Privacy Policy

Living Atlantic is a short-term letting and property management business based in Cape Town, South Africa. We manage a collection of furnished stays for guests and look after properties on behalf of their owners. The business is owned by Trish Parsons.

In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Living Atlantic. For the purposes of POPIA, Living Atlantic is the responsible party for the personal information described here. Our Information Officer is the owner, Trish Parsons, who can be reached at trishparsons@livingatlantic.com.

We collect only what we need, and mostly what you choose to give us.

• Enquiries: your name, email address, optional phone number and message. Guest enquiries also include your dates, number of guests, preferred area and the property you are interested in. Owner enquiries include the property location and type, number of bedrooms, whether it is currently let and a link to any existing listing. Investment enquiries include your preferred area, budget and intended use.
• Booking requests: when you use Book Direct we collect your name, email address, optional phone number, arrival and departure dates, number of guests, the property, any note you add and the price estimate you were shown.
• Newsletter: your first name, your email address and a record of your consent and confirmation.
• Technical information: your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you request. Our hosting provider collects this automatically. It is used to keep the website secure and working, and to limit repeated or automated submissions of our forms.
• Direct contact: anything you send us by email, phone or WhatsApp outside the website forms.

We do not take payments on this website and we do not ask for payment card details, identity numbers or banking information through it. Please do not send these through the forms. We do not knowingly collect special personal information, such as health or religious information.

We use personal information only for the purposes below and for no other purpose without telling you first.

• To respond to your enquiry or booking request, prepare a quote and arrange a stay or service you have asked for.
• To manage bookings, communicate with guests before, during and after a stay, and provide support.
• To send our newsletter and news about our properties, but only with your consent.
• To keep the website secure, prevent spam and abuse, and fix technical problems.
• To meet our legal obligations, such as tax and accounting record keeping.
• To understand how the website is used and improve it, if analytics are switched on (see Cookies).

We do not sell your personal information.

We share information only with people and companies that need it to help us serve you. They may use it only for the purpose we engage them for, and we expect them to protect it.

• Resend, which delivers the messages you send through our forms to our inbox.
• Klaviyo, which holds our newsletter list and sends our newsletters.
• Vercel, which hosts this website and processes technical information needed to serve it.
• Google, which provides the maps shown on property pages and the spreadsheet we use to manage the content of this website. Visitor information is not stored in that spreadsheet.
• Cleaners, maintenance providers and other partners who help look after a stay, who receive only what they need, such as your name and the dates of your stay.
• Our professional advisers, and the authorities where we are required to do so by law.

If you choose to view or book a property on Airbnb, Booking.com or Lekkeslaap, you leave our website and the privacy terms of that platform apply.

Some of our service providers, including Resend, Klaviyo, Vercel and Google, process information on servers outside South Africa, including in the United States and Europe. We use providers that are bound by contract and recognised safeguards to protect personal information to a standard comparable to POPIA, as required by section 72 of the Act.

This website does not set advertising or tracking cookies of its own. Our property pages show an embedded Google map, and Google may set cookies when that map loads.

We do not currently run analytics or advertising tools. If we switch on tools such as Google Analytics or the Meta pixel, they use cookies to measure how visitors use the website and the results of our advertising. Before doing so we will describe them in this policy and, where required, ask for your consent. You can block or delete cookies at any time in your browser settings.

We send our newsletter only to people who have asked for it. When you subscribe, we email you a link to confirm your address, and you are added to our list only once you click it. Every newsletter contains an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us to remove you at any time. If you unsubscribe, we keep a minimal record of your address so that we do not email you again.

We may still send you service messages about an enquiry or booking you have made. These are not marketing.

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, and as the law requires.

• Enquiries and booking requests that do not lead to a stay: for as long as needed to deal with your request and a reasonable period afterwards in case you follow up, normally no longer than two years.
• Guest and booking records: for the stay and then for as long as the law requires, which for financial records is generally five years.
• Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe.
• Technical logs: for the short periods applied by our hosting provider.

When information is no longer needed we delete it or make it anonymous.

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information against loss, damage and unauthorised access, as section 19 of POPIA requires. The website is served over an encrypted connection, access to the information is limited to the people who need it, and we use reputable service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If personal information is compromised, we will notify the Information Regulator and the people affected as the law requires.

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• ask us whether we hold personal information about you and request a copy of it;
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, or to delete information we are no longer entitled to keep;
• object to us processing your information, including for direct marketing;
• withdraw consent you have given, which does not affect processing that happened before you withdrew it; and
• complain to the Information Regulator if you believe your information has been mishandled.

To exercise any of these rights, email trishparsons@livingatlantic.com. We may need to confirm your identity before we act on a request, and we aim to respond within 30 days.

The Information Regulator (South Africa) can be reached at JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001, by email at POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za, or through its website, inforegulator.org.za. We would appreciate the chance to resolve a concern with you first.

This website is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a child has given us information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Our website links to other websites, including Airbnb, Booking.com, Lekkeslaap, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. We do not control those websites and are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please read their policies before giving them your information.

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make a significant change to how we use your information, we will make that clear on this page.

For any question about this policy or your personal information, contact our Information Officer at trishparsons@livingatlantic.com or on 0829043157. We are based in Cape Town, South Africa.