How Ask Playa handles your data

Ask Playa is an independent, English-language guide to living in and visiting Playa del Carmen, Mexico, operated by Amy Branstetter (“Ask Playa,” “we”). This policy explains what information we handle through askplaya.com, why, and the choices you have. Questions: hola@askplaya.com.

You can read everything on Ask Playa, search, use the map and use Useful Spanish without creating an account. We don't have user accounts at all.

When you use Help Improve Ask Playa (to report an error, suggest an edit, send a tip or submit an event), we receive:

• the type of request you chose and your message;
• your email address, only if you choose to give it;
• the page or event your message is about, when relevant.

Your message is delivered to our inbox by email through Brevo. Event-related messages are also saved in our private review list so we can check them before anything changes on the site. Nothing you send is published automatically, and we never publish your contact details. Please don't include sensitive personal information, payment details or private information about other people.

Ask Playa offers two optional payments: the one-time Useful Spanish offline purchase and Buy Me a Drink. Both are processed by Stripe on Stripe's own secure checkout page. Stripe collects your payment details and email address under its own privacy policy, and we never receive or store your card details. Stripe shares the payment record with us (amount, date, status and the email you entered).

For the Useful Spanish offline purchase, so you can use and restore it without an account, we also store:

• a one-way fingerprint of the email address you used at checkout (not the address itself);
• Stripe's reference numbers for the payment;
• the purchase date and whether it was refunded or disputed;
• a random code for the device or browser the purchase is active on;
• the times of restore requests, to prevent abuse.

Your device also keeps a signed access code, so offline access works without a connection. If a purchase is refunded or a dispute is lost, offline access is switched off, and we keep the record so the purchase can't be reused.

The Help Improve form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from automated spam. Turnstile runs in your browser and sends technical information about your browser and connection, including your IP address, to Cloudflare. We use the result only to accept or refuse the message. See Cloudflare's Turnstile Privacy Addendum.

To limit abuse, we also count how many messages arrive from the same connection. These counters store a one-way, keyed fingerprint of your IP address, never the address itself, and are deleted when their time window ends, within 48 hours at most.

Ask Playa runs on Cloudflare. Like any website host, Cloudflare processes technical information to deliver pages and protect the site, such as your IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. When you search Ask Playa, your search terms are used only to find results; we don't store them.

We use Google Analytics to understand how many people visit Ask Playa and which pages they read, so we know what's useful and what to improve. It runs only on askplaya.com's public pages. Google receives your IP address, your browser and device type, the page you're on (its address without anything you typed, so never your search terms) and the site that sent you, and sets cookies (named _ga) to recognize a returning browser.

We don't use Google Analytics for advertising: Google signals and ad personalization are turned off, and we never send it your name, email address, messages or purchase details. Google handles this information under its own privacy policy. You can opt out by blocking cookies for askplaya.com in your browser or with Google's opt-out add-on.

• Find My Location (Explore Playa map) works only if you tap it and allow it in your browser. Your position and compass direction are used only on your device to show your location. They are never sent to us or stored.
• Map background comes from OpenFreeMap. Your browser requests the map tiles for the area you're viewing directly from OpenFreeMap, which receives your IP address and that map area, but not your location.
• Directions buttons open Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze with the place you chose. Those apps handle your trip under their own privacy policies.

Apart from the Google Analytics cookies described above, Ask Playa sets no cookies for visitors and uses no advertising identifiers. Your browser keeps some information on your device so the site works the way you left it. It stays on your device and isn't sent to us:

• your light or dark mode choice and your newcomer checklist progress;
• whether you've dismissed a notice or seen the map guide;
• a simple visit count, used only to decide when to suggest saving Ask Playa to your home screen;
• recently loaded exchange rates and the pages you've visited in the current tab (for the Back button);
• files saved for faster loading and offline use, including Useful Spanish phrases and audio if you download them;
• a small technical log of how the app starts up, used only to fix problems.

Useful Spanish recordings are prepared in advance. Playing a phrase never sends your words anywhere. You can remove all of this by clearing this site's data in your browser settings; that also removes an offline download.

• Cloudflare — hosting, security, spam protection and our database.
• Brevo — delivers Help Improve messages to our inbox, and Useful Spanish restore codes to the email address you enter.
• Stripe — payments.
• OpenFreeMap — map background tiles.
• Google — Google Analytics visitor statistics.

These providers may process information outside Mexico, including in the United States. We don't sell, rent or trade personal information, and we don't share it for advertising. Ask Playa doesn't use affiliate links.

• Help Improve messages and event suggestions: until we no longer need them to handle your message. We don't delete them automatically, so ask us any time and we'll delete yours.
• Spam-protection counters: deleted when their window ends, within 48 hours at most.
• Google Analytics statistics: kept by Google for the retention period set in our account, 14 months at most.
• Useful Spanish purchase records: kept so we can restore your purchase, handle refunds and keep accounting records.
• Information on your device: until you clear it.
• Find My Location: never stored.

You can ask to see, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, or object to how we use it (in Mexico these are known as ARCO rights). Email hola@askplaya.com and tell us what you're asking for and how to find your messages or purchase (for example, the email you used). Some records may need to be kept for legal, security or accounting reasons.

Ask Playa is a general information resource and isn't directed at children. If you think a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we'll update the date above. If we ever start collecting information in a new way, such as analytics, we'll update this page first.

Questions about this policy or your data? Email hola@askplaya.com. For corrections and suggestions you can also use Help Improve Ask Playa.