Privacy Policy

Last updated: 4 November 2026

At Houstel.pk ("Houstel", "we", "us") we are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, what we publish about hostels on social media, which social media platforms we connect to and what we receive from them, and how you can ask us to delete your information. It applies to our website, our apps, and our accounts on social media.

1. Information we collect

• Information you give us: your name, phone number, email address and anything you write when you book a visit, reserve a room, ask us to find you a hostel, contact a hostel or contact us. When you reserve a room we also ask for your CNIC, which we share only with the hostel you reserved at.
• Hostel listings: what hostel owners and their staff add — the hostel's name, address, rooms, rent, facilities, rules, and its photos and videos.
• Usage and device information: the pages you visit and the features you use, your IP address, browser and device type.
• Information from social media platforms: when you answer one of our lead forms in an advert on Facebook or Instagram, Meta sends us the answers you gave (usually your name, phone number, email and your answers to the form's questions). When you comment on or message our pages, the platform shows us your public profile name and what you wrote. See Social media platforms we connect to.

2. How we use it

• To pass your visit requests, reservations and enquiries to hostels, and to let hostels reply to you.
• To run the software hostel owners use to manage their hostels.
• To show hostel listings on Houstel.pk and to promote listed hostels on our social media accounts (see Hostel photos and videos on social media).
• To answer you, send you updates about your enquiries, and — with your consent — tell you about hostels and offers.
• To keep the service safe, prevent spam and fraud, and improve the website and apps.
• To meet legal obligations.

3. Who we share it with

• The hostel you contact: to handle your visit, reservation or enquiry.
• Other hostels nearby: visit requests, reservations and "Find me a hostel" requests may be offered to hostels of the same kind nearby, first without your contact details. Your CNIC is never shown to them. This is explained in our Terms and Conditions.
• Service providers that run parts of our service for us, such as hosting and file storage (Amazon Web Services), messaging (WhatsApp Business Platform by Meta, and email), AI text-to-speech for video voiceovers (ElevenLabs, which receives only the words to be spoken about a hostel), and graphic design for social media posts (Canva, which receives only a listed hostel's photos, videos and listing details).
• Advertising platforms: when you came to us through a Houstel advert on Facebook or Instagram, we may tell Meta what came of your enquiry (for example, that it became a visit or a booking), identified by Meta's own lead ID, so Meta can show our adverts to people more likely to find them useful.
• Legal authorities: when the law requires it, or to protect people's safety or our rights.

We do not sell your personal information.

4. Hostel photos and videos on social media

We promote the hostels listed on Houstel.pk on Houstel's own accounts on these social media platforms:

Platform	What we publish there
Facebook (Houstel's Facebook page)	Posts with a hostel's photos or videos, posts showing several hostels, vacancies hostels put on Houstel's public job board, and adverts
Instagram	Reels, photo posts and carousels (some showing several hostels), vacancies from Houstel's public job board, and adverts
Threads	Text posts about hostels with a link, photo posts and videos, and vacancies from Houstel's public job board
TikTok	Videos and photo posts, and vacancies from Houstel's public job board
YouTube	Shorts and videos, and vacancies from Houstel's public job board
Pinterest	Pins of hostel photos and videos
LinkedIn (Houstel's LinkedIn page)	Posts with a hostel's photos, videos or page, and vacancies hostels put on Houstel's public job board
Snapchat (Houstel's public profile)	Short videos of hostels on Spotlight, and Stories

A post can show:

• the photos and videos the hostel added to its listing;
• videos and picture posts we make from them — for example a short video made from a hostel's photos, pictures cropped to the shape a platform needs and lightly adjusted for light and colour, with a line of text (such as the area and the rent) and the Houstel logo on them, or a design laid out in Canva around the hostel's own photos or video;
• a spoken voiceover in Urdu or English describing the hostel from its listing, made with AI text-to-speech (the voice is not a real person's), and on some platforms background music;
• the hostel's name, area, city, rent and facilities, and a link to its page on Houstel.pk.

These posts are about hostels, not people. We never publish the names, phone numbers, emails, CNICs, payments or any other details of residents or of people who contact hostels. We ask hostel owners not to upload photos that show residents' faces or private details. If you appear in a photo or video we have published and want it removed, contact us and we will take it down.

Hostel owners agree to this promotion when they list their hostel — see Terms and Conditions: Hostel photos, videos and social media. An owner who does not want their hostel promoted on social media, or wants a post removed, can contact us: we stop new posts about the hostel and remove the posts we can (a post that other people have already shared or saved may stay with them).

Each platform has its own privacy policy, which applies when you view or interact with our posts there: Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp), TikTok, Google (YouTube), Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snap (Snapchat).

5. Social media platforms we connect to

To publish these posts, Houstel connects its own accounts to the platforms' APIs (the official ways apps work with them). Only the Houstel team connects an account, and only Houstel's own accounts. We do not connect, post to or read anyone else's account. For every platform:

• we keep the access tokens the platform gives us secret on our own servers (encrypted where we keep them in our database), use them only for what is described below, and never share them;
• we use the information we receive from a platform only for the purposes described here, and we do not sell it;
• when we disconnect an account or stop using a platform, we delete its tokens; access can also be removed at any time in the platform's own settings (shown below).

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp (Meta)

We use Meta's APIs to publish posts and adverts on Houstel's Facebook page and Instagram account, to read the page's and account's name, follower counts and our own posts (to confirm each post went out and link to it), to receive the answers to our lead forms, and to read and reply to comments and messages on our posts and adverts. Answers to a lead form go to the hostel the advert was for, so it can contact you, and comments and messages on a hostel's advert may be shown to that hostel so it can reply. We send messages through the WhatsApp Business Platform. Meta's use of data is described in the Meta Privacy Policy.

Threads

We use the Threads API to publish posts on Houstel's Threads profile. We access the profile's ID, username, name, picture and follower count, and our own posts and their links. We keep the profile's token and its name and picture. If Houstel's access is removed in Threads (Settings → Account → Website permissions), Meta tells us and we delete the token. If a data deletion request is made through Threads, we delete the token and profile details at once and give a confirmation code that can be checked with us.

TikTok

We use TikTok's APIs to publish videos and photo posts on Houstel's TikTok account. We access the account's name, username, profile picture and public counts, its posting settings, and the posts we publish (to confirm they went out). We keep the account's tokens. Access can be removed at any time in the TikTok account's settings, where the apps connected to it are listed. TikTok's use of data is described in the TikTok Privacy Policy.

YouTube

Houstel.pk uses YouTube API Services to publish videos to Houstel's own YouTube channel. Once it is connected, we access:

• the channel's name, handle, picture and public counts (subscribers and videos), to show which channel is connected;
• the channel's uploaded videos and their processing status, to confirm that each video we upload has been published;
• uploading videos to the channel and adding them to the channel's playlists. These videos show hostels listed on Houstel.pk, made from photos and videos the hostels shared with us.

We store the access tokens Google gives us encrypted on our own servers, use them only for the purposes above, and never share them. We do not use this data for advertising, and we do not sell it or share it with anyone else. Disconnecting the channel on our side deletes the tokens and asks Google to revoke our access. Access can also be removed at any time in the Google account's security settings at myaccount.google.com/permissions. By using these YouTube features you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. Google's use of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Pinterest

We use the Pinterest API to publish pins and make boards on Houstel's Pinterest business account. We access the account's username, name, account type, profile picture and public counts (followers, pins, monthly views), its boards, and the pins we publish. We keep the account's tokens. Access can be removed at any time in the Pinterest account's settings, where the apps connected to it are listed. Pinterest's use of data is described in the Pinterest Privacy Policy.

LinkedIn

We use LinkedIn's APIs to publish posts on Houstel's LinkedIn page — hostels' photos, videos and pages, and vacancies that hostels chose to put on Houstel's public job board (a vacancy's post shows the job, the hostel, the pay only if the hostel shows it, and a link to apply on Houstel; never an applicant's details). A member of the Houstel team who runs the page connects it. We access which pages that member runs and their role there (to check they may post as Houstel's page), the page's name, address and follower count, and the posts we publish. We keep the token LinkedIn gives for it. Access can be removed at any time in that member's LinkedIn settings, under Data privacy → Permitted services. LinkedIn's use of data is described in the LinkedIn Privacy Policy.

Snapchat

We use Snap's Public Profile API to publish short videos of hostels on Houstel's Snapchat public profile, on Spotlight and as Stories. A member of the Houstel team who manages the profile connects it. We access the profile's name, username, logo and subscriber count, the videos we publish there and their views, shares and favourites. Videos are sent to Snapchat encrypted. We keep the token Snapchat gives for the profile. Access can be removed at any time in the Snapchat account's settings, where the apps connected to it are listed. Snap's use of data is described in the Snap Privacy Policy.

6. Google sign-in, Google Ads and Search Console

Signing in with Google

If you choose to sign in to Houstel.pk with your Google account, Google shares your name, email address, Google account ID and profile picture with us. We use them only to create your Houstel account and sign you in, and we keep them with your account for as long as it exists. We do not get your Google password, and we do not read your email, contacts, files or any other data in your Google account.

Google Ads and Google Search Console

The Houstel team connects Houstel's own Google Ads account and the Search Console property for houstel.pk to Houstel.pk through the Google Ads API and the Search Console API. We do not connect, read or change anyone else's Google Ads account or Search Console property. We access:

• keyword ideas and monthly search counts from Google Ads Keyword Planner, to learn what people in Pakistan search for when they look for a hostel;
• when Houstel runs Google adverts, reports on those adverts (cost, clicks and results);
• Search Console reports for houstel.pk (the searches our pages appear for, clicks and positions), and Google's checks of our pages and sitemaps. We also send Google our sitemaps and ask it to check our pages.

These are figures about Houstel's own accounts and website, and totals Google reports for groups of searches. They do not identify the people who searched. We keep them on our own servers so the Houstel team can compare them over time in our admin tools. We do not sell them, share them with hostels or anyone else, or use them to profile anyone. The key that gives us access is kept secret on our servers. Removing Houstel's access in the Google Ads account or Search Console property ends it, and we delete the stored figures when we stop using these services.

Houstel.pk's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

7. How long we keep information

• Your account and its details: for as long as the account exists.
• Enquiries, visit requests and reservations: for as long as the hostel and you may need them, and as long as the law requires for records; ask us to delete them sooner (below).
• Tokens for Houstel's social media accounts: until the account is disconnected or its access is removed.
• Google Ads and Search Console figures: while we use them to compare how searches change, and deleted when we stop using these services.
• Social media posts: for as long as they stay published on our accounts, or until a removal is asked for.

8. Deleting your data

You can ask us to delete the personal information we hold about you at any time:

• Email hello@houstel.pk from the email address on your account (or say which phone number you used), with "Delete my data" in the subject, or call or WhatsApp us on +92-311-4844284.
• We confirm when it is done, normally within 30 days. Some records we must keep by law (for example payment records a hostel needs) are kept only for as long as required.
• To remove a photo or video of you, or a post about your hostel, from our social media, contact us the same way and say which post it is.
• If you connected an app account to Houstel (for example signing in with Google), you can also remove Houstel's access in that account's settings. For Threads, removing Houstel's access or asking for deletion through Threads deletes what we received from it automatically.

9. Data security

We protect personal information against unauthorised access, change, disclosure or destruction — for example tokens and passwords are encrypted, and identity documents and payment screenshots are kept private. No method of sending or storing data over the Internet is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your choices and understand how the website is used. You can set your browser to refuse some or all cookies, but some features may then not work.

Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity

We use Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to see how people use our website, so we can find what is confusing or broken and improve it. We work with Microsoft to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioural metrics, heatmaps and session replay. Clarity records clicks, scrolling and page movement. What you type into forms is never recorded, and numbers and email addresses on the page are hidden before anything is sent. This usage data is collected with first and third-party cookies and similar technologies. For how Microsoft collects and uses data, see the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

11. Third-party links

Our website, posts and adverts link to other websites and platforms. We are not responsible for their privacy practices or content; please read their privacy policies.

12. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• see the personal information we hold about you;
• correct information that is wrong;
• have your information deleted (see Deleting your data);
• object to some uses of it, and withdraw your consent to marketing at any time.

13. Children's privacy

Our services are not meant for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18, and if we find we have, we delete it.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it last changed. Please review it now and then.

15. Contact us

If you have any questions about this policy or our data practices, contact us at:

Email: hello@houstel.pk

Phone: +92-311-4844284