Effective date: July 22, 2026. This Privacy Policy explains how Guide of Hawaii, LLC ("GOH") and Guide of US, LLC ("GoUS"), separate South Carolina limited liability companies, collect, use, disclose, and retain personal information through Hawaii-Guide.com, our emails, digital products, and related tools (collectively, the "Services"). GOH owns the HawaiiGuide domains and content and maintains the site's publisher advertising relationship. GoUS produces and administers content and operates the site, Stripe and Shopify commerce, digital fulfillment, and customer services for GOH under a paid-services relationship. GOH and GoUS are referred to together in this Policy as "HawaiiGuide," "we," "us," or "our." Depending on the Service involved, one or both companies may receive or process information for the purposes described below. This Policy does not govern a third party's website or service, even when we link to it.
Advertising Partner Notice
GOH maintains the site's publisher relationship with CMI Marketing, Inc., doing business as Raptive ("Raptive"). Raptive is a service provider for the purpose of placing advertising on the site and collects and uses certain data for advertising purposes as described in its Creator Advertising Privacy Statement.
Information We Collect
Depending on how you use the Services, we may collect:
- Contact and account information, such as your name, email address, communications, newsletter choices, feedback, and support requests.
- Transaction information, such as the product purchased, transaction identifier, price, purchase email, delivery status, and entitlement history. Payment-card details are handled by payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal, or Shopify and are not stored by us in full.
- Trip and preference information, such as islands, dates, lodging, quiz answers, saved places, itinerary choices, and product preferences you enter into our planning tools.
- Device and usage information, such as IP address, browser and device type, referring page, pages viewed, approximate location derived from IP, interaction data, advertising identifiers, and cookie or local-storage data.
- Push-notification information, when you enable web-app alerts, such as the device's browser-generated push subscription token, the islands and alert types you select, delivery and deduplication state, and the current app-badge count.
- Precise location, camera, or uploaded content only when you grant browser permission or intentionally use a feature that requires it. You can revoke device permissions through your browser or operating-system settings.
- AI feature inputs, including prompts, conversation context, search terms, images, URLs, and extracted text you intentionally submit to an AI-assisted feature.
How We Collect Information
We collect information directly from you, automatically from your browser or device, and from service providers involved in analytics, advertising, payments, email delivery, fraud prevention, and site operations. Browser storage may keep purchases, saved-trip data, preferences, or feature state on your device. Clearing browser data may remove locally saved information.
How We Use Information
We use personal information to provide and personalize the Services; process transactions and deliver products; maintain purchase entitlements; answer support and correction requests; send transactional messages and the web-app alerts you request; send marketing when permitted; operate trip, map, location, and AI tools; measure and improve performance; prevent fraud and abuse; maintain security; comply with law; and establish or defend legal claims.
Where European or United Kingdom data-protection law applies, our legal bases may include performance of a contract, consent, compliance with law, and our legitimate interests in operating, securing, improving, and supporting the Services. You may withdraw consent at any time, but withdrawal does not affect processing already completed.
Payments, Email, and Feedback
Payment processors handle payment credentials under their own privacy notices. We receive transaction and fulfillment information needed to provide purchases, refunds, support, and fraud prevention. If you join an email list, we and our email provider use your information to send the messages you requested; each marketing email includes an unsubscribe method. Transactional messages may still be sent when necessary to complete a purchase or respond to you.
When a correction form says an email will be used only to follow up on that correction, we use it for that purpose and related recordkeeping, not to enroll you in a newsletter without a separate choice.
My Trip Sync and Device Pairing
My Trip works in your browser without an account. If you choose to pair devices, we use your email address to send a single-use link and 6-digit pairing code through our email-delivery provider. Our trip-sync store associates a cryptographic hash of the normalized email address with a random trip identifier instead of storing the raw address. Pairing by itself does not enroll you in marketing.
The synced copy may include trip dates and notes, lodging, itineraries, saved places, traveler preferences, Passport and field-guide progress, and HawaiiGuide OS choices. We retain the synced copy until you delete it or submit a verified deletion request, subject to legal, security, and dispute-resolution needs described in this Policy. Unpairing removes that browser's access but does not delete the synced copy or items saved locally. Deleting the synced trip removes the cloud copy and ends its device sessions, but local browser data, purchase records, and product entitlements are separate and are not erased by that control. You may clear local data through your browser or submit a broader privacy request as described below.
Trip Reminder and After-Trip Emails
Trip reminder emails are optional and separate from My Trip Sync and the HawaiiGuide newsletter. If you turn on reminders from the Book By card, we store your email address, trip start and end dates, selected island identifiers, and a limited copy of the reservation deadlines calculated from your plan. A deadline record may include a shortened place or activity label, visit and reminder dates, and an official reservation link that passes our server allowlist. We also store delivery and deduplication state so the same reminder is not repeatedly sent. We do not receive the rest of your locally saved itinerary, Passport stamps, field-guide finds, or saved places through this signup.
The standard reminder choice covers booking-window notices and trip countdowns. Its subscription record, and delivery-state records created for that choice, are scheduled to expire seven days after the trip ends. After-trip emails require a separate, unchecked choice. If you select it, we may send up to three additional messages: a welcome-home Trip Replay link, a feedback and recipe check-in, and one next-island starting point, with the final message scheduled around day 45 after your return. Those subscription and delivery-state records are scheduled to expire 60 days after the trip ends. Existing reminder subscriptions and new signups that leave the separate choice unchecked do not receive after-trip messages. If you previously selected after-trip emails for the same trip and then turn that choice off, the active subscription immediately becomes pre-trip-only; an already-created deduplication record may remain until its original 60-day expiry, but it cannot authorize another email.
We use an email-delivery provider, currently Resend, to transport these messages. Every trip reminder includes an unsubscribe control. Unsubscribing deletes the active trip-reminder subscription and stores an email-address suppression record so we can honor the opt-out; delivery-state records then expire under the applicable schedule. This control affects trip reminders only and does not change a separate newsletter subscription.
Web-App Push Notifications and Badges
HawaiiGuide web-app alerts are optional and device-specific. If you enable them, we store the browser-generated push subscription needed to reach that device, your selected islands and alert categories, whether an alert has already been sent to that subscription, recent important-update delivery times used to enforce frequency limits, and the number used for the app icon's badge. Enabling push does not require an email address or precise location and does not enroll you in email marketing.
Automated weather notifications are selected by rules applied to the official National Weather Service Hawaii alert feed. Separately enabled eruption and volcano notifications use U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory status data and are created only when Kīlauea or Mauna Loa rises to WATCH or WARNING. If separately enabled, Aloha Today sends one notification after the new daily briefing is live. Important HawaiiGuide article candidates are ranked using public article metadata such as recency, topic, editorial priority, and island relevance, but a human must review and approve each article notification before it is sent. Important article updates are limited to one per day and two per rolling week per device. Separately enabled major-travel-disruption notifications are also manually reviewed before sending.
Separately enabled golden hour reminders use the selected island and a representative sea-level sunrise and sunset calculation. Separately enabled Box Jellyfish Watch reminders use a calculated lunar planning window and send once when that window begins; they do not use sighting reports or imply confirmed jellyfish presence. Neither reminder requires or stores precise location.
The browser vendor's push service, which may include Apple, Google, Mozilla, or Microsoft depending on the device, transports the notification under that provider's terms. You can change categories or islands, send a test, or turn off the device subscription from HawaiiGuide Alert Settings. You can also revoke HawaiiGuide's notification or badge permission in browser or operating-system settings.
We remove a subscription when you turn it off through Alert Settings or when the push provider reports that it is expired. Delivery and deduplication records are generally retained for up to 30 days after the related alert so the same alert is not repeatedly sent and temporary failures can be retried.
AI-Assisted Features
Some search, concierge, image, and planning features use third-party artificial-intelligence providers, including Anthropic. Information you submit to those features may be transmitted to the provider to generate a response and may be temporarily cached or logged for reliability, security, abuse prevention, and cost control. Do not submit sensitive personal, financial, health, confidential, or legally privileged information. AI output may be incomplete or incorrect; review important information against an authoritative source.
Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising
We and our providers use cookies, pixels, local storage, and similar technologies for essential functions, preferences, analytics, security, advertising, and measuring affiliate activity. We use privacy-focused and other analytics tools to understand site use. Advertising partners may use information about activity on this and other sites to select or measure ads.
Available cookie and advertising choices may be presented through our consent or privacy controls. You may also restrict cookies through your browser, although some features may not work correctly. Opting out of interest-based advertising generally does not eliminate advertising.
When We Disclose Information
GOH and GoUS may disclose information to each other as reasonably necessary to perform their respective HawaiiGuide roles. We may also disclose information to service providers that support hosting, content delivery, security, payments, product fulfillment, email, analytics, advertising, AI features, customer support, and professional services; to a third party when you direct us to interact with it; to government or legal authorities when required by law or reasonably necessary to protect rights and safety; and in connection with a merger, financing, sale, reorganization, or transfer of all or part of either business. Providers may process information only for their own disclosed purposes or to perform services for us, subject to applicable contracts and law.
We do not sell personal information for money. Certain advertising disclosures may be treated as a "sale," "sharing," or targeted advertising under some state privacy laws. Where applicable, you may request to opt out by using an available privacy control or emailing us. We do not knowingly use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you.
Retention and Security
We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described above, including providing purchases, maintaining business and tax records, resolving disputes, enforcing agreements, and meeting legal obligations. Retention periods vary by data type and may be extended when required by law, security needs, or a legal hold.
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information. No transmission, service, or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.
Your Choices and Privacy Rights
You may unsubscribe from marketing through the link in an email, manage browser or device permissions, clear local storage, and use available cookie or advertising controls. Depending on where you live and subject to legal exceptions, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, or objection; to withdraw consent; to opt out of certain sale, sharing, targeted advertising, or profiling; and to appeal a denied request. We will not discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.
Submit a request to aloha@hawaii-guide.com with "Privacy Request" in the subject line and identify the right you wish to exercise. We may need to verify your identity and authority before acting. An authorized agent may submit a request where law permits, but we may require proof of authorization. You may also complain to the data-protection authority where you live.
Children
The Services are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 without legally valid parental consent. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can review and, where appropriate, delete it. Purchases and recurring contributions are limited to adults or persons who have reached the age of legal majority where they live.
International Use
We operate from the United States, and information may be processed in the United States or other countries where our providers operate. Those countries may have different privacy laws. Where required, we or our providers use an approved transfer mechanism or other legally recognized safeguard.
Changes and Contact
We may update this policy to reflect changes in law, technology, providers, or our practices. We will post the revised policy and change the effective date, and we will provide additional notice when required by law.
For privacy questions or requests, contact:
Guide of Hawaii, LLC and Guide of US, LLC
Email: aloha@hawaii-guide.com
South Carolina, United States
