Privacy policy
What we collect when you enquire, book and travel with us, why we need it, who sees it, and how to have it corrected or removed.
01Who we are
Adi Kailash Explore, Pitrota, near Thana Kotwali, Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand 262501, is the data fiduciary for the personal data described here — the people who decide what is collected and why. For anything about your data, write to hello@adikailash.io or message +91 76688 58311. This policy is written under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
02What we collect, and when
When you enquire. Every enquiry reaches us on WhatsApp, by phone or by email. The forms on this website (contact, partners, group bookings, the creator programme) show you the message before it goes, then send it as an email to hello@adikailash.io through our own server and an email delivery service, and a copy to Vyas, our own customer system, where our team keeps it as your enquiry; this website itself stores none of it. We receive what you send: your name, the email address or phone number you give us to reply to, and the contents of the message. If you choose WhatsApp instead, the message is written on your device and sent from your own WhatsApp.
When you book. To confirm a seat and file your Inner Line Permit we need, for each traveller: full name, age and gender as on your ID; a government photo ID (Aadhaar, passport, voter ID or driving licence); passport-size photographs; an emergency contact; and the details of the payment you made. Some of this, your ID above all, is sensitive, and we treat it that way.
When you travel. Photographs and videos from the departure, where you have consented to being in them, and anything you tell our guide that matters for your safety on the road.
When you visit adikailash.io.A lightweight analytics script (Conclick) records the pages viewed, the page that referred you, and the type of device and browser. It does not identify you by name. We also use Google’s tag for Google Ads: it sets cookies so we can see which of our ads brought you here and whether you then contacted us, and so Google can show our ads again to people who have visited. Google handles that data under its own privacy terms, and you can turn off personalised ads at adssettings.google.com. We use PostHog to understand how the site is used: it records the pages you view, what you click and, as a recording of the screen, how you move through a page, so we can see where the site is confusing. What you type into a form is masked and never recorded. PostHog sets a cookie to tell one visit from the next; the data goes through our own domain to PostHog (in the United States) and is kept under its privacy terms. The site’s fonts, maps and videos are served from our own domain. WhatsApp links open in WhatsApp, which is run by Meta under its own privacy terms.
03Why we need it
- To run your trip — the permit application, the stays, the vehicle, the batch group, and reaching you if a plan changes on the road.
- Because the law requires it — the Inner Line Permit is issued by the district administration against ID and photographs, and the permit is checked at posts along the route.
- For your safety: what you tell us about your health lets the guide make the right call at altitude.
- To keep our word — your receipts, your confirmation and the conversation around them, so what we promised can be checked.
We do not use your data to profile you, and we do not add you to marketing lists without asking.
04Who sees it
Your data is shared only with the people who need it to run your trip:
- The permit office — the Sub-Divisional Magistrate at Dharchula and the check posts along the route receive the permit application with your ID and photographs.
- The stays and the driver — names and the number in your party for the rooms; your number for the pickup.
- Our team — the guide on your departure and the people in the Pithoragarh office who run bookings.
- Our bank — sees the payment, as any bank does.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. If a court or a government authority requires information from us under Indian law, we provide what the law requires.
05How long we keep it
Permit documents (your ID copy and photographs) are kept for the season they were used in and for as long as the permit rules require afterwards, then deleted. Booking records and receipts are kept for as long as Indian tax and accounting law requires. Enquiry conversations stay on the WhatsApp thread you used, so that when you come back we know who you are; ask and we delete them.
06How we protect it
Documents travel over WhatsApp, which encrypts them in transit, and are stored on the phones and computers of the small team that runs bookings — nobody outside that team has access. Permit copies are filed with the authorities as required and not kept anywhere they do not need to be. We do not store card details: payments go to a bank account and we never ask for a card number.
If a breach ever affected your data we would tell you, and the Data Protection Board, as the law requires.
07Your rights
You can, at any time:
- ask what personal data we hold about you and receive a copy;
- have it corrected or brought up to date;
- have it erased, once it is no longer needed for a trip in progress or for a record the law requires us to keep;
- withdraw consent — for a photograph, for instance — and it comes down;
- nominate someone to exercise these rights for you.
Write to hello@adikailash.io or message +91 76688 58311. We answer within 30 days, usually much sooner. If you are not satisfied with our answer you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
08Children
Bookings are made by adults. Where a child travels, the parent or guardian who books provides the child’s documents and consents on their behalf; we collect nothing from a child directly.
09Changes to this policy
If we start collecting something new — a payment gateway, an embedded map — this page changes before that goes live, and the date at the top changes with it. Our Terms of service and Refund policy sit beside this one.
A question about this?
Message us on WhatsApp or write to hello@adikailash.io — somebody in Pithoragarh replies, not an auto-responder. Nothing in these pages replaces what we confirm to you in writing for your own booking.