Privacy Policy

At St. Paul Apartment (www.stpaulapartmentmalta.com), we are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data responsibly. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable Maltese data protection legislation.

1. What Data We Collect

Personal data you provide directly

When you contact us via email, phone, or WhatsApp to enquire about a booking or ask a question, we may collect:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• Any other information you choose to include in your message

We only collect personal data that you voluntarily provide to us. We do not require you to create an account or register on this website.

Data collected automatically

When you visit our website, certain technical data is collected automatically through Google Analytics and standard server processes:

• Anonymised IP address
• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• Pages visited and time spent on each page
• Referring website (how you arrived at our site)
• Date and time of your visit
• Screen resolution and device type

2. How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

• Responding to your enquiries: When you contact us about availability, pricing, or any other matter, we use your contact details to reply to you and assist with your booking.
• Improving our website: We use anonymous analytics data to understand how visitors use our site so we can improve its content, structure, and performance.
• Legal compliance: We may process data where required by law or to protect our legitimate interests.

The legal bases for processing your data under the GDPR are:

• Consent — when you voluntarily contact us or accept cookies.
• Legitimate interest — to operate and improve our website and respond to guest enquiries.
• Contract performance — to manage and fulfil booking arrangements.

3. Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID: G-4SJWRKEB1B), a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyse how visitors use our website.

Google Analytics 4 collects data anonymously and does not identify individual visitors. Key points:

• IP addresses are anonymised by default in Google Analytics 4.
• No personally identifiable information is sent to Google through Analytics.
• Data is used solely to generate aggregate statistical reports about website usage.
• Google may transfer data to servers located outside the European Economic Area. Google participates in and complies with data protection frameworks to ensure an adequate level of data protection.

You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or by managing your cookie preferences.

For more information, see Google's Privacy Policy.

4. Third-Party Services

Our website embeds content from the following third-party services:

Google Maps

We embed Google Maps on our Location page to help you find the apartment. When the map loads, your browser connects to Google's servers, and Google may collect data such as your IP address and set cookies. This is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

Google Calendar

We embed a Google Calendar on our Availability page to show current booking availability. When the calendar loads, your browser connects to Google's servers, and Google may collect data such as your IP address and set cookies. This is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

We do not share your personal data with any third parties for marketing purposes.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected:

• Enquiry data (name, email, phone from contact messages): Retained for up to 2 years after your last communication with us, or longer if required for an ongoing booking relationship.
• Analytics data: Google Analytics data is retained for 14 months, after which it is automatically deleted.
• Cookie data: See our Cookie Policy for details on cookie lifespans.

6. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights under the GDPR. You may exercise any of these rights by contacting us at stpaulapartment.malta@gmail.com.

• Right of access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure (right to be forgotten): You can request that we delete your personal data, subject to any legal obligations we may have to retain it.
• Right to restrict processing: You can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: You can request that we provide your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format so that you can transfer it to another service.
• Right to object: You can object to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interest as the legal basis.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

We will respond to your request within 30 days. If you are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) in Malta:

• Website: idpc.org.mt
• Email: idpc.info@idpc.org.mt

7. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. Our website is served over HTTPS to ensure that data transmitted between your browser and our server is encrypted.

8. Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe that we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.