Privacy Policy

This document outlines Hostelling International USA’s (HI USA) online privacy policy, which governs personal information gathered on the national Web site www.hiusa.org, its subdomains, booking engines and its aliases.

HI USA Commitment to Online Security
Physical, electronic and managerial procedures have been employed to safeguard the security and integrity of personal information.  Billing information is encrypted whenever transmitted or received online. Personal information is accessible only by agents, staff or contractors designated to handle online inquiries, purchases or complaints. All HI USA agents and contractors with access to personal information obtained on the HI USA Web site are also bound to adhere to this policy.

Personal Information that HI USA May Collect Online
When an individual makes a purchase or places a reservation with HI USA online, HI USA may collect the following types of personal information: name, age, postal and e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and billing information. HI USA may also collect other demographic or psychographic information through forms, social media interaction, surveys and program participation, with users’ consent. This information may include information such as gender and geographic area.

How HI USA Uses Personal Information Collected Online
Unless you consent, we will not use your personal information for any purpose other than that for which it is submitted. Users may provide their personal information in several ways including but not limited to:

  • Contact forms
  • Donation forms
  • Membership forms
  • Email and newsletter sign-ups
  • Applications for scholarships
  • Applications for employment
  • Making hostel reservations
  • Submitting user-generated content
  • Registering for events, programs and activities

We use personal information to reply to inquiries, manage and send communications, complete transactions, manage complaints, solicit and accept donations, provide operational notices and in program record-keeping.

HI USA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, not-for-profit, member organization that accepts individual contributions to fund operations and directly solicits its membership and other interested parties for this purpose. HI USA membership entitles the purchaser to certain benefits, including access to hostels, discounts and communications from HI USA and its affiliates. HI USA will provide its members with the opportunity to opt out of receiving various membership benefits, communications and solicitations. At any time you can add or remove your name from a HI USA mailing list by contacting us at marketing@hiusa.org.

How Your Information May Be Shared
In order to process an inquiry, transaction, program registration or complaint, HI USA may send information to Hostelling International (also known as International Youth Hostel Federation), a national association network affiliate, a hostel, or other relevant third party service or program supplier. HI USA will not sell or rent your personal information to any other third party.

HI USA may also release personal information to appropriate governmental authorities under the following circumstances:

  • Where release is required by law (for example, a subpoena) or regulation, or is requested by a government agency conducting investigations or proceedings;
  • Where our records indicate a guest, member or participant may be engaged in fraudulent activity or other deceptive practices that a governmental agency should be made aware of.
  • Where your communication suggests possible harm to others.

Help Us Keep Your Personal Information Accurate
If your personal information changes or you would like to review the personal information we may have on file, please e-mail us with the new information or your review request at [email protected]. Let us also know the HI USA hostel, program or service that led to your submission of personal information so we may efficiently locate your data.

Web Browser Tracking and Cookies
Our Web sites do track user sessions and employ analytics. However, we do not collect or distribute personal information not entered by visitors. Our site logs do generate certain kinds of non-identifying site usage data such as the number of visits, date and time of visits, IP address, time on site, source of traffic, and geolocation. Web analytics also may collect device-related information such as the device type, device language, and browser. This information is used for internal purposes by marketing and technical staff to provide better services and online user experiences to the public and may also be provided to our partners in the form of aggregate traffic reports, but such statistics contain no personal information and cannot be used to gather such information.

Analytics services collect data regarding the use of other Web sites, apps and online resources. HI USA utilizes Google Analytics. You can learn about Google’s data collection practices at  www.google.com/policies/privacy/‌partners/ and opt out by downloading the Google Analytics opt out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. HI USA uses non-identifying cookies to provide easier site navigation, access to forms and improve usability. You can still use the HI USA site if your browser is set to reject cookies. Our cookies do not generate personal data, do not read personal data from your machine and are not tied to anything that could be used to identify you.

Cookies also allow us to select which advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you and display them during your user session, to display advertisements as you browse other Web sites, or to send marketing emails. We use cookies to track responses to online advertisements and marketing emails.

If you have a question or complaint about HI USA’s compliance with this privacy policy, you may contact us at [email protected].

Data Transfer Policy and GDPR

By using the Services and providing us with information, you understand and agree that we may transfer and store your information on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction.  To the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, you consent to the transfer of such data to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.