Legal
Privacy Policy
TheSmartHost Co. Inc. (“TheSmartHost”, “we”, “us”) manages short-term, furnished monthly and cottage rentals in Ottawa–Gatineau and the Outaouais. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with and the choices you have. It applies to thesmarthost.com, to our forms, calls and emails, and to the information we handle when we provide services to property owners and guests.
1. Person in charge of your information
Our President is the person in charge of the protection of personal information at TheSmartHost. You can reach them with any question, request or complaint about your personal information:
- Email: contact@thesmarthost.com (subject line “Privacy request”)
- Phone: (819) 303-0085
2. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Contact details: your name, email address and phone number when you fill out a form, book a call or write to us.
- Property information (owners): the property’s address or location, type, features, availability, rental history and the service you’re interested in.
- Owner account and payout information: the details needed to sign a management agreement, prepare monthly statements and send payouts, such as your mailing address, tax information and banking details.
- Booking information (guests): your name, contact details, stay dates, number of guests, messages with us and, when required for a stay, identity verification or a rental agreement.
- Messages: anything you choose to include in a form, email, text or call.
Information collected automatically
When you visit our website, we and our service providers collect technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, approximate location, the pages you view, the links you click and the site that referred you. This is collected through cookies and similar technologies (see section 5).
Information from others
When you book through a platform such as Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com, the platform shares the information we need to host your stay. Their own privacy policies also apply.
3. How we use it
- To answer your enquiry, prepare a revenue estimate and schedule calls.
- To provide our management services: listing, pricing, guest screening, bookings, guest communication, cleaning, maintenance, reporting and payouts.
- To host guests and handle check-in, support and any issues during a stay.
- To meet our legal and tax obligations, including short-term rental registration and record keeping.
- To improve our website and measure how well our advertising works.
- To send you news or offers, only if you’ve agreed to receive them. You can unsubscribe at any time.
We only collect the information we need for these purposes, and we don’t sell personal information.
4. Consent
We ask for your consent when we collect your information, unless the law allows us to proceed without it. When you send us a form or book a call, you consent to us using your information to respond. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us, subject to legal or contractual limits. If you withdraw consent, we may not be able to provide some services.
7. Information stored outside Quebec
Some of our service providers store or process information outside Quebec, including in other provinces and in the United States. Before sending information outside Quebec, we assess whether it will be adequately protected and put contractual protections in place. Information stored in another country may be accessible to that country’s authorities under its laws.
8. How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes above or as required by law. For example, financial and tax records are kept for the period required by Canadian and Quebec tax law. Enquiries that don’t lead to a business relationship are deleted when they are no longer needed. When information is no longer needed, we destroy it or make it anonymous.
9. How we protect it
We use reasonable physical, technical and administrative safeguards, such as access limited to team members who need it, secure software providers and password protection. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a confidentiality incident creates a risk of serious harm, we will notify you and the appropriate privacy authority as required by law, and we keep a register of incidents.
10. Your rights
Subject to the law, you can ask us to:
- tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
- correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date;
- stop using or sharing your information, or withdraw your consent;
- delete your information or stop disseminating it, where the law allows;
- give you your information in a structured, commonly used technological format.
Send your request to the person in charge listed in section 1. We may need to confirm your identity, and we will answer within 30 days. If you’re not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
11. Children
Our website and services are intended for adults. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 14 without the consent of a parent or guardian.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make significant changes, we will post a notice on this page.
Questions? Contact us. See also our Terms and Conditions.