Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Open the UAE (the "Service", "we", "us") is an online travel guide and operator directory for United Arab Emirates, operated at opentheuae.com. We help travellers discover places and licensed local operators, and we let operators claim and manage their listings.

2. Information we collect

Visitors (no account)

• Standard request logs from our hosting provider (IP address, user agent, page accessed, timestamp) for security and abuse prevention. We do not link these to individuals.
• Optional, privacy-preserving aggregate analytics (page views, CTA taps) keyed to a salted daily hash — never an IP.
• Cookies as described in section 5.

Booking requests (no account needed)

• The name, e-mail and/or phone number, dates and party size you enter so that the operator can answer you. We relay the request to the operator and keep a copy to follow up on unanswered requests.

Operator account holders

• Your e-mail address (required) and an optional display name.
• A hashed password — we never store it in plain text.
• Records of listings you have claimed and edits you propose.

Paying operators

• All of the above, plus billing metadata (subscription status, plan, renewal date).
• Payment card data is handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number, expiry or CVC.

3. How we use the information

• To operate the guide, relay booking requests, authenticate operators and let them manage listings.
• To process subscription payments (via Stripe) and notify you of important account events.
• To send transactional e-mails (request confirmations, welcome, password reset, claim approval).
• To prevent abuse (rate-limiting, blocking malicious traffic).
• To improve content quality. Editorial text on place pages is generated from public, structured facts; no personal data is used for it.

4. Third parties we share data with

• Stripe (payments) — per Stripe's privacy policy.
• Resend (e-mail delivery) — sends transactional e-mails on our behalf.
• Cloudflare (hosting, CDN, database) — operates the infrastructure that serves the site.
• The operator you contact — receives your booking request exactly as you typed it.
• OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Overture Maps — public open data we incorporate; no personal data exchanged.

We never sell your personal information to anyone.

5. Cookies

• oo_session — keeps an operator signed in (httpOnly, Secure, 30-day expiry).
• A consent flag stored locally in your browser to remember that you dismissed our cookie notice.

We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.

6. Data retention

• Booking requests: kept for as long as needed to follow up, then pruned.
• Account data: kept while the account is active, deleted on request.
• Billing records: kept as long as required by Stripe and applicable tax law.
• Server logs: typically retained 30 days.

7. Your rights

You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, correction of inaccurate information, or deletion of your account and associated data — write to us and we will do it.

8. Children

The Service is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their personal data.

9. Changes

If we make a material change we will update the date at the top and, where appropriate, notify account holders by e-mail.

10. Contact

For privacy questions, write to hello@opentheuae.com.