Welcome to Pet Hotels of America (hereinafter “Pet Hotels” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

We take your privacy seriously. We want you to understand that Pet Hotels of America collects personal information, how we collect it and how we use it.

Our Privacy Policy is available at the bottom of every page on our website.

1. ACCOUNTABILITY

Pet Hotels of America collects personal information that is voluntarily submitted for such services as advertising on our site, opting in to receive our newsletter, offered incentive programs, affiliate programs, guest bloggers and recognition programs. Collected information may be used for such services as advertising on our site, or to promote our site. It may be transferred to third party service providers, which may include companies we hire for marketing our website, printing and mailing service companies, data storage, payment processing and gateway companies, hosting companies and outsourced technology support service providers. To keep your information secure, Pet Hotels of America will require of third parties that process information or provide services for us on our behalf to maintain contractual agreements or other security measures.

Numerous individuals within Pet Hotels of America are responsible for the day-to-day collection and processing of personal information, including technical and administration personnel trained for this purpose.

However, our top management team is considered our Privacy Team. Any questions or concerns with regard to the manner Pet Hotels of America handles or manages personal information may be directed to our a member of our Privacy Team who can be reached by contacting us through our Contact Us page.

2. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Pet Hotels of America collects information when a user advertises with us, posts information on our blog, sends us information for the Pet of the Week submission and other programs we offer, through contact forms and surveys, and through other interactions with the site. Individuals may also disclose information about themselves when they use features on the sites such as user forums, kennels linking page, the “Share” feature or when they contact Administration. We collect the names, e-mail addresses, sometimes pet’s names, favorite hotel names and sometimes phone numbers of individuals’ friends when that individual uses the “Share our Site” feature on our site.

1. Information collected on Pet Hotels of America

Pet Hotels of America collections two types of information: Information on your pet and favorite hotel that does not identify you personally (“Non-Personal Information”), and information that does identify you personally (“Personal Information”).

(i) Non-Personal Information

Our Web servers may automatically record certain technical information related to your visit to the site. This information is anonymous. It does not identify you personally. It includes things such as: the Internet domain for your Internet service provider; the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer accessing our site; the keyword used to search for our site; the date/time that you visited our site; the address of the last webpage that you visited prior to clicking through to our site; the browser used and the type of computer operating system your computer is using; information about your computer hardware; and a record of which pages you viewed while visiting our site.

(ii) Personal Information

When you advertise, contact us or opt in to receive marketing materials and promotions, you consent to our collection of Personal Information including your name, sometimes pet’s name and email address. This information may be used for marketing our site, payment processing, promotions, incentive programs and blogging.

B. What are “cookies” and how do the sites use them?

A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred (through your browser) from a website to the hard drive of your computer. The cookie identifies your browser but will not let a website know any Personal Information about you, such as your name or address.

These files are then used by such websites as a kind of electronic identification tag when users revisit that site. Since cookies are only text files, they cannot run on your computer, search your computer for other information or transmit any information to anyone.

As with many major websites, the sites use cookies. Cookies are used by the site so we can recognize you when you return to the site and personalize your settings and preferences. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you wish, you can change your browser settings either to notify you when you have received a cookie, or to refuse to accept cookies.

C. Personal Information about Children

Our site complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). We do not allow people under 18 years of age to advertise on our site. Nor do we  knowingly collect Personal Information from people under 18 years of age through our site. If we receive Personal Information, which we discover was provided by a person under the age of 18, we will promptly delete all such Personal Information not required for continuing business purposes.

 

D. Limits To Collecting Personal Information

We limit the type of mandatory information collected by us. Personal Information collected by us is limited to what is required to operate our site, ensure compliance with our Terms and Conditions of use and manage our relationship with our customers, including the uses described in the following paragraphs under the heading “Use and Disclosure of Personal Information”, below.

 

3. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

A. Internal Uses

We collect Personal Information to operate our site including to contact customers about site updates, new products, offerings, services, upcoming events. Information collected may also pertain to newsletter subscriptions, Pet of the Week entry fees, to advertising payment processing information, information needed to prevent fraud, uphold the integrity of the site,  and to deliver prizes to users. We may also, but do not have any obligation to, use Personal Information to contact customers regarding changes to the Terms of Service for the sites and any other policies or agreements relevant to the site. If an individual uses the “Share, Twitter, Facebook” features, we will use the name and e-mail address that that individual provides to invite his or her friend to create a user account.

 

In addition to the uses above, we use Personal Information for feedback and marketing purposes, to promote goods and services we believe you may be interested in, to provide a product or service requested by you, to notify you of changes to our products and services, and to customize and improve the content and layout of the site.

 

B. Transfers to third parties

On occasion, we may transfer Personal Information to third parties who are legally or contractually obligated to keep such information private. For example, Pet Hotels of America may use third parties such as payment processing service providers, printing and mailing services, data storage and technology support services. Third parties to whom information is provided may be located in the United States or elsewhere.

 

C. DISCLOSURES TO THIRD PARTIES

We also may disclose Personal Information you provide us to third parties such as marketing partners who provide services, information, education, or products that you have expressly requested and which we believe you may be interested in purchasing or obtaining. In these instances, Pet Hotels of America will make reasonable efforts to ensure third parties use the Personal Information for our stated purposes only, and provide a method of opting out from receiving future communications from such parties, but we shall not be responsible for their handling or dissemination practices with respect to Personal Information. If you wish to change your account preferences to not receive information from such third parties, please contact our administrative staff through the “Contact Us” page, or use the “unsubscribe” link included in email messages sent by such parties. We also may disclose Non-Personal Information to our business partners.

 

We may also disclose Personal Information to a third party pursuant to a subpoena, other form of legal process or request on behalf of any local, provincial, state, or federal governmental department or agency to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

 

4. OBTAINING CONSENT

In most cases, when we do collect Personal Information directly from an individual, the individual provides us with the information required for us to effectively provide our business services, and as such, consent to the collection and use of Personal Information will be implied. When an individual uses the “Share, Twitter or Facebook” feature, we rely on that individual to obtain the consent of their friend to allow us to use that information to invite them to create a user account.