Privacy Policy

VelvetVoyager ("we", "us", "our") is an independent travel guide and affiliate review website operated in Australia. We publish destination guides, affiliate program reviews and travel tools primarily for Australian travellers.

Contact: hello@velvetvoyager.com

Information you give us:

• Email address and name when you subscribe to our newsletter or create an account.
• Password — stored as a secure bcrypt hash. We never see your actual password.
• Contact form messages you send us.
• Reviews, quiz responses and price alert preferences you submit.

Information collected automatically:

• Pages you visit and how you navigate the site (page views, referrer URL).
• Affiliate links you click, so we can measure which programs are most useful.
• Your IP address, browser type and device type — for analytics and security.
• Cookies — see Section 6 below.

We do not collect payment card details. We never sell your data to third parties.

• To send the newsletter and deal alerts you signed up for.
• To operate your account — wishlist, price alerts, quiz history, reviews.
• To send your free guide or other content you requested.
• To respond to contact form enquiries.
• To improve our content based on which pages and links are most popular.
• To detect and prevent abuse or fraudulent activity.
• To comply with our legal obligations under Australian law.

We never sell your data. We may share limited information with:

• Email delivery providers — to send newsletters and transactional emails. They receive your email address and name only and are contractually prohibited from using it for any other purpose.
• Affiliate networks — when you click an affiliate link, the destination site and its tracking network record that click via a cookie. We do not pass personally identifiable data to affiliate partners; they collect click data independently.
• Analytics providers — anonymised usage data (pages visited, device type) may be shared with Google Analytics or equivalent. No personally identifiable data is included.
• Hosting providers — our server infrastructure provider (HostGator) has access to server logs which may include IP addresses, as required for normal server operation.
• Law enforcement — if required by valid legal process under Australian law, we may disclose information to authorities.

VelvetVoyager participates in affiliate marketing programs. When you click an affiliate link on this site, the partner company (Booking.com, Viator, Skyscanner, SafetyWing, etc.) places a tracking cookie on your device. This cookie allows the partner to attribute any subsequent booking to a referral from VelvetVoyager, which may result in us earning a commission.

• We earn a commission at no cost to you. The price you pay is identical whether you use our link or not.
• Cookie duration varies by partner — typically 7 to 30 days from the click.
• You can opt out of affiliate tracking by blocking third-party cookies in your browser settings, though this may affect other functionality on partner sites.
• Our recommendations are independent. We do not accept payment for editorial coverage or positive reviews. See our full Affiliate Disclaimer.

VelvetVoyager may use Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google AdSense uses cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to show personalised ads based on your browsing history across sites that use Google services.

• Interest-based ads — Google uses the DoubleClick cookie to serve ads based on your prior site visits. Opt out at Google Ad Settings.
• No personal data passed to Google — we do not send personally identifiable information to Google AdSense.
• Third-party opt-out — Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies — keep you logged in and maintain your session. Cannot be declined without breaking login functionality.
• Preference cookies — remember your dark/light mode choice and other display preferences.
• Analytics cookies — count page visits and measure popular content. You can decline these via the cookie consent banner.
• Affiliate tracking cookies — set by third-party affiliate networks when you click their links. Governed by each network's own privacy policy.
• Advertising cookies — set by Google AdSense if advertising is active on the page. See Section 6.

You can decline non-essential cookies via the banner on your first visit, or manage cookies in your browser settings. Note that blocking all cookies will break the wishlist, login, and some other features.

• Newsletter subscriber records are kept until you unsubscribe or request deletion.
• Account data is kept until you request deletion (see Section 9).
• Page view and affiliate click logs are retained for 12 months for analytics, then deleted.
• Contact form messages are kept for up to 2 years, then deleted.
• Quiz results linked to an email address are retained for 12 months.

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you — email us and we will provide a copy within 30 days.
• Correct inaccurate information — you can update your name and email in Account → Settings, or email us for assistance.
• Delete your account and data — email hello@velvetvoyager.com with the subject "Data deletion request".
• Unsubscribe from newsletters at any time via the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email we send.
• Complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) if you believe we have mishandled your data.

We aim to respond to all data requests within 30 days.

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

• bcrypt password hashing — passwords are never stored in plain text and are never visible to staff.
• CSRF tokens on all forms to prevent cross-site request forgery.
• HTTPS enforced site-wide via server configuration.
• Parameterised SQL queries to prevent SQL injection.
• Rate limiting on login and form submission endpoints.

No system is perfectly secure. If you suspect a security issue, please email us immediately at hello@velvetvoyager.com.

VelvetVoyager contains links to external websites — including affiliate partner sites, government visa portals, and third-party tools. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

VelvetVoyager is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us at hello@velvetvoyager.com and we will delete it promptly.

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. For material changes, we will send a notice to subscribed users. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.