Privacy policy

What this site collects

Lofoten Handbook is a guide you read. It has no accounts for visitors, no newsletter, no contact form and no payment, so it collects very little.

Pages you visit. Vercel, the site's host, counts page views in aggregate: the page, the referring site, the country, and the type of device, browser and operating system. This measurement sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device and does not follow you to other sites.

What happens on the guide. The site keeps its own record of a small set of actions: which place or guide page was viewed, when a booking button, filter or the comparison tool was used, and how many results a search returned. Each record holds the event, the page address (without anything after a ?), the website you came from if it was another site, and whether you were on a phone, tablet or computer. It holds no name, email address, IP address, browser details, cookie or other identifier, and it does not store the words you type into search. These records cannot be linked to you.

Server logs. Like every web host, Vercel records technical details of each request, including IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. This is how pages are delivered and how abuse is spotted. The address of a search results page includes the words searched for, and the address of a comparison page includes the places compared, so those appear in these logs.

Photos. Many photos on the guide are shown directly from Unsplash, the photo library that licenses them. When a page with one of these photos loads, your browser requests the image from Unsplash, which receives the technical details any website receives: your IP address and browser type.

Emails. If you email hello@charnette.io, your message and email address are kept so it can be answered, and as a record of the exchange.

Admin accounts. The people who edit the guide sign in to an admin area. For them, the site stores an email address, a password hash and sign-in records, and sets a cookie that keeps them signed in. Visitors to the guide never receive this cookie.

Why, and the lawful basis for each

• Delivering and securing the site, including server logs: legitimate interests. The interest is keeping the site working and resisting abuse.
• Aggregate page views and the on-site activity records: legitimate interests. The interest is knowing which pages are useful and which places readers want to book. Neither identifies you, so the effect on you is minimal.
• Answering your email: legitimate interests. You asked a question and the interest is replying to it. You can object at any time.
• Admin accounts: legitimate interests in running and securing the editorial system.

Nothing on the site relies on your consent, and no marketing email is sent.

Cookies

Pages on lofotenhandbook.com set no cookies for visitors: no analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. The only cookies the site itself sets are for signed-in editors, and they are strictly necessary for the admin area to work.

If you choose to follow a booking link, you pass through CJ Affiliate's servers on the way to the booking site, and CJ can set its own cookie at that point (see "Booking links" below).

Booking links

Booking buttons take you to a booking site such as Booking.com. Booking.com links are tracked by CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction), the affiliate network that pays the guide its commission. When you follow one, your browser passes briefly through CJ's servers, which record the click (including your IP address and browser details, as any web server does) and may set a cookie on your device, so that a booking you then make is credited to the guide. CJ's own privacy policy covers that, and the booking site's policy applies once you arrive there.

The guide passes CJ and the booking site the fact that you came from Lofoten Handbook and which button you used, and nothing else about you. See the affiliate disclosure for how these links work.

Who receives data

• Vercel: hosting, server logs and the aggregate page views. United States company, with infrastructure worldwide.
• Supabase: the database that stores the guide's content and the on-site activity records, and signs in editors. Data is held in London.
• Cloudflare: runs the domain's DNS, which directs your browser to the site.
• Unsplash: delivers the photos credited to Unsplash photographers, as described above.
• CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction LLC): tracks clicks on Booking.com links so bookings can be credited. United States company.

Data is not sold, rented or shared for anyone else's marketing. It may be disclosed where the law requires it, such as a court order.

International transfers

Some of these providers are based in the United States. Where personal data leaves the UK, Charnette Ltd relies on the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where a provider is certified under it. Email hello@charnette.io for a copy of the relevant safeguards.

How long data is kept

• On-site activity records: 25 months, then deleted automatically.
• Server logs: kept by Vercel on its own short operational cycle, not stored separately.
• Aggregate page views: kept by Vercel. They do not identify anyone.
• Emails: two years from the last message, unless they relate to an ongoing matter.
• Admin accounts: while the account is needed, then deleted.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of your personal data, and ask for it to be corrected, deleted or restricted. You can also object to its use, and ask to receive it in a portable form. Most of what this site records cannot be linked to you, so for most visitors there is nothing to retrieve. Emails are the main exception.

To make a request, email hello@charnette.io. You will get a reply within one month. If a request is unusually complex this can be extended by up to two further months, and you will be told within the first month. There is no fee. No decisions about you are made by automated means.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, helpline 0303 123 1113, ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. You do not need to contact Charnette Ltd first. If you are in the EU or EEA, you can complain to the supervisory authority where you live.

Children

The guide is written for adults planning travel and is not aimed at children.

Changes to this policy

When the site starts collecting something new, this policy is updated before that happens, and the date at the top of the page changes.