Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

CooperStays ("we", "us", "our") is operated by Julie Van Eccelpoel, based in Belgium. We are the data controller for the personal data processed through cooperstays.com and any related services.

Contact: julie@hellocooperstudio.com

2. What data we collect and why

2.1 Information you give us

• Host registration & listing data — name, email address, property details, photos, and billing information, collected when you list a property on CooperStays.
• Contact & enquiry forms — name and email address when you contact us directly.
• Newsletter subscription — email address when you sign up for updates.

2.2 Information collected automatically

• Analytics — we use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-first, cookieless analytics tool. Plausible does not set any cookies and does not collect personal data or IP addresses. No cookie banner is required under GDPR for this tool.
• Server logs — our hosting provider (Vercel) may retain standard web server logs (IP address, browser type, pages visited) for security and reliability purposes. These are not used for marketing.

2.3 Payment data

Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. Stripe processes payment data as a data processor acting on our behalf under a Data Processing Agreement. See Stripe's Privacy Policy.

3. Legal bases for processing (GDPR)

We process your data on the following legal bases under EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR):

• Contract — processing necessary to provide the services you signed up for (listing management, billing).
• Legitimate interests — operating and improving the platform, fraud prevention, security.
• Consent — sending marketing emails (newsletter). You may withdraw consent at any time by clicking "unsubscribe" in any email.
• Legal obligation — complying with applicable laws (e.g. tax records, responding to lawful requests).

4. How long we keep your data

• Host account data: for the duration of your account plus 2 years after closure.
• Billing records: 7 years (Belgian accounting law requirement).
• Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe.
• Contact enquiries: 12 months from last contact.

5. Who we share data with

We share data only where necessary, with the following service providers acting as data processors:

• Stripe — payment processing (USA, EU Standard Contractual Clauses in place).
• Resend — transactional email delivery (USA, SCCs in place).
• MailerLite — newsletter management (Lithuania / EU).
• Sanity — content management platform (USA, SCCs in place).
• Vercel — website hosting (USA, SCCs in place).
• Plausible Analytics — privacy-first analytics (EU/Germany).

We do not sell your data. We do not share your data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

6. International transfers

Some of our service providers are based outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Wherever personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards — in particular, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission — to ensure an equivalent level of protection.

7. Your rights

If you are in the EEA or UK, you have the following rights under the GDPR:

• Access — request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure — ask us to delete your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data.
• Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent — for any processing based on consent (e.g. newsletter), at any time.

To exercise any right, email us at julie@hellocooperstudio.com. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (dataprotectionauthority.be) or your local supervisory authority.

8. California residents (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the CPRA, including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete it, and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information. To exercise your rights, contact us at julie@hellocooperstudio.com.

9. Cookies

CooperStays uses minimal cookies. Our analytics tool (Plausible) is cookieless. Stripe may set cookies for fraud prevention and payment flow purposes. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

10. Children's privacy

Our services are not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top. Significant changes will be communicated by email to registered users or via a notice on the site.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy? Email us at julie@hellocooperstudio.com.