Cookie Policy
What this website stores in your browser, why, for how long, and how to change your mind. Declining everything optional costs you nothing — the whole site is readable either way.
1. What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to keep. When you return, the browser sends it back, which lets the site remember something — that you already answered the cookie question, for instance. Websites also use closely related browser storage for the same purpose; where we do, we describe it here in the same way and treat it under the same rules.
2. How we handle consent
Nothing optional is set before you choose. When you first arrive, a banner appears at the bottom of the page with three options: Accept All, Reject All and Cookie Settings, where you can enable analytics and marketing separately.
The banner does not block the page. You can scroll, read and use every part of this website without answering it, and rejecting everything optional hides nothing and disables nothing. Until you choose, analytics and advertising storage remain switched off by default.
3. The three categories
Essential — always active
These make the site work and cannot be switched off. They remember your cookie choice so you are not asked on every page, they protect submitted forms against abuse, and they help our host distribute traffic. They do not track you and they are not used for advertising.
Analytics — off unless you allow it
These tell us, in aggregate, which reviews and guides are read and for how long. That is how we decide what to write next. Your IP address is truncated before storage and we never receive a report that identifies an individual reader.
Marketing — off unless you allow it
These let us measure whether our own advertising campaigns reach people who then read the site. We use them for measurement, not to build a profile of you, and we do not sell advertising space to gambling operators.
4. What is actually set
| Name | Category | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| ht_consent | Essential | Remembers the cookie choice you made so you are not asked again | 12 months |
| PHPSESSID | Essential | Keeps a form submission connected to your visit | Until you close the browser |
| _ga | Analytics | Distinguishes one visitor from another for aggregate statistics | Up to 13 months |
| _ga_* | Analytics | Maintains the state of an analytics session | Up to 13 months |
| _gid | Analytics | Distinguishes visitors within a 24-hour window | 24 hours |
| _gcl_au | Marketing | Measures whether an advertisement led to a visit | 90 days |
Analytics and marketing entries appear only after you have allowed the corresponding category. If you reject, they are never created.
5. Consent Mode
We use Google Consent Mode v2. In practice this means that when the page loads, advertising storage, analytics storage, advertising user data and advertising personalisation are all set to denied. They change only if you grant permission, and they change back the moment you withdraw it.
6. Changing your mind
You can withdraw or change your choice at any time in either of two ways.
- Clear the site data for hoteltrails.com in your browser settings. The banner will appear again on your next visit and you can answer differently.
- Write to [email protected] and we will confirm what applies to your request.
Every major browser also lets you block or delete cookies for all sites, usually under Privacy or Security in settings. Blocking essential cookies may stop the contact form from working; nothing else on this site will break.
7. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Where your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a rejection of the optional categories and do not ask again during that visit.
8. Third parties
The only third-party entries we permit are the analytics and advertising measurement ones listed above, and only after consent. We do not embed social media trackers, advertising exchanges, session recording tools, heat maps or affiliate tracking of any kind. We carry no advertising for gambling operators and no affiliate links to gambling platforms.
9. Changes
If we change what we set, we will update the table above and the date at the top of this page, and ask for your consent again where the change requires it.
10. Contact
Questions about this policy: [email protected], or by post to Hotel Trails Travel Media Inc., 1055 West Georgia Street, Suite 2400, Vancouver, BC V6E 3P3, Canada. See also our Privacy Policy.