Cookies Policy

What is this document and why should I read it?

This cookies policy explains how and why Housestars Tech Ltd (also referred to as “housestars.co.uk”, “hourstars app”, “we”, “our” and “us”) uses technology to collect information about the use of our website housestars.co.uk (the “Website”) and to distinguish you from other users of our Website in order to improve your experience when you browse the Website.

This cookies policy should be ready in conjunction with our website privacy policy available at https://housestars.co.uk/privacy-policy

Cookies and similar technologies: what are they?

When you use our Website, we may collect certain information by automated means, such as cookies and similar technologies which may include web beacons or SDK.

A “cookie” is a file that websites send to a visitor’s computer or other Internet-connected device to uniquely identify the visitor’s browser or to store information or settings on the device.

Web beacons (also called ‘pixel tags’ or GIFs) are small image file elements placed within web pages and web-based messaging, such as newsletters and that work together with cookies to recognise visitors and how they interact with that content. Using these tools we can better understand which content is of interest to our visitors. An SDK is a piece of data code that is included in mobile applications and works in a similar way.

Why do we use cookies and similar technologies?

The information we collect in this manner enables us to better serve you when you return to our Website – for example, it can “remember” your email address to save you having to enter it manually upon your return.

We also use cookies to track responses to our marketing materials, such as emails and online advertisements. Your browser may tell you how to be notified when you receive certain types of cookies or how to restrict or disable certain types of cookies. Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of this Website.

What types of cookies and similar technology do we use?

Types of cookies

This Website uses a number of different categories of cookies in particular:

• “Strictly necessary” cookies which are necessary for the functionality of our Website. These cookies are essential in order to enable users to move around a website and use its features. These are always active, and cannot be turned off, when you visit our Website. We do not require your consent to use strictly necessary cookies.
• “Performance” cookies collect information about how users navigate our Website, for instance which pages users access most frequently. They identify how users interact with a website, find out which pages seem to hold people up, which pages are not used often, which pages take a long time to load, what pages users tend to visit and in what order. These cookies can be turned off in your browser settings but please note that this will mean that our website will not remember your interactions with our Website.
• “Functionality” cookies allow a website to remember choices made by a user based on e.g. language or region of user.
• “Targeting or advertising” cookies are used on a website to deliver adverts relevant to an identified machine or other device (not a named or otherwise identifiable person) which are tailored to interests associated with the website activity tied to that machine or device. For example, if cookie on a third party website recognises that a particular product was purchased from a particular device, that cookie may “talk to” marketing cookies on this website to ensure advertisements about similar products are displayed when this website is accessed from that device. These cookies are also used to limit the number of times a user sees an advertisement as well as to help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They may also remember that this website has been visited from a device and share that information with marketing organisations. They may be used to monitor from which advertising source a user was first directed towards a website, so that the operator of that website knows whether it is worth investing in a particular advertising source. Usually this type of cookie will be operated by a third party.
• Third party cookies

Our Website also uses marketing automation technology to collect data on visitor behavior. These cookies help us track your visits to our Website and enable us to create an engaging marketing experience for you. We also use these cookies to understand your interaction with the emails we send you, and to ensure we’re sending you relevant information; specifically, these cookies let us know whether our emails have been opened, and which links are clicked.

Our Website may also feature cookies associated with certain unaffiliated companies. For example, we partner with other companies to provide you with connections to certain social networks, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and to provide you with additional features such as YouTube.

This Website may link through to third party websites which may also use cookies over which we have no control. We recommend that you check the relevant third parties privacy policy for information about any cookies that may be used

By engaging with such other companies’ sites, such companies may place session or persistent cookies on your device. This may allow these third-parties to collect information about your online activities over time and across websites.

How do we store cookies and for how long?

Cookies are either stored in memory (session cookies) or placed on the user’s hard disk (persistent cookies). The key difference between the two is the time of expiration. Session cookies expire at the end of the session, i.e. when a user closes his browser window, the session cookie is deleted.

• Persistent cookies do not expire at the end of the session and remain on the hard disk.
• Session cookies allow users to be recognized within a website so any page changes or item or data selection he does are remembered from page to page.

For more information on the cookies we use on this Website and how long we store them for, please see the cookies table below.

Do we use web analytics and interest-based advertising?

We may use web analytics services on our websites, such as those of Google Analytics, Google AdSense or Hotjar. The service providers that administer these services use technologies such as cookies to help us analyse how visitors use the site. The information collected through these means (including IP address) is disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers, who use the information to evaluate use of the website or for advertising purposes, as described below.

Some of our online advertising takes place through Google AdSense. As part of this program, we use Google Analytics features such as Retargeting. In connection with that feature and others offered by ad networks, we and the operators of ad networks, including Google, may use third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) – and in some cases first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) – to inform, optimize, and serve ads across the internet based on a user’s past visits to our website.

We do this to help make sure the Website is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements. We use cookies on our Website to:

• recognize you whenever you visit the Website;
• count the number of times you have visited the Website including when your first and last visit occurred;
• take note of the time you enter the Website; and
• track where you came from, including the search engine you use, the link you clicked on, the keyword you used and where in the world you are when you access the Website.

Do we use web analytics and interest-based advertising?

You can opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising or customize Google Display Network ads using the Google Ads Preferences Manager. To disable Google Analytics in general, please download the browser add-on for the deactivation of Google Analytics provided by Google at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. To learn more about other ad networks, including how to opt out, click here.

Can I choose not to be tracked?

It’s not that simple. Some web browsers and mobile devices incorporate a “do not track” feature that, when enabled, signals to websites and online services that you do not wish to be tracked. Because there is not yet an accepted standard for how to respond to such a do-not-track signal, we do not recognize or respond to these signals.

Is there a summary of the cookies that we use on this Website?

Yes. Please see below for the cookies used on this Website, information on what the cookie does, the category of cookie and duration that the cookie is set for.

How to turn off cookies?

If you do not want to accept cookies, you can change your browser settings so that cookies are disabled. You can do this also via the cookie’s preference center. If you do this, please be aware that you may lose some of the functionality of the Website. For further information about cookies and how to disable them please go to www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

How to contact us?

We may update this cookies notice from time to time to reflect changes to the type of cookies and similar technology we set. We also encourage you to check this cookies notice on a regular basis.