Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 13, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Travel Buddy ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects information about you when you use trytravelbuddy.com (the "Service"). Travel Buddy is operated by Ricardo Vilela, an individual based in Portugal, contactable at hello@trytravelbuddy.com.

We comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you are in the EU/EEA or UK, you have the rights set out below.

1. What we collect

Information you give us when planning a trip:

  • Origin city, destination city, travel dates
  • Number of travelers, budget, trip preferences (vibe, splurge/save preferences)
  • Passport country/citizenship (per traveler, used to determine visa and entry requirements)
  • Email address (collected at checkout via Stripe)

Information collected automatically:

  • IP address, browser type, device type, referring URL
  • Pages visited, time spent, interactions with the Service
  • Cookies set by Stripe (for payment session integrity) and our hosting provider Vercel (for analytics, if enabled)

Information from payment:

  • We do not store your full payment card details. Stripe processes all payments and we receive only a payment confirmation, the email address you used at checkout, and a session ID.

2. How we use your information

  • To deliver the product you paid for: generate your travel plan, save it to a permanent URL, email it to you.
  • To prevent abuse: rate-limit requests, detect fraudulent payments, investigate misuse.
  • To improve the Service: analyze aggregated usage patterns. We do not sell your data.
  • To respond to support requests you send us at hello@trytravelbuddy.com.

3. Legal basis for processing (GDPR)

  • Contractual necessity for generating and delivering your plan after payment.
  • Legitimate interest for fraud prevention, security, and aggregate analytics.
  • Consent for any non-essential cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.

4. Sub-processors

We use the following third-party services to operate Travel Buddy. By using the Service, you accept that your data may be processed by them under their respective privacy policies:

| Service | Purpose | Data shared | |---|---|---| | Stripe (Stripe Payments Europe Ltd, Ireland) | Payment processing | Payment details, email | | Anthropic (Anthropic PBC, USA) | AI plan generation | Trip details (no payment info) | | Duffel (Duffel Technology Ltd, UK) | Live flight and hotel search | Origin, destination, dates | | Supabase (Supabase Inc, USA) | Storing your generated plan | Plan content, trip details, email | | Resend (Resend Inc, USA) | Sending you the plan link by email | Email address, plan URL | | Vercel (Vercel Inc, USA) | Hosting and infrastructure | Standard server logs |

US-based sub-processors process your data under Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent GDPR transfer mechanisms.

5. How long we keep your data

  • Generated plans: stored indefinitely so you can return to your bookmarked plan URL. You can request deletion at any time.
  • Payment records: retained as required by Portuguese tax law (currently 10 years).
  • Server logs: typically 30 days, then aggregated and anonymized.

6. Your rights (GDPR)

If you are in the EU/EEA or UK, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you.
  • Correct inaccurate data.
  • Delete your data (right to erasure), subject to legal retention obligations.
  • Object to processing based on legitimate interest.
  • Data portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
  • Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. In Portugal this is the CNPD (cnpd.pt).

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@trytravelbuddy.com. We respond within 30 days.

7. Affiliate links

Plans we generate include affiliate links to third-party booking partners (Travelpayouts for flights and hotels, GetYourGuide for experiences, Discover Cars for rentals). When you click these links and make a booking, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. The third-party site has its own privacy policy and cookies, which apply once you leave Travel Buddy.

8. Cookies

We use cookies strictly necessary for the Service to function (payment session integrity, your generated plan reference). We do not currently use advertising or tracking cookies. If we add analytics cookies in the future, we will request consent first.

9. Children

Travel Buddy is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If you believe we have, contact hello@trytravelbuddy.com and we will delete it.

10. Changes

We may update this policy. Material changes will be announced on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance.

11. Contact

Questions or requests: hello@trytravelbuddy.com

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