 30 days, your account may be subject to deactivation.

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 transaction amounts and dates
• Platform Fee records
• Payout records and 1099-K reporting data
• Refund and chargeback records
• Invoice data
• Wallet credit and Guild Token transaction history

These records are retained even after account deletion. Financial records are stored securely and access is restricted to authorized personnel for compliance purposes only.

5. Communications

Messages sent through the Platform (between you and Clients, or between you and Guidepole 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 of the conversation 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

6. Calendar Data

When you connect an external calendar (Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook), synced availability data is refreshed on a regular schedule and stored only as long as the connection is active. When you disconnect your external calendar or delete your account:

• All synced calendar data is deleted from our systems
• OAuth tokens for the calendar connection are revoked and deleted
• We do not retain historical calendar availability data

7. Crawled Data (Placeholder Profiles)

Placeholder profiles created from publicly available information are retained until one of the following occurs:

• The Guide claims the profile (at which point it becomes an active account)
• The Guide requests delisting/removal (processed within 10 business days)
• Guidepole determines 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. Your Trip listings are removed from the Hooks.ly marketplace. All 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, photos) is permanently deleted. Communications are anonymized. Calendar connections are revoked. Financial records are retained for the legally required 7-year period.
4. Anonymized data: Aggregated, de-identified data derived from your account (e.g., platform usage statistics) 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. For example, you may request deletion of specific messages or photos. 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 (Stripe, SendGrid, Twilio, Mapbox, Cloudflare) 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 and legal obligations.

• Stripe: Retains financial data in accordance with their legal and regulatory obligations
• SendGrid: Email delivery logs retained per their data retention policy
• Twilio: SMS delivery logs retained per their data retention policy

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Data Retention Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. 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]