Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 21, 2026

1. Information We Collect

When you create an account or list a property on StayInVaranasi, we collect:

  • Account Information: Name, email address, phone number, password (encrypted)
  • Property Information: Property details, photos, pricing, location, amenities
  • Booking Information: Guest name, email, phone, check-in/out dates, number of guests
  • Usage Data: Pages visited, search queries, browser type, IP address

2. How We Use Your Information

  • To display your property listings to potential guests
  • To process booking requests and connect guests with hosts
  • To send booking confirmations and important account updates
  • To improve our platform and user experience
  • To prevent fraud and ensure platform security

3. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data with:

  • Property hosts (when you make a booking inquiry)
  • Service providers who help us operate the platform
  • Law enforcement when required by law

4. Data Security

We use industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption, secure password hashing, and session protection to safeguard your data. However, no method of electronic transmission is 100% secure.

5. Cookies

We use essential cookies for session management and CSRF protection. These are necessary for the platform to function and cannot be disabled.

6. Your Rights

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data by contacting us at hello@stayinvaranasi.com. You can delete your account and property listings at any time from your dashboard.

7. Payment Information & Razorpay

All payments on StayInVaranasi are processed by Razorpay Software Private Limited, a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment gateway licensed by the Reserve Bank of India.

When you make a booking payment:

  • Your payment instrument details (card number, CVV, UPI VPA, bank credentials) are never stored on our servers. They are sent directly to Razorpay over an encrypted connection.
  • We receive only a transaction reference ID, status, and amount from Razorpay.
  • Razorpay's privacy policy applies to the payment portion of your transaction: razorpay.com/privacy
  • For refunds, the same encrypted channel is used to credit back to your original payment method.

We retain transaction reference IDs and booking metadata (amount, date, status) for accounting, dispute resolution, and tax compliance for up to 8 years as required by Indian law.

8. Cookies & Tracking

We use essential cookies for session management, CSRF protection, and authentication. We also use:

  • Google Analytics 4 — anonymous usage analytics (page views, session duration, referrers). Anonymise-IP is enabled.
  • Google AdSense — personalised advertising (visitors in EEA/UK see consent banner; opt-out available)
  • Razorpay session cookies — set during payment for fraud detection (3rd-party, governed by Razorpay's policy)

You can disable non-essential cookies via your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies will break login and booking flows.

9. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions or data deletion requests, contact us at hello@stayinvaranasi.com.

StayInVaranasi, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221001, India

Response time: within 7 business days for privacy-related requests.