Privacy

What you give us

• When you ask to stay. Your name, email and phone number, the apartment and dates you want, how many people are coming, and anything you write on the form: who else is coming, any pets, how you'd like to pay, special requests, what you hope to see and do, a discount code, and your note.
• Who else is coming. A first name for each guest. Their email or phone only if you add it. If you or your hosts add someone's email, we send them one invitation, and they can make their own account to see the stay's details and messages. Only add people who are staying with you, are 18 or older, and are OK with it. If you remove someone, they can no longer see the stay. If you add someone to your stay, you give us their name and, if you choose, their email or phone number. We use it only for their stay: their sign-in and emails about it.
• If we send you a quote or a price estimate. Your name and email, so we can send it, and if you accept a quote, the date and time you agreed to our house rules, cancellation policy and this page.
• Paying. If you pay by bank transfer, the payment itself is handled by Stripe. We never see your bank login. Zelle and cash are between you and us.
• When you ask ShallWe to plan something. Your name, email and phone if you add it, the kind of night you're after, who's going and how many, anything to plan around (like diet, allergies or outdoor seating), your price point, the days you have in mind, and anything else you write. We ask about diet and allergies only so we don't send you somewhere you can't eat. You can leave them blank.
• When you message the host. Your name, your message, and an email or a phone number (or both) so we can write back.
• When you leave a review. Your rating, your public words, and the private note you write just for us.
• When you visit. We count page views so we know which pages people look at: the page, the site that sent you, and a visitor code that changes every day. We don't keep your internet address. We don't track you around the web, and there are no advertising trackers on this site.
• If you have an account. Accounts are for guests who have booked a stay with us, and for people who help us test our app (they see only a sample stay). You make your password from a link we email to the address you booked with. You can sign in with that email or the phone number on your booking. We keep that email, a scrambled copy of your password that nobody can read, and what you add to your profile: your name and phone, who's coming with you, your pets, and anything you tell us about yourself. Your account works the same in our app and on this site.
• Messages with your hosts. Your messages, in our app or on this site, are kept with your stay. Hannah and Vlad both read and answer them. Everyone in a conversation can see when each message was sent, and whether it has been read. In our app you also see which host read your message and when. Your hosts see that a message has been read, but not which guest read it. A host can edit or unsend a message they sent. If a message was edited, you see the new words marked Edited. If it was unsent, you see that it was unsent. We keep the earlier words with your stay's record. If a stay is cancelled, its conversation is saved with the stay's records. You can report a message, or block another guest on your stay so you no longer see their messages; your hosts are told.
• How we tell you about a new message. When your hosts write to you, we send an email to the address on your account. It says only that you have a new message; the message itself stays in our app and on this site. You can turn these emails off in your profile.
• If you use our app. The app shows this same site and asks for the same things. Like this site, it shows your stay's check-in details and cancellation terms once you sign in. Adding a date to your calendar, or a reminder you set in the app, happens on your phone, and nothing comes to us. If you report a problem, your note and the one photo you choose to send come to us by email so we can fix it. The photo stays in that email; the site keeps only a note that you sent a report. If you haven't booked yet, the app can keep your name, email and phone on your phone to fill in its forms. Nothing comes to us until you send a request or a message.

What we do with it

We use it to answer you, plan your stay or your night, send you the emails that go with it (your confirmation, your check-in details, your plan), and keep the records a rental needs to keep. That's it.

We don't sell it, rent it, or hand it to anyone for marketing. We don't send newsletters. The only emails you get from us are about your stay, your plan, or something you asked for.

Who sees it

Vlad and Hannah. Stay requests, messages to the host, and a copy of every email we send you about your stay go to both of us, because it's Vlad's building and Hannah runs the hosting. ShallWe requests come to Hannah, since she is the one making your plan.

A few services help us run the site and see only what they need to do their job. Each has its own privacy rules.

• Apple Maps draws the map in our app and on your My Stay page on this site, so your device contacts Apple to load it. Once you have a stay with us, we send that stay's address to Apple so it can put the pin on it.
• Stripe handles bank payments.
• Cloudflare is where the site and its records live, and it sends the site's emails.
• Google provides the fonts on every page and the map on the home page, opens Google Maps when you tap a map link, and runs our inbox, so the emails we get from the site are kept in Gmail.

How long we keep it

Stay records are kept the way any rental keeps its books. ShallWe requests and plans are kept so we can look back at what we planned for you, and because we keep a record of plans we have made under the ShallWe name. If you'd like us to delete what we have about you, email hermitagehousechicago@gmail.com and we will, unless it's a record we're required to keep.

You can delete your account in your profile in the app, or on this site at hermitagehousechicago.com/account. We delete your sign-in, your profile and your saved places. The records of a stay, including its messages and payments, are kept the way a rental keeps its books. Emails we have already sent, and our copies of them, stay in our mailbox like any other email.

Cookies and what your browser remembers

The site saves a few small things in your own browser so pages work and remember what you were doing on this site. If you sign in on this site, a small sign-in cookie keeps you signed in until you sign out, or until you close your browser if you don't choose to stay signed in. The app keeps you signed in on your phone until you sign out. Nothing follows you to other sites.

Children

The site is for adults booking a place to stay. We don't knowingly collect anything from anyone under 18.

Questions

Email hermitagehousechicago@gmail.com. A person reads it.

Last updated November 2026. Vlad and Hannah