1. Introduction

At The Occasionist and The Occasionist Studio (collectively referred to as “The Occasionist”), we are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our clients’ and users’ personal information (online and offline). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard information when you visit our websites, use the Studio platform (including the AI-assisted chat), or interact with us by email, phone, or in person.

We process personal data in accordance with applicable data-protection laws and follow the principles of transparency and data minimization. This Policy describes the categories of data we handle, the purposes and legal bases of processing, our use of trusted service providers (e.g., hosting, payments, and AI tools), international transfers where relevant, your rights, and how to contact us.

By accessing our websites or using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions, please contact info@theoccasionist.ch.

2. Information We Collect

We collect different types of information to provide and improve our services, personalize your experience, and ensure the smooth operation of our website and digital platforms. The categories of data we collect include:

a) Personal Information
When you contact us, create an account, or engage with The Occasionist Studio, we may collect personal details such as your name, email address, phone number, postal address, and other relevant contact information. You may also provide voluntary information such as preferences, interests, or demographic details that help us tailor our services.

b) Travel and Service-Related Information
To design and coordinate trips, we collect information related to your travel preferences, trip history, booking details, and other relevant information. This may include data you share through surveys, questionnaires, or our chat interface within The Occasionist Studio.

c) Platform and Communication Data
When using The Occasionist Studio, we may collect data about your account activity, saved itineraries, and chat interactions. These data help us improve our recommendations, enhance the AI-assisted experience, and ensure technical reliability.

Chat interactions may be monitored or reviewed by authorized team members for quality assurance, user support, and to ensure the reliability and accuracy of our AI-assisted tools.

d) Website and Usage Information
When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain data such as your IP address, browser type, device information, referring URLs, and pages visited. We use this information to analyze performance, maintain security, and improve user experience.

e) Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies and comparable tracking tools to understand usage patterns, improve functionality, and enhance personalization. You can adjust your browser settings to limit or disable cookies; however, some features may not function properly without them.

f) Information from Third Parties
We may receive information from trusted partners or service providers (for example, payment processors, analytics tools, or AI technology providers) to facilitate service delivery. All such data are processed in accordance with applicable privacy laws and contractual safeguards.

We collect only the information necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. We take appropriate measures to maintain the confidentiality and security of your data, and we do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

3. Use of Information

We use the information we collect to deliver, personalize, and continuously improve our services and user experience. Specifically, your information may be used for the following purposes:

a) Providing and Improving Services
We use your data to plan and coordinate travel arrangements, manage bookings, and personalize trip recommendations. This includes tailoring experiences through The Occasionist Studio based on your stated preferences, travel history, and interactions with our team or AI-assisted chat. We also use the information to maintain and enhance our platform’s functionality, develop new features, and optimize overall service quality.

b) Communication and Support
Your information allows us to communicate with you about inquiries, proposals, bookings, or changes to your itinerary. We also use it to provide customer support, manage your account, respond to questions, and gather feedback to improve our services.

c) Personalization and Inspiration
We may analyze usage patterns, preferences, and past interactions to tailor recommendations, trip suggestions, and editorial content that align with your interests. Marketing communications are sent only with your consent and can be opted out of at any time.

d) Analytics, Research, and AI Enhancement
Aggregated and anonymized information may be used to analyze user behavior, improve the accuracy of AI-generated suggestions, and support service development. Such data are processed in a way that prevents identification of individual users.

e) Legal Compliance and Protection
We may use or disclose personal data as necessary to comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests, enforce our rights, protect user safety, and prevent fraud or misuse.

We will only use your personal information for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy or with your consent.

Certain data may be processed on servers located outside your country of residence, including in jurisdictions that may not offer the same level of protection as Switzerland or the EU. In such cases, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent legal mechanisms.

4. Legal Bases for Processing

When processing personal data of individuals located in the European Economic Area ("EEA") or the United Kingdom, The Occasionist relies on one or more of the following legal bases, as permitted under applicable law:

• Performance of a Contract: to provide travel-related services, proposals, and bookings you have requested.
• Consent: where you have voluntarily provided information or agreed to receive communications or marketing from us.
• Legal Obligation: to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, such as tax or accounting rules.
• Legitimate Interests: to operate, secure, and improve our services, enhance user experience, and maintain client relationships, provided that such interests are not overridden by your fundamental rights and freedoms.

Where consent is required, you may withdraw it at any time as described in the Your Rights and Choices section.

5. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or to comply with legal, contractual, or business requirements. The specific retention period depends on the type of data and the purpose for which it was collected.

Generally, we keep personal information for the duration of our relationship with you, such as while managing inquiries, accounts, bookings, or trip planning, and for a reasonable period thereafter to handle follow-up questions, maintain records, or comply with accounting and legal obligations.

If you create an account or use The Occasionist Studio platform, certain information (such as profile data, saved itineraries, or chat history) may be retained as long as your account remains active. You may request deletion of your account or associated data at any time by contacting info@theoccasionist.ch.

We may also retain limited, anonymized data for legitimate business purposes, including system security, analytics, and improving the performance and accuracy of our AI-assisted tools.

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted, anonymized, or archived in compliance with applicable law. Please note that residual copies may remain in secure backups for a limited period of time before automated deletion.

We review our retention practices regularly to ensure that we do not keep personal data longer than necessary.

6. Information Sharing

We value your trust and protect your personal data accordingly. The Occasionist does not sell or rent personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We share information only where necessary to provide our services or as required by law.

We may share personal information in the following circumstances:

a) Service Providers and Technical Partners
We work with carefully selected third-party providers who assist us in operating our platforms and delivering our services—such as website and database hosting, payment processing, customer support, analytics, itinerary management platforms, cloud storage providers and AI-technology tools. These partners include technology and infrastructure providers (e.g., Supabase, Vercel, Stripe, and equivalent services). They process data only on our behalf, under strict confidentiality and data-protection obligations.

b) Travel Partners and Suppliers
To fulfill bookings and travel arrangements, we may share relevant details with local destination partners, hotels, guides, and other travel service providers. These entities receive only the information required to perform their part of your trip and are expected to handle it securely and in compliance with applicable law.

c) Business Transfers
If The Occasionist undergoes a merger, acquisition, or restructuring, personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will ensure that any successor entity continues to handle your information in accordance with this Policy.

d) Legal Requirements
We may disclose information where required by law, regulation, or legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of The Occasionist, our clients, or others.

e) With Your Consent
We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly consent to such sharing.

Certain partners and processors may operate in countries outside Switzerland or the European Economic Area. In such cases, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as recognized adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses, to maintain a high level of data protection.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

The Occasionist and its trusted service providers use cookies and similar technologies to operate, analyze, and improve our websites and platforms. These technologies help us understand how visitors use our services, enhance functionality, and provide a seamless and personalized user experience.

What Cookies Are
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They store certain information, such as preferences, login status, or technical identifiers, to help the site function efficiently. We may use both session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain until deleted or expired).

How We Use Them
We use cookies and comparable tracking tools for the following purposes:

• To enable core functionality and security features;
• To remember preferences and improve usability;
• To measure website and platform performance;
• To understand usage trends and enhance the design and user experience of The Occasionist Studio.

Third-Party Tools
We may use third-party analytics and service providers (such as Google Analytics, Supabase, or Vercel) that place cookies or similar technologies on your device to help us analyze usage and improve performance. These third parties process data in accordance with their own privacy policies and contractual obligations to The Occasionist.

Your Choices
You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may limit functionality or affect the performance of some parts of our website or platform.

We do not use cookies for third-party advertising or to sell your data to advertisers.

8. Your Rights and Choices

The Occasionist respects your privacy rights and offers you clear options for managing your personal data. Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have the following rights:

a) Access and Correction
You may request access to the personal information we hold about you and ask for corrections or updates where necessary.

b) Data Portability
Where technically feasible, you may request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.

c) Consent Withdrawal and Objection
If you have given consent for specific processing activities, you may withdraw it at any time. You may also object to the processing of your data where permitted by law. Withdrawal or objection will not affect the lawfulness of prior processing.

d) Deletion
You may request that we delete your personal data when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or if you withdraw consent. Some information may need to be retained for legitimate business or legal reasons.

e) Marketing Preferences
You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by following the link provided in the communication or by contacting us directly. Please note that service-related communications (such as booking confirmations or account notices) will continue as necessary.

f) Cookie Preferences
You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling some cookies may affect the functionality of the website or platform.

g) Account and Platform Data
If you use The Occasionist Studio, you may request deletion of your account or associated chat data by contacting info@theoccasionist.ch.

We will respond to all valid requests within the timeframes required by applicable data-protection laws. For security reasons, we may request verification of your identity before processing certain requests.

Please note that some rights may be limited under Swiss or EU law, for example, when fulfilling a request would compromise another person's rights or our legal obligations.

9. Security Measures

The Occasionist takes the protection of your personal information seriously and maintains appropriate technical and organizational safeguards to prevent unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alteration. These measures are designed to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data.

We host our systems and data with reputable, secure cloud providers such as Vercel and Supabase, which implement advanced encryption, access controls, and compliance certifications. Data transmitted through our websites and The Occasionist Studio platform is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols.

Access to personal information is restricted to authorized employees, contractors, or partners who require it to perform their duties. All such individuals are bound by confidentiality agreements and trained in responsible data handling.

We follow the principles of data minimization and regularly monitor our systems for potential vulnerabilities. Backup and recovery procedures are in place to ensure data availability and continuity of service.

AI-related interactions within The Occasionist Studio are processed through secure systems. Personal data submitted via the platform is not used to train or improve external AI models and is handled according to this Privacy Policy.

While we maintain high security standards, no method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely risk-free. We therefore encourage users to protect their own accounts by using strong, unique passwords and by keeping login credentials confidential.

If you suspect any unauthorized access or other security incident, please contact us immediately at info@theoccasionist.ch so we can take appropriate measures.

We continually review and update our security practices to align with technological and regulatory developments.

10. Third-Party Links and Services

The Occasionist websites and The Occasionist Studio platform may include links to or integrations with third-party websites, applications, or services that are not operated or controlled by us. This Privacy Policy applies only to our own platforms and services.

When you access a third-party website or use a third-party service (for example, payment processing via Stripe), your interaction with those parties is governed by their own privacy policies and terms of service. We encourage you to review these policies carefully before providing personal information to any third party.

We collaborate with selected external providers to enable functionality, enhance security, and deliver our services. These partners may process limited personal information on our behalf, under strict confidentiality and data-protection obligations, and only for the purposes necessary to perform their contracted services.

The Occasionist is not responsible for the content, security, or privacy practices of any external websites or services. Links or references to third parties do not constitute endorsement or guarantee. Your interactions with such parties are solely between you and the respective third party.

Please exercise caution when sharing personal information on public forums or social media platforms linked to or associated with our brand. Such communications are not governed by this Privacy Policy.

11. Children's Privacy

The Occasionist's services, including The Occasionist Studio, are intended for adults and are not directed toward individuals under the age of 18 ("Children"). We do not knowingly collect, use, or store personal information directly from Children.

However, in some cases we may process limited information about children as part of family or group travel arrangements, provided to us by a parent or legal guardian for the purpose of coordinating the trip (for example, names, ages, or dietary or accommodation preferences). Such data are used solely to fulfill the requested services and are handled with the same level of care and protection as all other personal data.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided personal information to us directly, please contact us at info@theoccasionist.ch. Upon verification, we will promptly delete such information from our systems.

If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected data from a minor without appropriate consent, we will take immediate steps to remove it and prevent further collection.

12. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. The updated version will be published on this page with a revised "Last Updated" date at the top.

Material changes that significantly affect your rights or the way we process personal data will be communicated through a prominent notice on our website or by email before they take effect, where required by law.

Your continued use of our websites or The Occasionist Studio after the updated Privacy Policy takes effect constitutes your acknowledgment of the revised terms.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

13. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal data, please contact us:

The Occasionist GmbH
Hardturmstrasse 134a
8005 Zurich
Switzerland

Email: info@theoccasionist.ch

We will make every effort to address and resolve privacy-related inquiries promptly and transparently.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you also have the right to contact the competent data protection authority in your country of residence or the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).