document: title: read our security and privacy statement
text: HOSTELS.COM PRIVACY AND SECURITY STATEMENT

Hostels.com has been processing online hostel reservations since 2003 and we have always placed the security of our internet transactions and our customers credit card details as our top priority. 

We will continue to offer our customers the highest level of security available for online transactions and hope this reassures you when you make your reservations with us. 

All sensitive information exchanged between your computer and our site is encrypted using SSL. Our SSL Certificate is provided by Verisign. This ensures that your information is transmitted securely and is safe from third parties. Please read on for more information on site encryption. 

SITE ENCRYPTION

Hostels.com utilizes a technology called SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). SSL is a set of rules followed by computers connected to the Internet.   
Encryption - These rules include encryption, which guards against eavesdropping  
Data Integrity - Data integrity, which ensures that your communications are not tampered with during transmission and  
Authentication - authentication, which verifies that the party who receives your communication are who they claim to be. 

HOW ENCRYPTION WORKS

There are two levels of encryption: 40-bit and 128-bit. With 40-bit encryption, there are billions of possible keys to decipher the coded information, and only one of them works. Someone intercepting the information would have to find the right key - a nearly impossible task. With 128-bit encryption, there are 300 billion trillion times as many keys as with 40-bit encryption. It is virtually impossible for an unauthorized party to find the right key, even if they are equipped with the best computers. 

TO CHECK OUR SITE'S SECURITY STATUS

In Netscape Navigator 3.0 and earlier, the broken key symbol in the lower-left corner of your browser window becomes solid when you are in secure mode. In Netscape Communicator 4.0 and 4.5, the padlock symbol in the corner, usually open, is closed in secure mode. In Internet Explorer 5.0, a closed padlock appears when you are in secure mode. If you're about to send information to a site that's not using SSL, your browser will warn you first. SSL protects your communications during transmission. Because of the authentication involved, secure servers are slower than the regular server for delivering files. Therefore SSL is only used when transmitting sensitive information across the web. 

PRIVACY POLICY

Hostels.com realises some people are unsure about entering their personal details into websites over the Internet. Below, we explain how we use your information and how we protect your privacy. 

Hostels.com and its associated companies respect and protect your right to privacy in relation to your interactions with this website. Any information which is provided by you to Hostels.com via this website or otherwise will be treated in accordance with the terms of the Irish Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003 and/or such amending or replacement legislation as may be adopted in Ireland from time to time. 

INFORMATION REQUIRED TO PROCESS YOUR BOOKING

For us to process a booking for you, we require some information from you. This includes your name, nationality, your gender (or the gender of the group you are in), your phone number and email address. Also, since we confirm your booking while you are on the site, we require your credit or debit card details so we can guarantee your beds when you pay your deposit. 

WHO SEES YOUR INFORMATION

We are required to send your information to the travel services provider with which you booked travel services so that the travel service provider knows who you are and when you will use its travel services. We give your name, your nationality, your gender (or the gender of the group you are in), your phone number, your email address, your credit card details and of course, the details of your booking. The travel service provider requires this information to accept a confirmed booking from you. 

All travel service providers on whose behalf we facilitate bookings have agreed to the Hostels.com terms and conditions and accept this privacy policy. 

SECURITY

All sensitive information exchanged between your computer and our site is encrypted using SSL. Our SSL Cert. is provided by Verisign. This ensures that your information is transmitted securely and is safe from third parties. 

You should be aware that where you link to another web site from this web site, that Hostels.com has no control over that other web site. Accordingly, Hostels.com cannot guarantee that the controller of that web site will respect your privacy in the same manner as Hostels.com. 

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

In addition to the use and disclosure of information which is required when you avail of our travel related and data processing services (and which we describe above), we use your email address for sending you a confirmation of your bookings along with a pre-trip reminder e-mail or to contact you for any reason directly linked to your booking, or occasionally to inform you of new features on Hostels.com. Our booking confirmation and pre-trip reminder emails may contain banner advertising. We only use your phone number to contact you urgently if there is a problem with your booking. In circumstances where you contact us with a query, we use your contact details in order to respond to your query. 

In the event that you choose to purchase a Lonely Planet Digital Guide on Hostels.com, you will be authorising Hostels.com to pass your email address and country of residence to Lonely Planet so that Lonely Planet can deliver the Lonely Planet Digital Guide purchased by you from Lonely Planet. 

In the event that you choose to use Quick Search to obtain a quote from one of our travel services partners, you will be authorising Hostels.com to pass certain details, as have been entered by you, through to these partners. These details will not contain personally identifying information. 

When you consent to becoming a Hostels.com subscriber, you also agree to receive newsletters and other promotional messages from Hostels.com and related websites operated by Hostelworld.com Limited. The promotional messages will include details of related services of Hostelworld.com Limited which may be of interest to you. You will be given the opportunity to unsubscribe from these newsletters and other promotional messages both at the time you become a subscriber and in every e-mail that we send. 

We use Cookies and pixel tags on our website and in our e-mails in order to help us measure the effectiveness of our email marketing programs and to identify the pages which our customers visit on our website. You may disable the use of cookies through your browser.s settings. 

We want to make it easy for you to take advantage of the travel-related opportunities which we feature on our website. As such we may send you emails that contain information about your apparent travel-related interests. For example, if you search for a hostel in New York on our website and have not yet booked your travel, we may send you an email message to tell you about a special offer for New York hostels. Likewise, if you receive an email from us with information in it about Paris and then show an interest in Paris as a destination or Paris hostels by clicking on the link about Paris in the email, you may receive an email about Paris hostel offers or other French destinations. We believe these email messages will provide you with useful information about travel-related offers available through our site. Please note that you will have the opportunity to choose not to receive these email messages in any such email we send. 

We would not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your prior consent. 

In the event that you choose to participate in our Member-Get-Member program, we will only use information about your referred friends to invite them to subscribe to our email newsletters and email offers and, if they subscribe, for any other purpose notified to them at the time of subscription. 

On occasions, we may supply statistics about our customers to third-parties such as hostels or other agents. These statistics never contain personally identifying information. 

REVIEWS

We offer you the opportunity to post reviews of the accommodation you book through our site. Where you provide us with a review, we may include your review on our websites and on selected partner sites. 

YOUR ACCESS AND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

You have the right to request a copy of the information which we hold about you (for which we may charge you a small fee) and to have inaccuracies in the information corrected. If you wish to avail of any of these rights, please contact us at customerservice@hostels.com 

LIMITATION AND EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY

HOSTELS.COM, ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, SERVANTS AND AGENTS, AFFILIATES OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE PARENT AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE IN RESPECT OF ANY CLAIMS, EMERGENCIES, DEMANDS, CAUSES OF ACTION, DAMAGES, LOSSES, EXPENSES INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, REASONABLE ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS OF PROCEEDINGS ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO YOU IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND YOUR CONSENT. 

AMENDMENT OF PRIVACY AND SECURITY STATEMENT

Hostels.com reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend this Privacy and Security Statement at any time and you should regularly check this privacy policy for any amendments. However, where any such amendments would materially change the use we make of any personal data, any such amendment will be subject to your prior consent.