Yala Hurghada respects your privacy. This page explains, in plain language, what we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and your rights. We follow EU GDPR principles even though we operate from Egypt, because most of our travellers are from the EU.
1. What we collect
When you book a trip we collect:
- Full name (so the captain can address you on the day)
- Email address (for the booking confirmation and trip reminders)
- Phone number with country code (for WhatsApp pickup-time confirmation)
- Hotel name and, if you give it, room number
- Trip date and number of adults, children and infants
- Any notes you add to the booking
- Booking reference and timestamps
When you submit a review we collect your display name, your country (so we can show a flag next to the review), your rating, your review text and a link to the underlying booking. We never collect passport numbers, credit card numbers, or health data. Payment cards are processed by our card partner and we never see the full number.
2. Why we use it
- To confirm and run your booking (this is the contract between us).
- To send you the pickup time and trip details before the day.
- To answer questions before, during and after the trip.
- To moderate and display reviews that you choose to submit.
- To meet legal obligations (tax records, marine-park manifests).
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for cross-site advertising or profiling.
3. Who sees it
Your booking data is shared with:
- The operator delivering your trip (the captain or guide receives your name, phone number, hotel and number of travellers, so they can pick you up).
- Our hosting provider and email-sending provider, who store the data on our behalf under contract.
- The Egyptian authorities, only where legally required (for example marine park manifests).
We do not share your data with marketing networks, social-media trackers or analytics products that build profiles across the web.
4. Cookies and analytics
The site uses a small number of cookies to remember your theme (light or dark), your selected language and the contents of your wishlist. These cookies are first-party and do not track you across other sites.
We use privacy-friendly analytics (aggregate page counts, no IP storage) to understand which trip pages are popular. We do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel or any other cross-site tracker on the public site by default.
5. How long we keep it
- Bookings and the linked invoice are kept for 7 years (Egyptian tax requirement).
- Reviews are kept for as long as they are published on the site, or until you ask us to remove them.
- Wishlist data lives only in your browser. Clearing your browser data clears your wishlist.
6. Your rights
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it (subject to legal retention periods), or ask us to export it in a portable format. To do any of these, email info@yala-hurghada.com from the email address you booked with. We reply within 30 days.
If you believe we have mishandled your data, you may also complain to the data-protection regulator in your country of residence.
7. Security
The site runs on HTTPS, our database is firewalled, and access is limited to our staff with named accounts and audit logs. We do not run sensitive data over insecure channels. No system is perfectly secure, but we follow accepted industry practice for a small-team travel business.
8. Children
The site is intended for travellers aged 18 and over. We accept bookings made by adults that include children as travellers. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children under 16. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal data, please email us.
9. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy occasionally. The current version is always available at this URL. We will note the most recent update date at the top of the page.
10. Contact
Privacy-related questions or requests: email info@yala-hurghada.com.