Privacy
Banff Rooms collects only what it needs to run a housing board. We don't sell your information, show ads or use it for marketing.
Who we are
Banff Rooms is a free, non-commercial project run by Oscar Irvine, who is responsible for your information. For anything about your data, email hello@banffrooms.net.
What we collect
- Your email address, to sign you in and to let you know when someone messages you. It is never shown to other people. If you sign in with Facebook, we receive only your name and email from Facebook.
- Your first name, photo and short description, shown on your listings, profile and messages.
- Your living-style quiz answers, used to work out match scores. Others see how their answers compare with yours.
- Listings, profiles, photos and messages you post. Listings are public. "Looking for a place" profiles are visible only to signed-in members. Messages are only visible to the people in the conversation.
- Reports you send, which only the admin can see.
We use this to run the site: showing your posts, matching people, delivering messages, keeping the board safe and dealing with reports. Under UK data protection law, we rely on this being needed to provide the service you signed up for, and on our legitimate interest in keeping the board safe and free of scams.
Who else handles it
We use a few trusted services to run the site. They process data for us and aren't allowed to use it for their own purposes.
- Supabase: database, sign-in and photo storage. Your data is stored on their servers in Ireland (EU).
- Vercel: hosts and serves the website.
- Resend: sends sign-in emails and "you have a new message" emails, which include the sender's first name and a short preview of the message.
- Anthropic: only if you use the "paste your Facebook post" feature. The text you paste is sent to Anthropic's AI service to fill in the form, and isn't stored by us unless you publish it.
Because our database is in Ireland and some of these services are based in, or process data in, the United States, your information is stored and handled outside Canada. We only use providers that protect it under their own privacy commitments. We may also share information if the law requires it, or to deal with fraud or a safety risk.
How long we keep it
- Your account and posts are kept until you delete them or ask us to delete your account.
- When you ask us to delete your account, we remove your account, profile, listings, photos and messages within 30 days. Backup copies may take a little longer to clear.
- Content the admin removes for breaking the terms is hidden straight away and kept only as long as needed to deal with the report or repeat abuse.
Cookies and storage
Banff Rooms doesn't use advertising, analytics or tracking cookies. Your browser stores a few small things so the site works:
- Sign-in session: keeps you signed in on this device. Essential.
- Your living-style quiz answers, if you take the quiz before signing in, so your match scores work.
- Small preferences, such as hiding the "how it works" tip.
You can clear these at any time in your browser settings. Clearing them signs you out.
Your rights
You can ask to see the information we hold about you, correct it, or have it deleted. You can edit or delete your listings and hide your profile at any time from your account page. To delete your account and everything linked to it, email hello@banffrooms.net from the address you signed up with. More on deleting your data.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please email us first. You can also complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (oipc.ab.ca) or the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
Age
Banff Rooms is for people aged 19 and over. If we learn that someone younger has an account, we'll delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top, and for significant changes we'll show a notice on the site.