Castle Property Host Inc. (“Castle”, “we”, “us”) manages short-term rental properties for owners in Canada and the United States. This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information through our website, castlepropertyhost.com (in all its languages), and when we provide our services.
We handle personal information in line with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.
1. Who we are
Castle Property Host Inc.
- Head office: Unit 5, 615 Denison Street, Markham, ON L3R 1B8, Canada
- Quebec: 16 Ronald Dr, Montreal West, QC H4X 1M8, Canada
- United States: 195 Talladega Drive, Myrtle Beach, SC 29579, US
Phone: +1 (800) 283-6045 · Email: sales@castlehost.ca
2. Privacy Officer
Privacy Officer: Charles Hong
Email: charleshong@castlehost.ca
Contact our Privacy Officer with any question, request or complaint about your privacy.
3. Information we collect
When you contact us through the website: your first and last name, email address, phone number (optional), property city (optional), reason for contact, message, and how you heard about us (optional). For a revenue estimate, we also ask for basic details about your property, such as its type and size.
When you browse the website: technical information such as your IP address, browser, device type and the pages you visit, used to run and protect the website. We collect analytics information only as described in Section 6.
When you become an owner client: your contact details, property information (such as address, photos and access instructions), ownership and permit records, and the banking and tax details needed for payouts and invoices.
When you stay at a property we manage: reservation and contact details we receive from booking platforms, your messages with us, and records about cleaning, maintenance or damage related to your stay.
We don't ask for payment card numbers or government ID numbers through the website.
4. How we use your information
We use personal information to:
- respond to your inquiry and prepare a revenue estimate;
- provide our property management services, including listings, reservations, guest communication, cleaning and maintenance;
- process owner payouts, invoices and accounting;
- run, secure and improve our website; and
- meet our legal obligations.
We don't sell personal information, and we don't make decisions about you using only automated processing.
5. Your consent
By sending us a form or using our services, you consent to our use of your information as described in this policy. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer. If you do, we may no longer be able to respond to your request or provide some services.
6. Cookies and Google Analytics
Our website uses Google Analytics, a service of Google LLC (United States), to understand how visitors use the site. When you first visit, a banner lets you accept or decline analytics cookies:
- Quebec: analytics cookies stay off unless you click Accept.
- Elsewhere in Canada and the United States: analytics cookies are on unless you click Decline.
You can change your choice at any time using Cookie settings at the bottom of every page. Staff who sign in to our website also receive a cookie that keeps them signed in. We don't use advertising cookies. Google's privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy.
7. Who we share your information with
We share personal information only with service providers that help us run our business, and only as needed for their service. They are required to protect it. These include our website hosting and security providers, our email and analytics providers, Google Workspace (business email), QuickBooks (accounting), Zoho and Airtable (customer and owner records), Hospitable (our channel manager, which connects our listings and reservations across booking platforms), the booking platforms we list properties on (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Tripadvisor and Google), and local service providers such as cleaners and maintenance contractors.
We may also share information when the law requires it.
8. Where your information is stored and who can access it
Our website's main database is hosted in Canada, in Quebec. Some of our service providers store or process information outside Canada:
| Service | Where information is stored |
|---|---|
| Website hosting and database | Canada (Quebec) |
| Website backups (encrypted) | North America, which may include the United States |
| Emails sent by our website | European Union |
| Google Analytics | United States |
| Google Workspace (business email) | United States and other countries |
| QuickBooks (accounting) | Canada and the United States |
| Airtable (customer and owner records) | United States |
| Zoho (customer and owner records) | Canada |
| Hospitable (channel manager) | Outside Canada |
| Booking platforms (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Google) | Outside Canada, mainly the United States and Europe |
Who can access it. Castle staff and technology team members who handle customer information work in Canada. Team members outside Canada, such as content writers, don't have access to customer information. For backup and recovery, a limited number of authorized technology team members outside Canada may handle encrypted backups, under confidentiality obligations.
While information is outside Canada or Quebec, the laws of that country may apply to it.
WeChat. We offer WeChat as an optional way to contact us. WeChat is operated by a third-party provider, and information you share through it is processed outside Canada under WeChat's own privacy policy. If you prefer your information to stay with the providers described above, please contact us by email or phone instead.
9. How we protect your information
We use reasonable safeguards to protect personal information, including encryption when it travels between your browser and our systems, encrypted daily backups, passwords that are never stored in readable form, and access limited to people who need it for their role. Everyone with access is bound by confidentiality obligations.
No system is completely secure. If a privacy incident creates a risk of serious harm, we will notify the affected people and the privacy regulators, as the law requires.
10. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy, or as long as the law requires, and then delete or anonymize it. If you would like your information deleted, please contact our Privacy Officer (Section 2). Deleted information may remain in encrypted backups for up to about two weeks.
11. Your rights
You can ask to:
- see the personal information we hold about you;
- correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
- withdraw your consent (Section 5); and
- receive the information you gave us in a commonly used format.
To make a request, email our Privacy Officer at charleshong@castlehost.ca with “Privacy request” in the subject. We may ask you to confirm your identity. We'll respond within 30 days. If you live in the United States, you can make the same requests.
12. Complaints
Please contact our Privacy Officer first. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can contact:
- Quebec: Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec — cai.gouv.qc.ca
- Rest of Canada: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — priv.gc.ca
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We'll post the new version on this page and update the “Last updated” date above.