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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 12 August 2026

The Writer’s Keep respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how and why we use it, who we may share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have in relation to your personal information.

This policy applies when you visit thewriterskeep.co.uk, contact us, join our mailing list, make an enquiry, book a retreat or otherwise provide personal information to us.

1. Who We Are

The Writer’s Keep provides writing retreats, accommodation and associated writing workshops and services in Conwy, North Wales.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, the data controller is:

The Writer’s Keep
Operated by: EMILY BARROSO
Conwy, North Wales
Email: bookings@thewriterskeep.co.uk
Website: thewriterskeep.co.uk

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your personal information is handled, please contact us at the email address above.

2. Information We May Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect information including:

  • your name;

  • email address;

  • telephone number;

  • billing information;

  • booking and payment information;

  • retreat dates and room selection;

  • details submitted through our contact forms;

  • correspondence between you and The Writer’s Keep;

  • information provided in your pre-retreat writing questionnaire;

  • information about your writing project, genre, goals or experience;

  • dietary requirements, food allergies or intolerances;

  • accessibility requirements or other information you choose to provide to help us accommodate you;

  • marketing preferences;

  • technical information relating to your use of our website, such as IP address, browser or device information where collected;

  • information collected through cookies and similar technologies; and

  • any other personal information that you choose to provide to us.

We aim to collect only the information reasonably necessary to operate our retreats, respond to enquiries and provide our services.

3. How We Collect Your Information

We may collect personal information when you:

  • make a retreat booking;

  • make a payment;

  • submit an enquiry through our website;

  • contact us by email, telephone or another method;

  • complete a pre-retreat questionnaire;

  • subscribe to our mailing list;

  • attend one of our retreats;

  • request information about a future retreat; or

  • use our website.

We may also receive limited information from service providers involved in processing a booking or payment.

4. How We Use Your Information

We may use your personal information to:

Manage bookings

We use booking information to:

  • process your retreat reservation;

  • allocate your selected room;

  • process or confirm payments;

  • send booking confirmations;

  • communicate important information about your retreat;

  • collect outstanding balances;

  • manage cancellations, refunds or booking changes; and

  • provide the services included in your booking.

Respond to enquiries

If you contact us, we may use your contact details and the information in your message to respond to your enquiry and provide the information you have requested.

Prepare for your retreat

We may use information from your writing questionnaire to understand:

  • what you are writing;

  • the stage your project has reached;

  • your writing goals;

  • areas in which you would particularly like support; and

  • how we may best prepare workshops or coaching for the retreat.

This information is used to help us provide a more useful and personalised retreat experience.

Accommodate dietary and accessibility requirements

Where you provide information concerning allergies, dietary requirements, disabilities, accessibility needs or other health-related matters, we use it only where necessary to help us safely and appropriately accommodate you.

Where appropriate, we will ask for your explicit consent to process sensitive health-related information.

Send marketing communications

If you have chosen to receive news and marketing from The Writer’s Keep, we may send you information about:

  • forthcoming retreats;

  • special events;

  • availability;

  • writing workshops;

  • offers; and

  • other relevant Writer’s Keep news.

You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time.

You will not be required to agree to marketing communications in order to make a retreat booking.

Operate and improve our website

We may use technical or analytical information to:

  • operate our website;

  • keep it secure;

  • understand how visitors use it;

  • diagnose technical problems; and

  • improve the website and customer experience.

Meet legal and administrative obligations

We may also use and retain information where reasonably necessary for accounting, taxation, fraud prevention, record keeping, dispute resolution or compliance with legal obligations.

5. Our Lawful Bases for Using Your Information

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful reason for processing your personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on:

Contract

We may process your information where it is necessary to take steps at your request before you make a booking or to fulfil our contract with you once you have booked a retreat.

This includes processing information necessary to manage your booking, payment, accommodation and retreat arrangements.

Consent

We may rely on your consent where you have actively agreed to a particular use of your information.

This may include:

  • subscribing to certain marketing communications; and

  • providing explicit consent for us to process sensitive health-related information where required.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate Interests

We may process information where it is reasonably necessary for the legitimate operation of The Writer’s Keep and where those interests are not overridden by your rights.

This may include:

  • responding to enquiries;

  • maintaining appropriate business records;

  • improving our services;

  • protecting the security of our website;

  • preventing fraud or misuse; and

  • dealing with complaints or disputes.

Legal Obligation

We may process or retain information where we are required to do so by law, including where necessary for taxation, accounting or legal compliance.

6. Sensitive Personal Information

Some information you choose to provide may constitute special category personal data under UK data protection law.

For example, information about:

  • allergies;

  • medical dietary requirements;

  • disabilities;

  • accessibility requirements; or

  • certain health conditions

may reveal information about your health.

We will only request this information where it is relevant to your stay or participation in a retreat.

Where required, we will ask for your explicit consent to process this information.

We will only use it for the purpose for which it was provided unless we have another lawful reason to use it.

Where necessary to accommodate you, limited relevant information may be shared with somebody assisting us in providing your stay, such as a chef or catering provider.

We will only share information that is reasonably necessary.

7. Payment Information

Payments made through our website may be processed by a third-party payment provider, such as Stripe or another payment service displayed at checkout.

Payment providers process payment information according to their own privacy and security policies.

The Writer’s Keep does not ordinarily need to receive or store your complete debit or credit card number when payment is processed securely by our payment provider.

We may retain information about the transaction itself, such as:

  • the amount paid;

  • payment status;

  • date of payment;

  • refund information; and

  • transaction or order reference.

8. Website Hosting and Service Providers

Our website is hosted and operated using Hostinger.

We may also use trusted third-party organisations to help us provide our services, including providers of:

  • website hosting;

  • website forms;

  • payment processing;

  • email;

  • booking and ecommerce systems;

  • analytics;

  • accounting;

  • IT services; and

  • professional advice.

These organisations may process limited personal information on our behalf where necessary to provide their services.

We expect service providers handling personal information on our behalf to protect it appropriately and use it only for authorised purposes.

9. Who We May Share Your Information With

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share relevant information where reasonably necessary with:

  • website and hosting providers;

  • payment processors;

  • email and communications providers;

  • accountants or bookkeepers;

  • IT or technical service providers;

  • chefs, caterers or other people assisting with your retreat where necessary;

  • professional advisers;

  • insurers;

  • law enforcement, regulators or public authorities where legally required; and

  • other suppliers necessary to fulfil your booking.

We aim to share only the minimum information necessary for the relevant purpose.

10. International Transfers

Some technology or service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where your information is transferred internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards required by applicable data protection law are in place.

11. How Long We Keep Your Information

We do not intend to keep personal information for longer than reasonably necessary.

Retention periods depend on the type of information and why we hold it.

For example:

Booking and transaction records may be retained for the period necessary to meet accounting, taxation, legal and business record-keeping requirements.

General enquiries will normally be deleted when they are no longer reasonably required, unless they result in a booking or there is another reason to retain the correspondence.

Marketing information may be retained until you unsubscribe, withdraw your consent or we determine that the information is no longer required.

Writing questionnaires will normally be retained only for as long as they remain useful in connection with your retreat and any reasonable follow-up.

Sensitive information, such as allergy, health or accessibility information, will not be retained for longer than reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was provided, unless there is a legal reason for us to retain it.

We periodically review the information we hold and delete or securely dispose of information that is no longer required.

12. Marketing

Where required, we will ask for your permission before adding you to our marketing mailing list.

Marketing consent should be separate from your agreement to our Booking & Cancellation Terms.

You may unsubscribe at any time by:

Unsubscribing from marketing will not prevent us from sending service messages relating to an existing booking.

For example, we may still need to contact you regarding payment, arrival information, changes to your retreat or other information necessary to fulfil your booking.

13. Cookies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies.

Cookies are small files placed on your device that can help a website function, remember preferences, maintain security or provide information about how the website is used.

Some cookies may be essential for the operation of the website and booking process.

Other cookies, such as certain analytics or marketing cookies, may require your consent.

Where required, you will be given the opportunity to accept or reject non-essential cookies through our website's cookie controls.

You can also control cookies through your browser settings.

14. Security

We take reasonable measures to protect personal information against:

  • unauthorised access;

  • loss;

  • misuse;

  • alteration;

  • disclosure; and

  • destruction.

However, no internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

We therefore encourage customers to avoid sending unnecessary sensitive information through ordinary email.

15. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law may give you rights including the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;

  • ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;

  • ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances;

  • ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances;

  • object to certain uses of your information;

  • request transfer of certain information where the right to data portability applies;

  • withdraw consent where we rely on your consent; and

  • complain about how your information has been handled.

Not every right applies in every circumstance.

To exercise your rights, contact:

bookings@thewriterskeep.co.uk

We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.

16. Withdrawing Consent

Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

If consent relates to information that is necessary for us to accommodate a particular requirement during your retreat, withdrawing that consent may affect what arrangements we are able to make for you. We will explain this to you where relevant.

17. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we use your personal information, please contact us first so that we have an opportunity to resolve the matter.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection.

Information about your data protection rights and making a complaint is available from the ICO.

18. Third-Party Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites or services.

The Writer’s Keep is not responsible for the privacy practices of independent third-party websites.

We recommend reviewing the relevant privacy policy before providing personal information to another organisation.

19. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example if:

  • our services change;

  • the technology we use changes;

  • we introduce new booking or payment systems; or

  • legal or regulatory requirements change.

The latest version will be published on our website with the date it was last updated.

20. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or would like to exercise your data protection rights, please contact:

The Writer’s Keep
Conwy, North Wales
Email: bookings@thewriterskeep.co.uk
Website: thewriterskeep.co.uk