Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

At Aplauso, we are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our digital tipping platform.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

We collect personal information that you provide directly to us, including:

• Name, email address, and phone number
• Profile, role, venue, operator, or business-context information needed to operate service pages and reporting
• Wallet and payout onboarding information, such as connected account identifiers, payout status, verification status, and information you provide to payment partners
• Payment and bank account information processed securely through our payment partners; Aplauso does not store full card numbers or full bank account numbers
• Profile information and preferences
• Communication preferences

2.2 Usage Information

We automatically collect certain information when you use our Service:

• Device information (IP address, browser type, operating system)
• Usage data (pages visited, features used, time spent)
• Public tipping-page interaction data such as page views, rating starts, tip selections, payment starts, and completion events
• Pseudonymous identifiers stored in cookies or local storage to distinguish sessions and attribute traffic sources
• Location information (with your permission)
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies

2.3 Transaction Information

• Tip amounts and transaction history
• Payment method information (processed by secure third parties)
• Connected-account, wallet-balance, payout, transfer, refund, dispute, and failed-payout status information
• Customer feedback and ratings
• Service performance analytics, including guest funnel analytics on public tipping pages
• Visit-linked and room-charge-related activity metadata where needed to support hospitality workflows and fraud prevention

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Service Provision: To provide and maintain our tipping platform
• Payment Processing: To facilitate secure tip collection, wallet balances, connected-account onboarding, transfers, payouts, refunds, chargebacks, and dispute handling
• Account Management: To create and manage user accounts
• Communication: To send important updates and respond to inquiries
• Analytics: To improve our services and user experience
• Operational Reporting: To provide employees and operators with page-performance, conversion, and service-interaction reporting
• Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws and regulations
• Fraud Prevention: To detect and prevent fraudulent activities

4. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties, except in the following circumstances:

4.1 Service Providers

We may share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our platform, including:

• Payment processors, including Stripe and Stripe Connect, for payment processing, identity or business verification, fraud prevention, compliance checks, bank account linking, transfers, payouts, refunds, chargebacks, disputes, tax reporting, and related payment services
• Cloud hosting providers
• Analytics services
• Customer support platforms

4.2 Operators, Venues, and Team Context

If you are associated with a hotel, venue, department, outlet, employer, or other operator in Aplauso, we may share relevant service activity, public profile details, guest feedback, tip activity, and reporting with authorized operator users. Unless a business-owned payout account is expressly configured, an individual Service Professional's Aplauso wallet is intended to follow the individual and is not owned by a venue or employer. We do not share full bank account numbers with operators.

4.3 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of the transaction.

4.4 Legal Requirements

We may disclose information when required by law, court order, or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our users.

5. Data Security

We use technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect your personal information:

• Protected Connections: Aplauso and its service providers use encrypted connections for data in transit
• Access Controls: Access to personal information is limited according to role and operational need
• Payment Data: Full card and bank account details are handled by specialized payment providers rather than stored by Aplauso
• Operational Review: We review safeguards and respond to security issues as the service changes

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar browser technologies for the following purposes:

• Essential Cookies: Support account, security, referral, and platform functionality
• Optional Analytics: Help us understand visits, traffic sources, experiments, and journeys so we can improve the site
• Preference Cookies: Remember settings such as your optional analytics choice

Optional analytics may use first-party cookies or local storage to maintain a pseudonymous session, attribute traffic sources, assign a site experiment, and measure conversion steps. Turning optional analytics off stops Aplauso's site, authentication, and dashboard journey events on this browser and removes the browser-side attribution and experiment identifiers we control. It does not disable essential account, security, referral, contact, or payment functions.

7. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your own. We ensure that such transfers comply with applicable data protection laws and implement appropriate safeguards.

8. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services and fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy:

• Account Data: Retained while needed to provide the account and for applicable security, operational, or legal purposes after deactivation
• Transaction Records: Retained as needed for payment, accounting, tax, dispute, fraud-prevention, and legal obligations
• Marketing Data: Retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent
• Optional Website Analytics: Raw optional website events are deleted after 400 days; pseudonymous browsing and attribution details are deleted or minimized after 730 days without a new event. Account, transaction, or CRM records retained for an operational or legal purpose follow the applicable schedule for that record.
• Contact Inquiries: Contact messages are routed to a restricted operational record rather than general analytics. The temporary delivery copy is minimized after routing; the operational record follows its applicable retention review. Failed deliveries retain contact details for no more than 30 days after retries are exhausted.

9. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of your personal information
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information
• Portability: Request transfer of your data to another service
• Restriction: Request limitation of processing
• Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent for processing based on consent

10. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete such information.

11. Third-Party Links and Services

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you use.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We may also send you an email notification. Your continued use of our Service after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: