Privacy Policy

Paradise Hunter Inc. respects the privacy of visitors to our website.

This document lays out what information we collect, how we use it, and the steps we take to safeguard your private information – including your e-mail address. If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact us.

All visitors to our site can view the country information, property listings for rent and sale, and view postings in the message boards without being registered. If users wish to post comments, reviews, create property listings, or book travel, we require that they sign up for an account.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected online through the ParadiseHunter.com website, and may not reflect our policy pertaining to information collected through other means.

GENERAL INFORMATION

ParadiseHunter.com appreciates that nobody likes to get SPAM. We will not share your e-mail address with any unaffiliated person or company unless we are required by law to do so, you choose to enter a sponsored contest, or you wish to use our online forms to inquire about a property for sale or rent. In the latter case, we will provide your e-mail address to the person or company that you are initiating contact with so that they may reply to your query.

Account holders have the option to receive our e-newsletter, which may include feature articles, notice of website upgrades and enhancements and policy changes. These newsletters may also contain promotion for companies that have chosen to advertise with us.

Account holders also have the option to receive notification of the Last Minute Deals available on our website. These notifications contain promotional pricing from companies and individuals that have chosen to advertise with us.

On rare occasions, we may e-mail you with critical information about the website, even if you have selected to not receive our e-newsletters. Two examples of when we may need to do this are if you have a property listing that is about to expire or if we make changes to the website which will significantly alter your ability to use elements of the site.

NOTICE: PARADISEHUNTER.COM WILL NEVER CONTACT YOU VIA E-MAIL REQUESTING FINANCIAL OR ACCOUNT INFORMATION. PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY AT security@paradisehunter.com IF YOU RECEIVE A SUSPICIOUS E-MAIL.

PROTECTING THE PRIVACY OF CHILDREN

ParadiseHunter.com is not directed towards children, and people under the age of 18 should not use this website without direct permission from their parents or legal guardians. If you are using this website and are a minor, please do not provide any personal information (e-mail addresses, name, phone number, address). We will not knowingly collect any personally identifying information from a minor, and if we become aware that a minor has entered personal information, we will delete it immediately.

THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The information that we collect falls into three categories: (1) Information supplied by visitors to the site when they sign up for an account; (2) Payment information that we collect when processing a payment for product or service purchased on our website; (3) Information we gather and aggregate about how our visitors use and navigate our website. We also gather information about the type of browser and operating system you’re using, the website that referred you, and your IP address (a numerical identifier used by computers). We use this information to help us understand and interact with our visitors, and to ultimately provide you a better surfing experience.

We may use a third party to gather and analyze aggregated traffic information or to serve ads on our web pages. These third party companies may read your IP address, but do not have access to private information such as your name, email address, or financial information.

HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

Your privacy is important to us. As such, all personal information that we gather is stored behind firewalls on our secure servers and maintained in a protected environment. All credit card information you provide us is transmitted over the internet using industry-standard secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, and is stored encrypted in databases on a restricted-access server. Having said that, no physical or electronic security system is 100% impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our servers or databases, nor can we guarantee that information you supply won't be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the internet.

HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION

Due to the type of information that we provide on our website, some of our users will go for extended periods of time between visits to our site. For this reason, we will keep your information for a minimum period of 2 years after your last visit, at which time it may be deleted.

INFORMATION SHARING AND DISCLOSURE

Personal Information: Generally, we will not share any personally identifying information with any unrelated third party with a few exceptions; 1) if you have entered a contest that we hold in conjunction with a partner (see CONTESTS AND SWEEPSTAKES), 2) if we are using a third party to fulfill an order, booking or service, or to complete a transaction, 3) when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our website.

In the event that we use a third party to complete a transaction, our partners and suppliers are contractually obligated to use that information solely for the purpose of completing a request made by you on our website.

Aggregated Information: We share aggregated information about our visitor’s demographics, as well as overall traffic and website usage with our advertising partners and other third parties. This information does not identify you personally.

We do not link individual user data to aggregated data.

CHANGING YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION

You can make changes to most of your private information through the “My Account” link in the top right corner of our web pages. Some information, such as your e-mail address cannot be changed through this interface. If you need to change this information, please contact us.

USING SEARCHABLE PROPERTY LISTINGS

ParadiseHunter.com has searchable property listings that may display personal information, specifically a lister’s name and telephone number.

If you create a listing and do not want people to contact you by phone, you must de-select the “Show my phone number in this listing” field. As the vast majority of people want their phone number displayed, that is the default setting. Visitors to our site also have the option of contacting you by e-mail. In an effort to reduce SPAM, we do not display your e-mail address on our website. Instead we offer visitors an online form to enter their questions and information, and then we forward the e-mail directly to you.

If you are interested in a property and choose to contact a lister by e-mail or retrieve the advertisers phone number, the lister will receive your e-mail address as a means of responding to your initial inquiry.

PAYMENT INFORMATION

As a means of providing faster service to advertisers and people wanting to list their properties, we accept credit card payments online.

All credit card information is transmitted over the internet using industry-standard secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption and is stored encrypted in databases on a restricted-access server. You can learn more about the SSL protocol on webopedia.com.

We will only use your credit card information to charge you for services or products that you have chosen to purchase from us either on our website or through direct contact with our staff. We will not share your credit card information with any third party, except as may be necessary to process your transaction or as may be required by law.

If you would like to advertise on ParadiseHunter.com but do not want to use our online payment processing, you can send a bank transfer as a means of payment. In this event, your property listing will not become active until receipt of funds can be confirmed – generally 3-5 business days from the date you originally send the money. Contact us for more information.

SERVICE RELATED ANNOUNCEMENTS

On rare occasions, we may send you service related announcements if we feel it is necessary. For instance if our service will be temporarily suspended for maintenance, we may send you an e-mail.

Generally, you may not opt-out of these non-promotional communications. If you do not want to receive these e-mails, you have the option of deactivating your account. Please see ACCOUNT DEACTIVATION.

E-MAIL TO A FRIEND

If you choose to e-mail a listing to a friend or want to notify them of something on our site, we will ask you for your friend’s e-mail address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time message inviting him or her to visit the listing on our site. We will then store this information so you can simply select their e-mail address from a list the next time you want to send them something from our site.

We will not contact your friend for any purpose other than one initiated by you, and we will not give your friends e-mail address to any third party.

If your friend wishes to be removed from our database, they may notify us at help@paradisehunter.com.

COMMUNITY

If you choose to post messages or otherwise participate in our online community, you should be aware that any personally identifiable information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other users of these forums, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information that you choose to submit in these forums.

If you choose to use our community, you must abide by our website’s Terms of Use. Failure to do so may result in the suspension or termination of your account. Also, you are responsible for the content that you choose to post. ParadiseHunter.com does not endorse or support any publicly submitted material, but maintains the right to edit it to meet our standards or length requirements. We also reserve the right to edit and re-use all content posted in our community for use in other sections of our website, on affiliated websites or on our accounts on websites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Flickr.

NEWSLETTERS

From time to time, we will send out electronic newsletters. They may include feature articles, notice of website upgrades and enhancements, and policy changes. These newsletters may also contain promotional information from companies that have chosen to advertise with us. You have the ability to select whether you want to receive these newsletters or not, and can choose to subscribe or unsubscribe on your account page at any time.

CONTESTS AND SWEEPSTAKES

From time to time ParadiseHunter.com will feature contests or sweepstakes. Only registered users will be eligible to enter contests on our website. Some of these contests will be held solely by ParadiseHunter.com, and others may be in conjunction with third parties. If a contest is being held with the participation of a third party and you choose to enter the contest, some of your private information may be shared with our contest partners. In this case, we will clearly explain in the contest rules what information may be shared. If you win a contest, your contact information may also need to be shared with a shipping or fulfillment company for the purpose of getting your prize to you. Your name may also be mentioned in promotional materials or reporting/disclosure due to regulatory requirements.

PHOTOGRAPHS & VIDEO

In an effort to provide as much information as possible about destination countries, we allow our visitors to post photographs and videos on our website. If you choose to upload any material to our website, you agree to the following conditions:

You are granting us permission to use the photograph or video in promotional material for Paradise Hunter Inc.;

You are granting us permission to use the photograph or video on our website, as well as any affiliated websites or accounts on websites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Flickr, indefinitely;
You are granting us permission to use the photograph or video in promotional material for Paradise Hunter Inc.
You represent that you own all legal and moral rights to the photograph or video, and grant Paradise Hunter the right to display, modify, and adjust the photo or video in any way, indefinitely;
You represent that you have legal authorization and moral right to show any people, art, buildings, property, or logos that may be visible in the photographs or videos, and you agree to indemnify Paradise Hunter Inc. and ParadiseHunter.com against any damages arising from your failure to secure those rights.

SURVEYS

Occasionally, we may use surveys as a means of gathering information about our users and to help us measure visitor satisfaction with our site. If you choose to participate in a survey, the information we gather will be reviewed as aggregate data only, and will in no way be specifically linked to you or your account. This aggregated information may be shared with other companies including our advertisers and research companies. The decision to participate in a survey is completely yours.

LINKS AND ADVERTISERS

We want to help you find your paradise. To help us do this, our website has links and advertising from related companies, services and resources that we believe our visitors will find valuable. If you choose to click on an advertisement or link on our website, you may be directed away from our site and you will cease to be protected by our privacy policy. At that point, your surfing experience will be governed by the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use of the website you are re-directed to. You should always read the privacy policy and terms of use of any website prior to using it or entering any personal information.

A cookie is a small piece of information that we send to your computer to help us interact with you. It is stored by your web browser, and can be used to keep your preferences, as well as information about your browser, software versions, and your browsing session. Our cookies don’t retrieve any personal information from your computer, and they don’t read unrelated data off your hard drive.

We work with third party companies such as Google to help us understand our customers and their preferences, allowing us to create a better experience for our visitors. These companies may place and retrieve cookies on your computer that collect information about your visit, but not personal information like your name, phone number, address, or e-mail address.

We also may use third party advertising companies to serve you ads when you are visiting our site. These companies may place or retrieve a cookie on your computer but they will not collect your name, phone number, address, or e-mail address.

You can choose not to accept cookies in your browser, but doing so may result in some functions and features no longer working, and your surfing experience will not be as complete as users who accept cookies.

CLEAR GIFS

We may use clear gifs in some of our HTML-based e-mails to let us know which e-mails have been opened by recipients. This helps us to gauge the effectiveness of our communications. If you would like to opt-out of our e-mails, click on the link at the bottom of each e-mail to unsubscribe.

BOOKING TRAVEL

We utilize Travelocity’s search engine and interface to provide our customers with world-class booking capabilities and low rates. When you book travel on our website, your personal information will be shared with our travel partners for the purpose of completing your travel arrangements. For example, your airline may require your name, address, email address, phone number, travel itinerary and credit card information. When booking travel through our website, your surfing session also becomes subject to Travelocity’s Terms and Policies. Click on these links to view Travelocity’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

All credit card information is transmitted over the internet using industry-standard secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption and is stored encrypted in databases on a restricted-access server.

We will not share your credit card information with any third party, except as may be necessary to process your transaction or as may be required by law.

SUPPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION

We may on occasion add to our knowledge about you using information we gather from third parties. For example, if you rent a property, we may ask the person you rent from what their experience was like, in the same way that you can leave a review about your experience.

ACCOUNT DEACTIVATION

If you no longer wish to use our services, you may choose to deactivate your account by notifying us in writing at help@paradisehunter.com.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT

We’re constantly working to improve ParadiseHunter.com, and as such we may need to make changes to our Privacy Policy. If this policy changes, we’ll let you know in our news feed (viewable in the My Page section of the website).

By visiting ParadiseHunter.com and using this website, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at help@paradisehunter.com.