Privacy Policy
Escape Cottages Scotland
Last updated: 30 August 2026
Escape Cottages Scotland is a partnership operated by Julie Wilson and Frank Wilson.
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we may share it with, how we protect it and your rights.
ICO registration number: ZB816524
Who we are
Escape Cottages Scotland is a Scottish holiday cottage agency operated as a partnership by Julie Wilson and Frank Wilson.
For questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information or your data protection rights, please contact us at:
Email: escapecottagesscotland@gmail.com
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
Information we collect
Depending on how you interact with Escape Cottages Scotland, we may collect and process the following personal information:
Name
Email address
Telephone number
Address
Booking details
Preferred holiday dates Number of guests
Information about dogs or other pets
Special requests or requirements
Payment-related information
Information provided when making an enquiry
Information submitted through our website forms
Information submitted through TikTok lead-generation forms
Marketing preferences
Previous booking and enquiry information
We only collect information that is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
How we collect your information
We may collect personal information directly from you when you:
Make a booking
Make an enquiry
Contact us by email or telephone
Complete a form on our website
Submit a lead form through TikTok
Sign up to receive marketing communications
Communicate with us before, during or after a stay
Make a booking through Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo
We may also receive booking information from third-party booking platforms.
Bookings made through Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo are connected to our OwnerRez booking system through API connections so that we can manage bookings, availability and guest information.
How we use your information
We may use your personal information to:
Respond to enquiries
Help you find a suitable holiday cottage
Process and manage bookings
Communicate with you about your booking
Provide booking confirmations and other important information
Manage payments
Manage availability
Provide relevant information to the owner of the property you have booked
Provide necessary arrival and departure information to the property's housekeeper
Deal with special requests
Manage changes, cancellations and refunds
Provide customer support
Maintain appropriate business, accounting and financial records
Deal with complaints, disputes and legal matters
Improve our website and services
Understand how visitors use our website
Send marketing communications where we have the appropriate consent or other lawful basis
Lawful basis for using your information
We will only process your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so.
Depending on the circumstances, our lawful bases may include:
Contract
We may need to process your information to enter into or perform a contract with you, including arranging and managing your holiday booking.
Legal obligation
We may process information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including accounting, tax and financial record-keeping requirements.
Legitimate interests
We may process information where this is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.
This may include administering and improving our business, responding to enquiries, maintaining business records, preventing fraud and dealing with disputes.
Consent
Where consent is required, we will ask you to provide it before processing your information for that particular purpose.
You may withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.
Marketing
We may send marketing communications about Escape Cottages Scotland, including holiday availability, special offers, news and other relevant information.
Where consent is required, marketing consent will be separate from information required to process an enquiry or booking.
For example, when using our TikTok lead form, we may provide a separate, unticked marketing option:
"Yes, I'd like to receive marketing emails from Escape Cottages Scotland about holiday offers, availability and news."
You do not need to agree to marketing in order to submit a holiday enquiry.
You can withdraw your marketing consent at any time by using the unsubscribe option provided in our emails or by contacting us at:
escapecottagesscotland@gmail.com
We will keep appropriate records of marketing consent and will respect requests to stop receiving marketing communications.
The ICO's current guidance states that where consent is required for electronic marketing, it must be freely given, specific, informed and based on a clear affirmative action. Pre-ticked boxes or silence do not constitute valid consent.
Property owners and housekeepers
Escape Cottages Scotland works with individual holiday property owners.
When you make a booking, we may provide relevant information about your booking to the owner of the property you have booked.
This may include information necessary for the owner to manage your stay.
We may also provide necessary arrival and departure information to the property's housekeeper so that the property can be prepared for your arrival and serviced appropriately.
We only provide information that is reasonably necessary for these purposes.
Third-party booking platforms
Escape Cottages Scotland receives bookings through third-party platforms including:
Airbnb
Booking.com
Vrbo
These platforms process personal information under their own privacy policies.
Where a booking is made through one of these platforms, relevant booking information may be transferred automatically into our OwnerRez booking system through API connections.
This enables us to manage bookings, availability and guest information efficiently.
OwnerRez
We use OwnerRez as our booking management system.
OwnerRez may process personal information relating to enquiries, bookings, guests and property availability on our behalf.
As OwnerRez is a US-based service, personal information may be processed or transferred outside the UK as part of the services we use.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer is carried out in accordance with applicable UK data protection requirements and that appropriate safeguards are in place.
Payments and Stripe
Payments for bookings made through our website are processed using Stripe through our OwnerRez booking system.
Stripe processes payment information in accordance with its own privacy and security arrangements.
We do not intentionally collect or store customers' complete payment card numbers ourselves.
Payment information may be processed and retained by Stripe as necessary to process payments and comply with applicable legal and financial requirements.
Website and cookies
Our website is operated using Squarespace.
We use cookies and similar technologies to allow our website to function, understand how visitors use our website and, where applicable, support marketing and analytics.
We currently use services including:
Squarespace
Google Analytics
Meta Pixel
OwnerRez
Our website displays a cookie banner which gives visitors the following choices:
Accept all
Decline
Manage cookies
The cookie banner also provides information explaining the choices available.
Strictly necessary cookies may be used where required for the website to operate.
Where consent is required for non-essential cookies or similar technologies, these will only be used in accordance with applicable requirements and the choices made through our cookie-management system.
You can change your cookie preferences through the cookie controls provided on our website.
The ICO requires clear information about cookies and, where applicable, consent before non-essential cookies or similar technologies are used.
Google Analytics and Meta Pixel
We use Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors use our website, including information such as website traffic, pages visited and interactions with the website.
We use the Meta Pixel to help us understand and measure activity relating to our marketing and social media advertising.
Where these technologies require consent, they will be subject to the cookie choices made by visitors through our website's cookie-management system.
These services may process information in accordance with their own privacy policies and terms.
TikTok lead forms
We may use TikTok lead-generation forms to allow people to enquire about our holiday cottages.
Information submitted through a TikTok lead form may include:
Name
Email address
Telephone number
Preferred holiday dates
Number of guests
Preferred area of Scotland
Whether a dog or other pet will be travelling
Other information provided in response to our questions
We use this information to respond to enquiries and help potential guests find suitable accommodation.
Where a person separately gives valid consent to receive marketing, their information may also be used for the marketing purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
TikTok may also process information in accordance with its own privacy policy and terms.
Who we share information with
We do not sell personal information.
We may share personal information where reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
This may include sharing information with:
The owner of the holiday property booked
The relevant property's housekeeper
OwnerRez
Stripe
Squarespace
Meta
TikTok
Airbnb
Booking.com
Vrbo
Professional advisers or service providers where reasonably necessary
Authorities or other organizations where we are legally required to do so
Third-party service providers may process personal information on our behalf or as part of the services they provide.
Where appropriate, we expect service providers handling personal information on our behalf to take appropriate security measures and comply with applicable data protection requirements.
International transfers
Some of the service providers we use may be based outside the UK or may process information internationally.
Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer complies with applicable UK data protection law and that appropriate safeguards are in place where required.
This includes considering the safeguards available through the relevant service provider and any applicable UK transfer mechanisms.
How long we keep your information
We do not keep personal information indefinitely.
We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, taking account of legal, accounting, tax, business, insurance and dispute-resolution requirements.
Different types of information may therefore be retained for different periods.
Booking and financial information
Booking and financial records may be retained for longer periods where necessary to meet legal, tax and accounting requirements or to protect our legitimate business interests.
Enquiries
Information relating to enquiries that do not result in a booking will normally be retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to deal with the enquiry and any appropriate follow-up.
Marketing information
Where you have consented to receive marketing, we will retain the information necessary to manage your subscription and marketing preferences.
If you unsubscribe, we will stop sending marketing communications and may retain limited information necessary to record your request and ensure that we do not send you further marketing.
Booking history
We may retain appropriate booking history where reasonably necessary for customer service, business, legal, accounting, tax, insurance or dispute-resolution purposes.
We periodically review the personal information we hold and securely delete or dispose of information that is no longer required.
Keeping your information secure
We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorized access, alteration or disclosure.
Our business systems are password protected and we use two-factor authentication where available.
We take reasonable care when selecting and using third-party systems and services.
However, no method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights under UK data protection law, including:
The right to be informed about how your personal information is used
The right to request access to personal information we hold about you
The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
The right to request deletion of personal information in certain circumstances
The right to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
The right to object to certain processing
The right to data portability in certain circumstances
The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
The right to object to direct marketing
Your right to object to direct marketing is particularly important. If you ask us to stop sending marketing communications, we will stop.
Some rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions.
Exercising your rights
If you would like to exercise your data protection rights or ask us a question about how we use your personal information, please contact:
escapecottagesscotland@gmail.com
Please provide enough information for us to identify you and understand your request.
We may need to verify your identity before providing personal information or making certain changes.
Complaints
If you have concerns about how Escape Cottages Scotland has handled your personal information, we would encourage you to contact us first:
escapecottagesscotland@gmail.com
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is the UK's independent regulator for data protection.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our business, the services we use, how we process personal information or applicable legal requirements.
The latest version will always be published on our website and will show the date it was last updated.
Contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how Escape Cottages Scotland handles personal information, please contact:
Escape Cottages Scotland
Julie Wilson and Frank Wilson
Email: escapecottagesscotland@gmail.com
ICO registration number: ZB816524
Last updated: 30 August 2026