Privacy Policy

HostGuard is built to be privacy-first and compliance-focused. We do not operate a public guest database, we do not store guests’ full names, and we do not allow searching for individuals by name. Guests are referenced only by the initials you choose to enter. HostGuard is a tool for assessing booking characteristics — not for identifying or profiling individuals.

We only collect information reasonably necessary to provide our services:

Account information

• Your email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), and optional business name and full name.
• Account preferences and settings.

Billing information

• Subscription plan, billing status, and renewal dates.
• Payment card details are collected and processed directly by Stripe — HostGuard never receives or stores your full card number.

Assessment data

• The booking characteristics you enter for an assessment (for example: platform, lead time, number of reviews, group size, message quality and guest initials).
• Computed risk scores, sub-scores and AI-generated summaries associated with your account.

Cookies and analytics

• Essential and authentication cookies required to operate the service.
• Limited, aggregated analytics and performance data to help us improve reliability and usability. See our Cookie Policy for detail.

We use your information to calculate risk scores, generate cautious AI summaries (on paid plans), maintain your private assessment history, process subscription billing, provide support, secure the service, and meet our legal obligations. We do not use your data to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on any individual.

Your data is stored in secured, access-controlled databases. Assessments, properties and subscription records are logically isolated per user account so that one customer can never access another customer’s data. We retain data only for as long as needed to provide the service or as required by law.

• Passwords are hashed using industry-standard one-way hashing (bcrypt) and are never stored in plain text.
• Access to the application requires authentication, and data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS).
• We apply reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect against loss, misuse and unauthorised access.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, but we take security seriously and review our controls regularly.

Under the Australian Privacy Principles you have the right to:

• Request access to the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of information that is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete.
• Request deletion of your account data, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Withdraw consent or object to certain processing where applicable.
• Make a complaint if you believe we have breached the APPs.

You can delete individual assessments and properties at any time from within the app, or contact us to action a broader request.

We retain account and assessment data while your account is active. If you close your account, we will delete or de-identify your personal information within a reasonable period, unless we are required to retain it to comply with legal, tax or accounting obligations. Aggregated, de-identified data may be retained for analytics.

We share limited information with trusted service providers strictly to operate HostGuard:

Stripe (payments)

Subscription payments are processed by Stripe. Stripe handles your card details directly under PCI-DSS standards. We receive only billing status and metadata, never your full card number.

AI providers

On paid plans, the booking characteristics and computed risk factors (never a guest’s full name) are sent to a third-party AI provider to generate a neutral, non-accusatory summary. This data is used only to produce your summary.

We require our providers to handle data securely and only for the purposes we specify.

HostGuard does not sell, rent or trade your personal information or your guests’ information to any third party for marketing or any other purpose.

HostGuard must not be used to unlawfully discriminate. Risk scores are based on booking characteristics, not protected personal attributes, and you remain responsible for complying with anti-discrimination laws.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by the “Last updated” date above. For privacy questions, access or correction requests, or complaints, contact us at hostguardau@gmail.com or via our Contact page.