Privacy policy

Gold Scouts is a directory of out-of-the-ordinary experiences. We connect users with independent local providers. We are the data controller for the information described on this page. You can reach us at contact@goldscouts.com.

• Provider accounts. Email address and password (stored hashed by our authentication provider), plus the business details you enter — business name, contact details, description, location and photographs.
• Experience listings. Everything you publish about an experience, including images you upload.
• Customer profile photo (optional). If you add a photo on your Account page, it is not listed publicly. Only providers you have sent an enquiry to (with your first name and last initial) and authorised Gold Scouts administrators handling support or safety can see it. You can change or remove it at any time; closing your account deletes it. Providers only receive temporary links, so after you remove the photo, block a provider or close your account, a link they already received may keep working for up to about 10 minutes. We cannot recall copies someone has already saved or downloaded.
• Usage measurement. When you tap a provider's WhatsApp, phone, website or booking link, we record that a click happened, which experience it came from, and a random session identifier stored in your browser. We do not record who you are.
• Approximate location. Only if you tap "Use my location". Coordinates are used to sort results and are never stored on our servers. They stay on your device and are not sent to us or any map service. If you choose "Open in Google Maps" on an experience, Google receives only that experience's public town, region and country, under Google's own terms.

Online payments made through Gold Scouts are processed by Stripe. We may receive and retain payment identifiers, amount, currency, status, fees and limited transaction information needed to operate bookings, payments, refunds, fraud prevention and support. We do not store complete card numbers or card security codes. Payments made directly to a provider outside Gold Scouts are handled under that provider’s or payment service’s own privacy practices.

• To display experiences and provider profiles (our legitimate interest in running the directory).
• To operate provider accounts and moderate submissions (performance of our terms with providers).
• To show providers how many enquiries their listings generate (legitimate interest).
• To keep the service secure and prevent abuse (legitimate interest).

Published listings and provider profiles are public. Our hosting and database providers process data on our behalf under contract. We do not sell personal data or share it with advertisers. An optional customer profile photo is shared only with providers you contact and authorised administrators, as described above.

Account and listing data is kept while the account is active. When an account is closed, its profile, saved experiences, notifications, uploaded pictures and provider pages are deleted, and the person's name is removed from records we must keep. Booking, payment and payout records are kept in anonymised form for accounting, refunds, disputes and fraud prevention. Click measurement is kept for 24 months in aggregate form. Reports are normally kept for 12 months from when they were made. A report still under review is kept until the review ends, and is then removed at the next daily cleanup without a new 12-month period. A report can be kept longer only under a recorded legal hold (for example a police request or legal claim), which has a stated reason and review date. After removal we keep only anonymous monthly counts with no names, accounts or reported content.

You can ask for a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its use, or ask for it in a portable format. Email contact@goldscouts.com and we will respond within one month. If you are in the UK you can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

When you use the Gold Scouts app on your phone, we also handle basic device and app information: the type of device, the operating system version, the app version, crash information and the language and region your phone is set to. We use this to keep the app working and to fix problems. We do not track you across other companies' apps or websites, and we do not sell your information.

Location is optional and is only used, if you allow it, to show experiences near you; you can always type a place instead. Photos are only read when you choose to upload a picture to your provider page or to an experience. Notifications are only sent if you turn them on. You can change or withdraw any of these at any time in your phone settings, and the app keeps working without them.

Messages you send through Gold Scouts are stored so both sides can see the conversation. Messages are checked automatically for clearly abusive or unsafe content, and borderline messages can be held for a person on our team to review. If a message is reported, our team can read that message so we can act on the report.

If you report content or an account, we keep the report, the reason you gave and a copy of the reported content so we can act on it. We never tell the person you reported who reported them. If you block someone, we store the fact that you blocked them so we can stop the messages. Reports are normally kept for 12 months from when they were made. A report still under review is kept until the review ends, and is then removed at the next daily cleanup without a new 12-month period. A report can be kept longer only under a recorded legal hold (for example a police request or legal claim), which has a stated reason and review date. After removal we keep only anonymous monthly counts with no names, accounts or reported content.

Card details are never stored by Gold Scouts. Payments and provider payouts are handled by Stripe, who process your payment information as their own controller. We keep booking records, amounts and payout records because we have to for accounting, refunds, disputes and fraud prevention.

You can close your account at any time from Account & Security in the app or on the website, or by emailing us. Your access stops immediately and we email a confirmation of your request. Your profile, saved experiences, notifications, uploaded pictures and provider pages are deleted, and your name is removed from records we must keep. Booking, payment and payout records are kept in anonymised form for accounting, refunds and fraud prevention. Deletion starts straight away; if a step can't finish, our team is alerted and it is retried.

Gold Scouts works worldwide, so your information may be handled in countries outside the one you live in, including by the companies that host our systems, send our emails and process payments. Where the law requires it, we use approved safeguards for those transfers.

Necessary storage keeps sign-in and the site working. We use Google Analytics 4 to measure site usage and Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors interact with pages. Clarity loads only after you accept analytics. Before you accept and after you reject, Google Consent Mode keeps analytics storage denied, but Google's script may still load and send cookieless consent-mode signals; rejecting analytics does not stop all requests to Google. You can change your choice at any time from Cookie settings in the footer. See our cookie policy for the full list.