Privacy policy
Last updated: 6 October 2026
Who we are
Saltwater Direct is a booking platform for holiday-let owners, operated by The Saltwater Group Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 17417170), registered office 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, IP28 7DE. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office as a data controller (registration number ZC265081). If you have any question about your data, email hello@saltwaterdirect.co.uk.
What we collect, and why
What we hold depends on how you use Saltwater Direct:
- If you're a host: your name, email and password, your property and unit details, and your subscription status, so we can run your account and your booking page. We never see or store your bank details -- payouts run entirely through Stripe (see below).
- If you're a guest booking a stay: your name, email, and booking dates, used to confirm your booking, send you pre-arrival and checkout messages, and (if the host has it switched on) give you access to a guest portal. Card payments are handled entirely by Stripe -- we never see or store your card number.
- If a host uploads a compliance certificate (gas safety, EICR, insurance and similar): the document itself and its expiry date, used only to track compliance and send renewal reminders. If a host uses the photo-upload option, that one image is sent once to Anthropic's AI service to read the expiry date off it, then the document is stored as normal.
- If you fill in the "Book a demo" form: your name, email, property count and message, used to get back to you.
- Cookies: see the cookies section below.
Who we share it with
We use a small number of specialist providers to run Saltwater Direct, and share only what each one needs to do its job:
- Supabase -- our database and user accounts.
- Netlify -- website hosting.
- Stripe -- payment processing and host payouts. Stripe holds your card and bank details; we don't.
- Resend -- sends booking and account emails on our behalf.
- Anthropic -- reads the expiry date off a certificate photo, only when a host chooses that upload option.
- Google Analytics -- website usage statistics, only if you've accepted analytics cookies (see below).
We don't sell personal data to anyone, for any reason.
Cookies
We use a small number of cookies, split into two kinds:
| Cookie | Purpose | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in session | Keeps you signed in to your account | Necessary |
| Search attribution | Remembers for one hour that you arrived via a search, so the right booking is billed correctly | Necessary |
| Cookie choice | Remembers your analytics cookie choice | Necessary |
| Google Analytics | Counts visits and popular pages -- only set if you accept | Analytics (optional) |
You can change your analytics cookie choice at any time using "Cookie settings" in the footer of any page.
How long we keep it
We keep account and booking data for as long as your account is active, and for a reasonable period afterwards where we have a legal or accounting reason to (for example, UK law requires financial records to be kept for six years). Demo enquiries we don't action are deleted after a shorter period.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you can ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or stop using it, and you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you're unhappy with how we've handled your data. Email hello@saltwaterdirect.co.uk for any of this.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we'll update the date at the top and, for anything significant, let hosts know directly.