Privacy Policy

Notice at collection

Depending on how you use the Service, we may collect identifiers and account information; payment, payout, transaction, and commercial information; professional and business information; valet, vehicle, and service records; device, notification, proximity, and approximate service-location information; photographs and other user-provided content; communications; internet or application activity; and diagnostic, security, and support information. We collect and use these categories for the business and commercial purposes described below. We retain each category only for as long as reasonably necessary for those purposes, legal obligations, security, dispute resolution, and enforcement of our agreements.

Gratuitease does not sell personal information for money and does not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not use valet-ticket text-message consent for advertising.

Information you provide

• Name, email address, phone number, profile image, position, business, and account credentials
• Business-interest details such as company name, website, operation type, location and worker counts, requested capabilities, desired launch timeframe, and operational notes
• Business, worker, roster, shift, payroll, tax, classification, and payout-routing information
• Legal agreement acceptance, signer name, agreement version, date, and acceptance method
• Support requests, feedback, notes, and other content you submit
• Valet claim codes, vehicle make, model, color, license plate, parking space, notes, photographs, and damage documentation
• Information used to request, assign, retrieve, pay for, or complete a valet ticket

Transactions, payments, and payouts

We process tip amounts, parking charges, fees, timestamps, payment and refund status, disputes, recipient and business attribution, tip-pool allocations, corrections, transfers, payouts, and related identifiers needed to complete and reconcile transactions. Payment and financial-account information is handled by providers such as Stripe and supported mobile wallets. Gratuitease does not store full payment-card or bank-account numbers.

Valet ticket and guest information

Participating hotels and valet operators may provide or collect a guest's phone number, customer account identifier, ticket and claim identifiers, vehicle details, vehicle photographs, damage records, NFC tag identifier, parking location, requested retrieval time, estimated arrival time, runner assignment, ticket status, parking payment status, and related timestamps. A guest who chooses a four-digit claim code instead of app or text delivery is not required to provide a phone number for that purpose.

Device, proximity, and service activity

We may collect device and application identifiers, push-notification tokens, operating-system and app version, language, network and connectivity status, feature interactions, session events, security events, and diagnostic information. Bluetooth beacon encounters may include beacon, worker, business, geofence, or service-location identifiers and timestamps used to rank nearby service professionals, prevent fraud, support transactions, and provide business analytics.

Gratuitease does not build or store a continuous GPS travel history. Apple routes beacon scanning through location-related system permissions, and a business or geofence identifier associated with a beacon event may reveal that a device was near a participating service location. Device settings control Bluetooth, location, camera, and notification permissions.

Google Sign-In may process coarse location as described by Google's SDK privacy manifest for authentication and app functionality. This is separate from nearby Bluetooth discovery: Gratuitease does not use the iPhone location sensor to collect or store precise GPS coordinates for beacon ranging.

For a physical wearable beacon, we may process its manufacturer identifier, hardware address, Gratuitease asset identifier, broadcast UUID, major and minor values, additional UID frame, firmware information, configuration version, assignment status, and recent verification results. Beacon passwords are stored in encrypted form and are delivered only to an authorized app during a short configuration session; they are not displayed in business or support dashboards.

To support fast and temporarily offline discovery, the app may cache a limited public worker record, including public worker identifier, display name, photo, business, beacon UUID, major, minor, active wearable UID, source type, and whether discovery is enabled. This cache excludes authentication IDs, beacon passwords, hardware addresses, Stripe account identifiers, and private assignment history.

Beacon security, loss, and recovery

We maintain records needed to register, assign, reassign, recover, quarantine, retire, or report a beacon lost or stolen. These records may include business ownership, worker assignment, spare-beacon checkout and return, configuration sessions, security claims, support recovery authorization, and an audit history identifying the acting account, reason, and time. Static Bluetooth signals can be copied, replayed, obstructed, or disrupted. Gratuitease uses reasonable safeguards and server-side assignment checks, but no Bluetooth system can guarantee that a radio signal will never be cloned or interfered with.

Diagnostics, security, and support

To detect failures, investigate fraud, protect accounts, and support beta or production operation, we may process error messages, crash and performance information, device model, operating-system version, network status, screen or feature context, technical breadcrumbs, and relevant transaction, organization, geofence, beacon, ticket, or payment identifiers. Support communications may include information you choose to provide. We do not intentionally request passwords, full card numbers, or full bank-account numbers through support channels.

How we collect information

We collect information directly from you; automatically from the app, website, device, or supported permissions; from participating businesses and their authorized personnel; and from providers that help authenticate users, process payments, deliver messages, host data, detect errors, or operate the Service. Guest mode uses an anonymous technical account so protected transactions and requests can be associated with the correct session without requiring a registered Gratuitease profile.

How we use information

• Provide, operate, personalize, maintain, and improve the Service
• Authenticate users, secure accounts, and record legal acceptance
• Process tips, parking charges, refunds, disputes, allocations, transfers, and payouts
• Create, deliver, manage, and audit valet tickets and vehicle requests
• Identify and rank nearby service professionals using proximity events
• Provide business analytics about tipping, service, tickets, staffing, and operations
• Prepare employer reports, reconcile allocations, and document corrections
• Deliver app notifications and optional transactional valet-ticket text messages
• Fulfill wearable orders and provide processing, shipping, tracking, delivery, replacement, and cancellation updates
• Prevent fraud, abuse, unauthorized access, security incidents, and payment loss
• Provide support, troubleshoot failures, and communicate service or legal updates
• Review business-interest requests, prepare proposals, plan implementation, contact business representatives, and administer invitation-only onboarding
• Comply with law and enforce our agreements

When we disclose information

We may disclose information to vendors that process payments, provide mobile-wallet functions, host cloud infrastructure and databases, authenticate accounts, deliver notifications or text messages, monitor reliability, support customers, or provide other services on our behalf. These providers include, as applicable, Stripe, Apple, Google and Firebase, and Twilio. We require providers to handle information consistently with their contractual and legal obligations and with protections appropriate to the information they process.

When a service professional participates through a business, we may disclose profile, activity, ticket, tip attribution, allocation, payout, correction, and reporting information to that business's authorized administrators. Valet ticket information may be available to authorized personnel of the business that issued the ticket. We may also disclose information in a corporate transaction, with your direction or consent, as required by law, or when reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, property, users, or the Service.

All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information won’t be shared with any third parties. Messaging providers may process that information solely on our behalf as necessary to deliver and manage the messages a recipient requested, or as required by law.

Data retention and deletion

Retention depends on the type of information and why it was collected. Account and profile information is generally retained while an account is active. Transaction, payout, tax, fraud, legal-acceptance, refund, dispute, and audit records may be retained after account closure as required for financial, legal, security, and recordkeeping obligations. Completed guest-ticket access is time-limited, while underlying ticket, payment, and audit records may be retained by Gratuitease or the participating business for legitimate operational and legal purposes. Diagnostic data is retained only as long as reasonably necessary to investigate and prevent issues. Beacon assignment, loss, recovery, configuration, and audit records may be retained as reasonably necessary to prevent unauthorized reassignment, investigate spoofing or support cases, document authorized recovery, and meet security and legal obligations. Business-interest submissions that do not proceed are deleted or de-identified according to our lead-data retention schedule; rejected and spam submissions are not retained indefinitely. When a business proceeds, relevant onboarding, consent, approval, and audit records may be retained as part of the business relationship.

Registered users may initiate account deletion through the app. We delete or de-identify information associated with a request unless retention is required or permitted by law, needed to complete a transaction, detect fraud, resolve a dispute, enforce an agreement, or protect the Service. Some records held by a participating business or third-party provider are governed by that party's independent retention obligations.

When deletion is requested, we deactivate account access and public discovery, cancel recurring wearable billing, and remove profile files and contact information. If a tip, payout, refund, dispute, shipment, or payment-provider balance is still pending, we retain only the restricted identifiers and records reasonably necessary to complete or reconcile it. The remaining account data is de-identified; pending funds continue to the previously linked payout destination when one remains usable and settlement permits. Otherwise, restricted support review is required. Provider and audit cleanup continues automatically or through restricted support review after app access ends.

Security and account protection

We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information, including access controls and protections supplied by our cloud, authentication, and payment providers. No system, transmission, storage method, or authentication process can be guaranteed completely secure. You are responsible for protecting your credentials and device and for promptly notifying us if you suspect unauthorized access. We may preserve and review relevant records to investigate an account or security incident. We continue to use safeguards reasonably designed for the sensitivity of the information even though no radio transmission or technical system can be guaranteed completely secure.

Your choices and privacy rights

Request deletion of your Gratuitease account and associated data — no app installation is required.

You may update certain profile information in the app, control supported device permissions, decline an optional valet-ticket text in favor of a claim code, opt out of text messages as described in our text-message consent notice, and initiate deletion of a registered account through the app. Depending on where you live, you may also have rights to know, access, correct, delete, obtain a portable copy of, or restrict certain uses of personal information; to opt out of certain disclosures; and to receive equal service without unlawful discrimination.

To submit a privacy request or appeal a response, use the support request form. We may need to verify your identity and authority before completing a request. Authorized agents may be required to provide proof of authorization. We will respond as required by applicable law.

Children

The current Service, including registered accounts and guest mode, is intended only for people who are at least 18 years old. Parent or guardian approval does not make an under-18 person eligible for the current Service. If you believe someone under 18 has used the Service, contact us so we can investigate, restrict access, and handle associated information as required by law.

International processing

Gratuitease is based in the United States. Information may be processed and stored in the United States and other locations where our providers operate. Those locations may have privacy laws different from those where you live. Where required, we use appropriate contractual or legal protections for transfers.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as our practices or legal requirements change. We will revise the date above and provide additional notice when required. If a change materially affects the information covered by a prior acknowledgement, we may ask you to review the revised policy before continuing.

Contact us

Gratuitease, Inc.
Support: Submit a support request