Privacy Policy
Last updated August 2026
This explains what data guidely handles and why. guidely is a smart app that accommodation hosts build for their guests. Using guidely means agreeing to this policy. Questions? hello@useguidely.co.
Who uses guidely
Two kinds of people. Owners are the hosts who build a guide, and they have an account. Guests are the people who open a finished guide on their phone. Guests don't sign up for anything.
What guidely collects
- Sign-in details. When you sign in as an owner (Google or an email link), guidely receives your name and email from whoever you signed in with. Nothing more from the sign-in itself.
- What you put in your guides. The text, settings, contact details and images you add.
- Payments. Polar handles these. Your card never touches guidely's servers and is never seen. Polar reports which plan you're on and whether it's active.
- Guest activity, counted not tracked. When a guest opens a guide, guidely tallies a few plain numbers: how many opens, which language they picked, and how often the Directions button gets tapped on each place. To count opens without double-counting and to run each host's free trial, guidely keeps one first-party id on the device. It carries no name or account, isn't shared with anyone, and isn't used to follow a guest around the web.
- Details a guest gives their host. If a host turns on arrival details, guest messaging, activity bookings or feedback, a guest can send that host their name, email, phone, arrival time, party size, and free-text notes (which may include dietary or celebration details), plus messages and ratings. If the host turns on the registration form, a guest also provides their home address, date of birth, nationality, ID or passport number, and signature. guidely stores this on the host's behalf so the host and their front-desk staff can read and act on it. It is tied to the specific stay and is not used for anything else.
- Request basics. The usual things every website sees, like IP address and browser, needed to keep guidely running and to block abuse.
What guidely does with it
- Run the service: store your guide, serve it to your guests, and show you the basic numbers.
- Answer guest questions with an AI concierge, drawing only on the guide's content and the documents the host uploads.
- Handle your subscription and plan.
- Translate a guide into whatever language a guest chooses.
- Keep guidely secure, stop abuse, and answer support requests.
Who else touches your data
guidely relies on a handful of well-known services to run. Each one only gets what it needs to do its job:
- Google Firebase for sign-in and the database.
- Google Cloud for image storage, Maps and Places (the guest map and place details), and Cloud Translation.
- Google (Gemini) for the AI concierge and drafting help, using the guide's content and questions.
- Polar for owner subscription payments, as merchant of record.
- Stripe for guest card payments (tips, room-service orders and paid extras), charged directly to the host's own account. Your card is entered on Stripe, not guidely.
- Resend for transactional and feedback emails.
- Your host's connected PMS (such as Mews, Apaleo or Cloudbeds) for reservation sync, where the host connects one.
guidely does not sell your data.
For guest personal data, the host is the controller (responsible party under POPIA) and guidely is the processor (operator), processing it on the host's behalf under our Data Processing Addendum.
Cookies
Barely any. One keeps an owner signed in, one remembers a guest's chosen language, and the feedback widget uses one on guidely's own pages. The guest guide itself sets only the language one.
How long data is kept
guidely holds your account and guides for as long as your account is around. Delete a guide or your account and the content goes with it, including the guest details stored with it. Guest online check-in details are cleared automatically 180 days after check-in, and registration cards 180 days after checkout. A host can also delete a guest's details on request. The anonymous counts, which aren't tied to any person, may stay.
Security
Everything sits on Google Cloud and Firebase, which are about as solid as infrastructure gets, and access is handled with care. No system online is completely bulletproof, but your data is not treated carelessly.
Your control
Owners can see, fix or delete their account data from the dashboard, or email hello@useguidely.co to have it done. Deleting a guide or your account removes its content and the guest details stored with it.
Guests: the details you give a host during your stay (check-in, messages, bookings, feedback) belong to that host. They decide how it's used, and guidely stores it for them. To see, correct or delete it, contact the host directly, or email hello@useguidely.co and we'll pass the request on. Depending on where you live you may have extra rights (GDPR in the EU, POPIA in South Africa, and the like). Email to exercise them.
Where your data lives
Some of these providers run servers in other countries, so your data may be processed outside your own. Using guidely means you're okay with that.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, the date at the top moves.