Legal

Privacy Policy

We collect only what we need, keep it only as long as required, and never sell it. This policy explains exactly what we do with your data.

Last updated: 1 January 2026·Applies to all TripPlay booking services

1. Who we are

TripPlay GmbH ("TripPlay", "we", "us") is a travel company registered in Germany (HRB 12345 B, Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg) with offices in Beijing and Berlin. We operate the TripPlay website and related booking services.

Data controller: TripPlay GmbH, Torstraße 142, 10119 Berlin, Germany. Data protection officer: [email protected]

2. What personal data we collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

When you enquire or book:

Name, email address, phone number, postal address
Passport details and nationality (required for tour documentation)
Travel preferences, dietary requirements, and health information you choose to provide
Payment information (processed by Stripe — we do not store card numbers)

When you visit our website:

IP address, browser type, pages visited, time on site
Device type and operating system
Referral source (how you found us)

When you interact with us:

Chat messages and email correspondence
Reviews and feedback you submit
Newsletter subscription status

3. Why we use your data

We process your personal data for the following purposes and legal bases:

To fulfil your booking (contractual necessity):

We need your name, passport details, and contact information to confirm reservations, issue tour documents, coordinate with hotels and transport providers, and communicate with you about your trip.

To process payments (contractual necessity):

We pass payment details to Stripe, our PCI-DSS-compliant payment processor. Stripe's privacy policy applies to payment processing.

To comply with legal obligations:

We retain financial records for 10 years as required by German commercial law. We may share data with authorities when legally required.

With your consent:

We send marketing emails and newsletters only to subscribers who have explicitly opted in. You can unsubscribe at any time.

For legitimate interests:

We use anonymised analytics to improve our website and services. We do not use this data to identify individuals.

4. Who we share your data with

We share personal data only with trusted parties necessary to deliver your trip:

Hotels and accommodation providers — name and arrival/departure details
Ground transport operators in China — name and contact number
Stripe — payment processing (see stripe.com/privacy)
Mailchimp — newsletter delivery (for subscribers only)
Google Analytics — anonymised website analytics (IP anonymisation enabled)

We never sell your personal data. We never share it with third-party marketing companies.

All third-party data processors operate under contracts that require them to handle your data securely and in compliance with GDPR.

5. International transfers

Because we operate tours in China, some of your data (specifically your name and contact number) is shared with our Beijing office and local suppliers. China is not currently recognised by the EU as providing adequate data protection.

We protect these transfers through:

Standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission
Internal data handling policies binding on our Beijing staff
Limiting transfer to the minimum data necessary (name and phone number only)

Your payment data never leaves the EU.

6. How long we keep your data

We retain different categories of data for different periods:

Booking and trip records: 6 years after the trip date (for warranty and dispute resolution)
Financial records: 10 years (German commercial law)
Newsletter subscription data: Until you unsubscribe, then deleted within 30 days
Website analytics: 14 months (Google Analytics default, anonymised)
Chat records: 12 months
Enquiries that did not lead to a booking: 24 months

After these periods, we permanently delete or irreversibly anonymise your data.

7. Your rights under GDPR

As an EU/EEA resident (and under UK GDPR for UK residents), you have the following rights:

Right of access: Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate data
Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): Ask us to delete your data, subject to our legal retention obligations
Right to restriction: Ask us to pause processing while a dispute is resolved
Right to portability: Receive your data in a machine-readable format
Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing
Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw consent for marketing at any time, without affecting processing already carried out

To exercise any right, email [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.

If you are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit (the Berlin data protection authority) or your local supervisory authority.

8. Cookies

We use the following cookies:

Strictly necessary (no consent required):

Session cookies for the booking flow
Security tokens (CSRF protection)

Analytics (consent required):

Google Analytics (_ga, _gid) — anonymised traffic analysis
Hotjar — anonymised user behaviour (no PII captured)

Marketing (consent required):

Meta Pixel — only if you clicked a Facebook/Instagram ad to reach us
Google Ads conversion tracking

You can manage cookie preferences via the "Cookie settings" link in the footer. Withdrawing consent does not affect functionality.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data:

All data transmitted via TLS 1.3 encryption
Payment data handled exclusively by Stripe (PCI-DSS Level 1)
Internal access to personal data restricted on a need-to-know basis
Staff trained annually on data protection
Regular security audits of our booking platform

In the event of a data breach that is likely to affect your rights, we will notify you and the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify active customers of material changes by email at least 30 days before they take effect. The "last updated" date at the top of this page will always reflect the current version.

For questions about this policy, contact us at [email protected] or by post at: TripPlay GmbH, Torstraße 142, 10119 Berlin, Germany.

Contact us[email protected]