Your information

Privacy Policy

Draft 1 · October 11, 2026

What we collect when you visit, call or stay, why we need it, who helps us handle it, and how long we keep it. We keep as little as we can, for as short a time as we can.

1. Who we are

The Junction Retreat is one vacation rental house in West Seattle, operated by Virtually LLC (Seattle short-term rental operator license STR-OPLI-26-005482). "We", "us" and "the hosts" mean Virtually LLC and the two hosts who run the house.

This policy covers this website, our booking line, stays booked directly with us, our emails, your private stay page and the online Softub waiver. If you book on Airbnb, Airbnb's own privacy policy covers what you share there.

The ID check's selfie counts as consumer health data under Washington law, so it also has its own page: our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.

2. What we collect

When you ask about dates or book

• Your name, email and mobile number, your dates, how many adults, children, babies and dogs are coming, how you heard about us, and anything you write or tell us.
• If you use our "request your dates" form, the same details and your message, and whether you'd like news from us.

When you pay

• Stripe collects your card or wallet details on its own secure page. We never see your full card number.
• We receive the payment's status and amount, the card brand, and whether you ticked the rental agreement box.

The ID check

• Stripe takes the photo of your ID and your live selfie, and compares them. We never receive the photos or the details on your ID.
• We receive whether the check passed, whether the name on the ID matches the name on the booking, Stripe's reference for the check, the times, and how many tries it took.
• The details are in our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.

When you call our booking line

• Calls are recorded and transcribed so we can follow up.
• If you leave a message for the hosts, our phone service keeps it, with your name and callback number.
• Our phone service sees your caller ID. We use it to recognize the hosts, to find a booking you're calling about, to limit how often one number can hold dates, and, if we offer texting, to text a payment link only to the number you're calling from.
• We never greet a guest by name, or mention a stay, from caller ID alone.

During your stay

• The Softub waiver: your name, email, stay dates, your typed signature and the time you signed.
• The feedback form: whatever you choose to tell us.
• Your private stay page has a house assistant that answers questions. It gets the question you type and your stay's basic details.

PP-1, placeholder: the hosts to confirm that direct guests get the private stay page and its house assistant (today it serves guests in our guest records), and that the waiver and feedback forms stay as described.

On this website, automatically

• When you reserve dates, we keep a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address and a random code from your browser for 2 days. They stop abuse and let only your browser continue or release your own hold.
• Our servers log technical events. Emails and phone numbers are masked in those logs.
• We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages help people plan a stay. It sets cookies in your browser and sends Google the pages you view, how you reached the site, your device type and your approximate location. We don't send Google your name, email, phone number, dates or anything you type into a form, and Google's advertising features are turned off for this site. We don't use advertising cookies. You can opt out with Google's browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. The site keeps a few things in your own browser: your dates and party while you book, your booking reference while you pay, and whether you paused the animations.
• We also use Ahrefs Web Analytics to count visits. It doesn't set cookies. It sees the pages you view, the links you click, how you reached the site, your browser and device type, your language and screen size, and whether you saw a price, sent an inquiry or were sent to Airbnb. We trim our page addresses so Ahrefs doesn't see your booking details or private links, and it never gets anything you type into a form. The one exception is a booking link: if you click one, Ahrefs sees the dates and party size in it. Ahrefs uses your IP address to find your city and to count you once a day, then throws it away, so it can't follow you from day to day or onto other websites.
• The site's fonts load from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address when a page loads.

PP-2, placeholder: if a bot check (Cloudflare Turnstile) is added to the booking form, add Cloudflare here and in section 4.

3. How we use it

• To answer your questions, quote prices, hold dates, take payment and confirm your stay.
• To run the ID check, and to prevent fraud such as bookings with stolen cards.
• To send booking emails: the payment link, the confirmation, your arrival details, the damage hold and any updates.
• To place and release the damage hold, and to handle refunds, damage and payment disputes.
• To keep our calendar right. Our calendar service and Airbnb see only that the nights are taken, with a booking reference, never your name or contact details.
• To get the house ready. The hosts see your booking; the cleaner gets only the dates and how many people are coming.
• To meet our tax, accounting and legal duties.
• To improve our service, using anonymous counts (such as how many quotes became bookings) and call transcripts with names, numbers and emails removed.
• To send you news, only if you ask for it. Every email has a way to stop.

Two notes help us prevent fraud. If someone tells us they found us on Airbnb, that email and phone number are noted for 24 hours, so Airbnb's booking route applies. If Stripe reports that an ID check's selfie or ID was altered, that email and phone number are noted for 30 days, and no direct booking is taken from them in that time.

For the same reason, when you book on this website we may check the mobile number you enter against the guests booked with us on Airbnb. If it matches, we ask you to book on Airbnb. The result isn't shown to anyone or stored.

We don't sell your information. We don't share it for targeted advertising, and we don't build profiles about you.

4. Who we share it with

A few companies help us run bookings. They handle your information for us, for the purposes below.

We also share information when the law requires it, to protect people or the house, or to answer a payment dispute. In a dispute, we may tell your bank, through Stripe, that the ID check passed and when. We never send your ID photos.

PP-3, for legal review: whether naming each company is right, and whether each one acts only on our behalf (for example Stripe for the ID check, Google for the house assistant). Add what happens to the information if the business is ever sold or closes.

5. How long we keep it

6. Your choices and rights

• You can ask what we hold about you, ask for a copy, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it.
• We delete what we don't have to keep, and ask the companies above to do the same. Some records we must keep, such as payment, tax and dispute records; if so, we tell you what and why.
• You can stop our news emails at any time, with the link in the email or by replying. If we ever text you, reply STOP to stop.
• To make a request, email stay@junctionretreat.com with "Privacy request" in the subject. We check it's you by replying to the email on your booking. We answer within 45 days, free of charge.
• If we turn down a request, you can appeal by replying with "Appeal". We answer within 45 days. You can also contact the Washington State Attorney General's Office (atg.wa.gov).
• We won't treat you differently for using any of these rights.

PP-9, for legal review: which privacy laws apply to a guest from another state, and whether the rights, timing and appeal route above match them.

7. Keeping it safe

• We never ask for card numbers by phone, text or email. Payment links only ever go to Stripe's secure checkout page.
• Our booking database is locked so only our own booking system can read it. Emails and phone numbers are masked in our logs.
• The links we send you are long, random and expire. Your booking status page doesn't share its address with other sites and loads no outside scripts.
• No system is perfect. If a breach affects your information, we'll tell you as Washington law requires.

8. Children

This website isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. When you book, we ask only how many children and babies are coming, never their names. The person booking must be 21 or older.

9. Changes

When we change this policy, we post the new version here with its date. If a change matters for a booking you've already made, we'll email you.

10. Contact

Virtually LLC, The Junction Retreat, Seattle, Washington. Email stay@junctionretreat.com.

PP-10, placeholder: confirm the privacy contact email, and whether a mailing address is needed. If it is, use a business address or PO box, never the house or a home address.