Michigan Bed and Breakfast Privacy Policy

We’re innkeepers.

We’ve always safeguarded guests’ privacy at Michigan Bed and Breakfast Association (MBBA) member inns. If you are a visitor to this website, we care about your privacy, too.

This privacy policy discloses MichBnB.com’s practices about collecting, using, and retaining information about people who visit the site, request information or communication via the site, or make a purchase.

If you visit MichBnB.com:

• We follow Google’s strictest policies in using their Analytics platform. Information is kept only in aggregate form — information such as: the geographic location of devices; what times of day and of the week people are visiting the site; what pages are first visited; what pages people spend the most time on; how many users are first-time as opposed to returning visitors; which external sites referred traffic to our site, and what kinds of devices people are using.
• Information attached to IP addresses is not linked to personally identifiable information. It exists only in aggregate form. So, how might the data be used?
  • If we know what type of content, people prefer — based on how much time they spend — we can provide more of it.
  • When we know that more people favor certain types of devices or browsers, we ensure the site design and performance are optimized for those devices and browsers.
  • If we learn, for example, that we don’t have much traffic in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning, that’s a good time to perform maintenance.
  • If this year’s site’s traffic between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems lower or higher than prior years, we don’t have to guess. We can compare any two periods of time, up to four years and two months.
  • If we know that traffic to our site from Twitter is increasing while traffic from Facebook is decreasing, we can adjust our social media efforts.

The above are examples of the types of information collected and stored by MBBA when someone visits this website. For us, it’s all about knowing trends in the use of the site so that we can improve it and better the many people who love Michigan bed and breakfasts.

This information is available electronically only to MBBA administrators. Periodic trend reports are prepared for the board of directors or members as PDFs.  MBBA never publishes these reports. However, we may occasionally share broad information about trends with our innkeeping partners, such as check-in Michigan or the Professional Association of Innkeepers International.

If you email us or sign up for email, for programs for our newsletter, or buy a gift certificate…

… and in the process, identify yourself, provide contact information, and/or disclose other personally identifiable information about yourself or other persons; we will store and act upon your information in the manner most appropriate to the situation. Examples:

• We will contact you if we need more information.
• If to respond to you, we need to share information with or gather information from,  one or more third parties, we will do so. For example, If you inquire about a B&B where you can board your horse during your stay, we may share our reply with an innkeeper.
• If you are interested in joining MBBA, your email may be sent to the appropriate person.
• If you are signing up for a future event, we may store your information about that event in physical or online folders.
• If you buy a gift certificate and pay through PayPal / Stripe, PayPal/Stripe collects your payment information. See PayPal’s and Stripe’s privacy policies. We cannot or would not access PayPal’s / Stripe’s information about you. MBBA retains the amount of the gift certificate, purchase date, purchaser contact information, recipient information if provided, and expiration date.
• If you sign up for our newsletter or ask our administrator to add you to a mailing list, your name and email address will go to our email marketing provider, currently Mailchimp. See Mailchimp’s privacy policy. MBBA uses this provider because we believe it handles the identifying information of others the way that we would want our personal identifying information to be handled. We do not keep a paper copy of the email list, nor is it stored on our computers.

We will not add you to a mailing list — ours or anyone else’s — without your express consent.

We will disclose your identifying information to an appropriate third party only if, in good faith, we believe it is required because of an urgent or compelling situation, or a matter of law of legal process, or the need to protect the rights and property of MBBA or of others.

Security

Most types of collected information described above are stored electronically, often encrypted, typically available to our administrators after logging in to the external providers’ websites. MBBA cannot be responsible for a breach that occurs on the sites of these providers. However, we  periodically request or receive updates on our suppliers’ privacy and security measures.

For our office computers, MBBA administrators use secure and up-to-date password managers.

Where information you provided might exist in an email on MBBA’s computers, know that these devices are kept in secure, locked premises. If the information exists on paper, it is stored in locked filing cabinets and shredded when no longer needed.

Whenever you disclose personal or identifying information and convey it over the Internet, the confidentiality of information when it is in transit cannot be guaranteed. Email, for example, can be intercepted. We take every precaution at our end. However, this and every website should be used at your own risk, using your best judgment.