Privacy
Last updated: May 2026
Santa Fe Housesitters is a two-person operation — Joshua and Danielle. Our promise is straightforward: we collect only what we need, we keep it only as long as we need it, and we don't sell your information or hand it to anyone who isn't helping us serve you.
This page explains, in plain language, exactly what we collect, who else touches it, how long we keep it, and how to ask us to change or delete anything about you.
1. What we collect
When you contact us, request a booking, or fill out a form on this site, we may collect:
- Your name, phone number, and email address
- Your home address and any access notes (gate codes, lock instructions)
- Pet names, species, and any care details you share with us
- Your requested service dates and booking preferences
- Payment amount and confirmation of payment — we don't store your card number (see the Stripe section below)
We don't ask for anything we don't actually need to take care of your home and animals. If we start using advertising tools — things like a Google or Meta pixel, to reach potential clients — we'll list them here, in section 2 below, along with what they collect. Whatever those tools do, we ourselves never sell your information or hand it to anyone outside the people directly helping us serve you — but a platform like Google or Meta sets its own rules for data its own tools collect, and we can't speak for them. Their own privacy policies apply to that piece.
2. Third-party processors
Some of what we do requires outside services. Below is everyone who may touch your information and what role they play.
Cloudflare
This site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages and served through Cloudflare's global network. Cloudflare handles DNS, TLS, and DDoS protection. Cloudflare may log IP addresses and request metadata for security and performance purposes. Cloudflare privacy policy ↗
Postmark (by ActiveCampaign)
We send transactional emails — booking confirmations, reminders, and notifications — through Postmark. Your name and email address are passed to Postmark to deliver these messages. Postmark does not use your information for advertising. Postmark privacy policy ↗
Stripe
When payment is due, you'll be directed to a Stripe-hosted checkout page. Stripe handles payment capture, card storage, and transaction processing. We receive a confirmation and the payment amount — we never see or store your card number, CVV, or full billing address. Stripe privacy policy ↗
Decap CMS
We manage site content through Decap CMS, which stores content in our GitHub repository. Decap uses GitHub's OAuth to authenticate our admin users. Client information is not stored in or processed by Decap — it is an internal content management tool only. Decap privacy policy ↗
Pet Sitters Associates / Evanston Insurance Company
We carry liability insurance through Pet Sitters Associates, underwritten by Evanston Insurance Company. Insurance paperwork may reference your property address and booking dates if a claim is ever filed. This information is used exclusively for the insurance purpose.
3. How long we keep it
We keep your information for as long as it's useful for serving you, and then we don't hang on to it indefinitely.
| Data | Kept for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Contact info (name, phone, email) | Duration of client relationship | Needed to communicate with you about current and future bookings |
| Home access details (address, codes) | Duration of last active booking + 6 months | Emergency reference; deleted on your request or after extended inactivity |
| Pet information | Duration of client relationship | Ongoing care reference; updated when you tell us things change |
| Booking records and payment amounts (stays that actually happened) | 7 years | Tax and accounting record-keeping |
| Inquiries or bookings that were cancelled and never happened | 1 year, then removed | No ongoing reason to keep it once there's no active or completed booking |
| Emails and messages | 2 years after last contact | Dispute resolution reference; deleted on your request |
| Admin activity log (internal) | 3 years | Operational audit trail — see section 4 below |
Right now these windows are enforced by us checking and clearing things out by hand, not by an automatic process — we're building the automated version to match this table. Until it's live, if you'd like something reviewed or deleted sooner than the timeline above, just ask (see section 7) and we'll confirm what we can remove immediately versus what we're required to keep.
4. Our internal activity log
Our booking system maintains an internal audit log that records significant admin actions — things like booking decisions, fee changes, and cancellations. This log exists so that if something goes wrong or a dispute arises, we have a clear, timestamped record of what happened and who made each decision.
The audit log may reference your booking ID and relevant decision details. It is for our internal use only and is never shared externally.
5. Cookies
We use a minimal set of cookies today, listed below. If we add advertising or analytics tools — like a Google or Meta pixel — in the future, we'll add them to this table along with what they track and how long, before they go live.
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| sfh_session | Admin session authentication — keeps Joshua and Danielle logged into the admin panel. Not set for regular site visitors. | 7 days (rolling); cleared on logout |
| __cf_bm | Cloudflare bot management — helps distinguish legitimate traffic from automated abuse. Set by Cloudflare, not by us. | 30 minutes |
| __stripe_mid, __stripe_sid | Set by Stripe on the Stripe-hosted payment page. Not set on our site; only active when you're on stripe.com during checkout. | Stripe's own policy |
6. AI tools
We use AI assistants to help us build and improve this site — reviewing code, checking our systems, and working on the words you're reading right now. What those tools don't get access to is your personal information: your booking details, contact info, home access notes, and payment information are kept separate from the tools we use for code and content work. We do not feed your data into AI model training, and we do not use AI to make decisions about your booking or the care of your pet — those decisions are always made by us.
If you have questions about our AI use, please contact us at the address below.
7. Your rights and how to reach us
You can ask us, at any time, to:
- See the information we hold about you
- Correct anything that's wrong
- Delete your information (subject to retention requirements described above)
- Stop receiving non-essential communications from us
We take these requests seriously and will respond within a few business days. There's no form, no ticket system, and no runaround — just send us an email.
8. Changes to this policy
If we make changes that meaningfully affect your privacy, we'll update the "last updated" date at the top of this page and, for significant changes, reach out to active clients directly. We're not going to bury changes in a lengthy legal update — we'll tell you what changed and why.