Privacy Policy

Vertu provides software that lets hospitality venues take bookings, deposits and payments through a single embedded checkout. If you have a question about this policy or how your information is handled, contact our Information Officer at privacy@vertu.co.za.

We collect the following categories of personal information:

• Account information — name, email address, phone number and business details you provide when you join the waitlist, create a Vertu account, or configure your venue.
• Booking information — guest name, email, phone, party size, dates and times, room or table selection, special requests and notes submitted when a booking is made through a Vertu widget.
• Payment information — payments are processed by our payment provider (Paystack). We do not store full card numbers. We retain payment references, amounts, currency and status to reconcile bookings and issue receipts.
• Usage & device information — IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referring URLs, and advertising identifiers (for example Google Click ID gclid, Meta Click ID fbclid, and UTM campaign parameters) collected via cookies and similar technologies.
• Communications — messages you send us and records of booking confirmations and notifications sent to you.

We use personal information to:

• create and manage accounts and venue configurations;
• take and confirm bookings, hold availability, and process deposits and payments;
• send booking confirmations, receipts and service notifications;
• operate, secure, maintain and improve our platform, including troubleshooting and analytics;
• measure the effectiveness of advertising and report conversions (see Cookies, analytics & advertising);
• comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms.

We rely on the POPIA grounds of performance of a contract, our legitimate interests, your consent (where required, for example for non-essential advertising cookies), and compliance with the law.

We and the venues that use Vertu use cookies and similar technologies to run the site, understand usage, and measure advertising. This includes:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — to understand how the site and booking widgets are used.
• Google Ads — to measure conversions and report bookings (and their value) back to Google Ads, including via server-side conversion import using identifiers such as gclid.
• Meta (Facebook) Pixel & Conversions API — to measure conversions and report bookings back to Meta, using identifiers such as fbclid.

These providers may set cookies and receive information about your interactions in order to provide measurement and advertising services on our behalf. You can control cookies through your browser settings and, where offered, through the cookie/consent controls on the site. Managing your preferences is described by Google at policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as needed to run the service, with:

• The venue you booked with — booking details are made available to the venue whose service you booked.
• Payments — Paystack, to process payments and refunds.
• Property & point-of-sale systems — where a venue has connected one, we exchange booking, availability and catalogue data with providers such as Cloudbeds, ChiDesk and Lightspeed.
• Infrastructure & tooling — hosting and database providers (Supabase, Vercel) and messaging providers used to deliver confirmations (email and, where enabled, WhatsApp via SendPulse).
• Analytics & advertising — Google and Meta, as described above.
• Legal & safety — where required by law, or to protect our rights, users or the public.

These providers are bound to process personal information only on our instructions and to keep it secure.

Vertu’s primary database is hosted in the European Union. Some service providers listed above may process personal information outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred across borders, we take steps to ensure it receives a level of protection consistent with POPIA.

We retain personal information for as long as needed to provide the service, to comply with legal, tax and accounting obligations, to resolve disputes and to enforce our agreements. Booking and payment records are generally retained for the periods required by applicable financial and tax law. When information is no longer required, we delete or de-identify it.

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, including encryption in transit, access controls, and storing sensitive secrets (such as payment API keys) in a dedicated secrets vault separate from ordinary application data. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and to promptly address any incident.

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• access the personal information we hold about you;
• request correction or deletion of your personal information;
• object to processing, including for direct marketing;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
• lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@vertu.co.za. If your booking was made with a specific venue, you may also contact that venue directly, as it is the responsible party for its guest data.

The Information Regulator can be reached at inforegulator.org.za.

Vertu is intended for use by businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate consent. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the service after an update means you accept the revised policy.

For any questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, contact our Information Officer:

Vertu
Email: privacy@vertu.co.za
General enquiries: hello@vertu.co.za