Privacy Policy

1. About Hostelova

Hostelova is a student accommodation platform that helps students find, compare and book verified hostels, PGs and flats, and helps property owners list them.

Students can book and pay online through the platform. Property owners list for free today — Hostelova does not charge owners a listing fee, commission or subscription. How fees for owners would be introduced in future is set out in our Terms & Conditions.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only what we need to run bookings, verify listings and pay owners.

Account Information (everyone)

• Full name, email address and phone number
• Login credentials — passwords are stored only as a secure hash by our authentication provider
• If you choose "Continue with Google": the name, email address and profile photo of your Google account. Google confirms the email address for us; we never see your Google password
• Your acceptance of our Terms and the version you accepted

Students

• Booking profile: your college or workplace, preferred sharing and an emergency contact, asked once and reused so the owner can verify a booking
• Bookings, cancellations and refund status
• Hostels you save, enquiries you send and reviews you post

Property Owners (Partners)

• Identity verification: your Aadhaar number and photos of the front and back of your Aadhaar card. We never store the full Aadhaar number — only a one-way hash and the last four digits
• Optional verification documents: proof that you control the property (such as a rent agreement, electricity bill or property paper) and a selfie holding your Aadhaar
• Payout details: a UPI ID and/or bank account holder name, account number and IFSC, used only to send you your settlements
• Property details: name, address, map location, photos, room types, prices, facilities, house rules and payment terms

Verification documents are kept in private storage. They are not reachable by a public link and can be opened only by Hostelova's verification team, through short-lived access.

Listing information and photos you publish are public by design — they are what students see.

Payment Information

Bookings are paid through our payment gateway, Razorpay. Your card, UPI and banking credentials are entered with the gateway and are never sent to or seen by Hostelova.

We retain only what is needed to show a receipt, process a refund and settle the owner: the amount and its breakdown, the payment method type (for example UPI or card), the gateway's transaction reference, and the booking it belongs to.

Hostelova does not store card numbers, CVVs, UPI PINs or bank login credentials.

Location Information

• Students: approximate location, with your permission, to show hostels near you
• Owners: precise location only when you choose "Use my current location" or place a pin on the map to mark your property

Device & Technical Information

• Device type, operating system and app version
• Browser information and IP address
• A push-notification token if you allow notifications
• Basic app and website usage, used to keep the service working and secure

Advertising Information (Android app)

The student app shows ads served by Google AdMob. To show and measure them, Google may process your device's advertising ID, device and app information, your IP address and the approximate location derived from it, and how you interact with ads. See section 9.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Create and manage accounts, and confirm email addresses with one-time codes
• Show listings, process bookings and payments, and handle cancellations and refunds
• Verify owners and review listings before they go live
• Settle payouts to owners, with a bank reference on each transfer
• Send booking confirmations, receipts, verification updates and other service messages
• Respond to support requests
• Prevent fraud, abuse and unauthorised access
• Show ads in the student app, which keep Hostelova free to browse (section 9)

4. Hostel Listings & Verification

Hostelova reviews owners and listings before they are approved. A "Verified" badge is shown only after our team has reviewed the owner's identity and ownership documents.

Hostelova does not guarantee the complete accuracy of all listing information, which is supplied by owners. Students are advised to independently verify hostel details before making final decisions.

5. User Reviews & Content

Users may post ratings and reviews on hostel listings.

Hostelova reserves the right to:

• remove fake or misleading reviews
• remove abusive or offensive content
• suspend accounts involved in spam, fraud, or misuse

6. Users Under 18

Users under the age of 18 may use Hostelova under parental or guardian guidance.

Hostelova may request student identification or admission-related verification in certain cases to maintain platform authenticity and safety.

7. Data Sharing

Hostelova does not sell personal data. Advertisers never receive your name, email, phone number, bookings, identity documents or payment details.

Information is shared only:

• between a student and an owner when the student books or enquires — the owner sees the booking details needed to host the student, and the student sees the listing
• with the service providers listed in section 8, only as needed to run the platform
• when required by law or by a lawful request from authorities

Owners' identity documents and payout details are never shown to students or to other owners.

8. Service Providers

Hostelova uses these service providers to operate the platform:

• Supabase — database, sign-in and private file storage
• Google Sign-In — "Continue with Google", if you choose it
• Razorpay — payments, refunds and payment verification
• Google Firebase Cloud Messaging — push notifications in the app
• Google AdMob — ads in the Android student app (section 9)
• Resend — emails such as verification codes, receipts and refund updates
• Cloudflare — website hosting, security and privacy-friendly website analytics that do not use cookies
• OpenStreetMap and its Nominatim service — maps and address search when an owner places their property on the map
• Google Fonts — the typeface used on the website

Each processes limited information under its own privacy policy, only to provide its service to Hostelova.

9. Advertising, Featured & Sponsored Listings

Ads in the Android app

The Hostelova student app for Android shows advertisements served by Google AdMob. Ads are what let us keep searching, comparing and saving hostels free for students. The website shows no ads.

• Where ads appear: between listings on the Home, Explore and Saved screens, and occasionally a full-screen ad when you open a hostel — at most one every few minutes. Every ad is labelled "Ad".
• Where ads never appear: while you book or pay, on refund and payment screens, during sign-in or identity verification, and anywhere in the owner or admin apps. Owners are not shown ads.
• Ads are limited to content suitable for teenagers and older.

What Google processes

To serve, measure, limit how often you see an ad, and prevent ad fraud, Google may process your device's advertising ID, device and app information, your IP address and the approximate location derived from it, and your interactions with ads. Where the law requires consent, ads are personalised only if you agree; otherwise Google shows non-personalised ads, which still use this information for measurement and fraud prevention.

Google handles this data under its own policies: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

Hostelova does not give Google or any advertiser your name, email, phone number, bookings, identity documents or payment details.

Your ad choices

• On Android, open Settings → Google → Ads to delete or reset your advertising ID, or to opt out of personalised ads across apps.
• In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent before personalised ads, and Profile → Ad privacy choices lets you change your answer at any time.
• Ads do not decide which hostels you see or in what order.

Featured and sponsored listings

The "Featured Hostels" section is chosen by Hostelova — by our team, or automatically for listings with complete details and good photos. Being featured is not paid for today, and ads from Google are separate from listings.

In future we may offer owners paid promoted placements. Any paid placement will be clearly labelled as sponsored.

10. Data Security

We protect data with access rules enforced by the database itself, private storage for identity documents, encrypted connections (HTTPS), and payout details that lock after they are saved and can be changed only through an admin-approved request.

No online platform can guarantee absolute security, but we work to keep your information safe and will act promptly on any issue.

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on applicable law, including India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you may request access to your personal data, correction of inaccurate data, deletion of your account data, and support for privacy-related grievances.

To exercise these rights, contact [email protected]. We may ask for basic verification before acting on a request.

12. Account Deletion Policy

At Hostelova, users have the right to request deletion of their account and associated personal information.

How to Request Account Deletion

Users can request account deletion by:

• using the in-app deletion option, if available
• contacting us via email at [email protected]

What Happens After Deletion

After receiving a valid deletion request:

• the user account will be removed
• profile information may be deleted
• access to the account will be permanently disabled

Some limited data may be retained where the law requires it — for example payment and settlement records — and for fraud prevention and security.

Data That May Remain

Certain public activities may remain visible after deletion, including anonymous reviews, ratings, and moderation records. This data will not personally identify the deleted user.

Processing Time

Account deletion requests are generally processed within 7-15 business days.

Abuse & Fraud Prevention

Hostelova reserves the right to retain limited information where necessary to prevent fraud, investigate abuse, or comply with legal obligations.

For the full policy, see our Account Deletion Policy.

13. Cookies & Local Storage

Hostelova uses your browser's local storage to keep you signed in, remember your light or dark theme, keep a booking in progress, and save the text of a property you are adding so you do not lose it.

Our website analytics do not use cookies. See the Cookie Policy for details.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the platform changes. Updated versions will be posted on this page with the revised date, and significant changes — such as a new kind of advertising or a new use of your data — will be announced before they take effect.

15. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions or support, contact us at:

📧 [email protected]

16. Consent

By using Hostelova, you consent to the collection and use of information as described in this Privacy Policy.