Privacy Policy

Vicinity Agency

Last updated: 6 October 2026

This notice explains how Vicinity Agency ("Vicinity", "we", "us") handles personal information when you visit vicinityagency.com (the "Site"), contact us, or use a private client room. It is written for our current Site and services; it does not replace a separate privacy notice or contract for a client project.

South African processing is subject to the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). The GDPR and UK data-protection and electronic-privacy rules apply only where their territorial rules cover a particular person or processing activity. Other privacy and consumer-protection laws may apply depending on where we market or provide services. This notice is not a representation that every regime applies to every visitor.

1. Responsible party and contact

Vicinity Agency (Pty) Ltd, trading as Vicinity Agency, registration number 2026/387837/07, is based in South Africa.

Registered address: 219 Klip Street, Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, 3100, South Africa Email: hello@vicinityagency.com Information Officer: Claudia Ann Freese, claudia@vicinityagency.com Deputy Information Officer: Cameron Spangenberg (contact via hello@vicinityagency.com)

2. Information we handle

  • Enquiries and correspondence: Information you choose to send by email or provide during a call, such as your name, contact details, company, and project information.
  • Enquiry form: If you send the enquiry form, we receive your name, email address, property name, role, approximate room count and share of bookings through online travel agencies, plus your phone number, location and message if you add them. The form also sends the campaign tags (such as utm_source or a gclid/fbclid click ID), the page you arrived on and the external referring site for your visit, If you accepted optional cookies, your browser keeps these in session storage for that tab until you close it. The enquiry is emailed to Vicinity recipients through Resend. We use it to reply to you and decide whether a call makes sense, and it is not shared with Google or Meta.
  • Private client rooms: If you use a client room, we process the access key/session information needed to authenticate you and the responses you submit there. Room sessions use a 30-day HttpOnly cookie. Your name, choices and answers are kept as a draft in your own browser until you send them; when you send, they are emailed through Resend to Vicinity recipients. Do not put sensitive personal information in a client-room response unless the project requires it.
  • Security and hosting: Our hosting and security providers may process request information such as IP address, browser and device details, requested URL, and server logs to deliver, protect, and troubleshoot the Site. The exact log fields and retention depend on the provider and hosting configuration.
  • Optional analytics and advertising: Only after you accept the cookie banner, Google Analytics receives page-use and device/browser information, and Meta Pixel receives page views (page address, referring page, browser/device information and IP address) clicks on telephone or email links, and the fact that an enquiry form was sent. Google Analytics receives the same "enquiry sent" event, and if we run Google Ads, Google Ads receives it as a conversion. For a contact click our server also sends Meta a Contact event, and for a sent enquiry a Lead event, with the page address (without query string), event time and ID, IP address, browser user-agent, and Meta browser identifiers (_fbp/_fbc) when present. We do not send the email address or phone number from the link, your name, or anything you type into the form. Meta may use this information for ad measurement and delivery under its own terms.
  • Third-party links: If you follow a social-media or other external link, that provider receives information under its own terms. No social feed, video player, map, scheduling widget, or remotely hosted font is embedded in the Site.

3. Purposes and legal grounds

We use information to respond to enquiries and take steps requested before a possible contract; perform agreed services; operate and secure the Site and client rooms; meet legal obligations; and, if you consent, measure traffic and advertising. Under POPIA, the applicable justification depends on the context and includes consent, steps at your request toward a contract, legal obligations, and legitimate interests such as secure operation. Where GDPR applies, we identify and document an appropriate Article 6 basis for each processing activity; consent is used for optional trackers where required.

Browsing the public Site does not require you to provide contact information. If you choose to email, call or use the enquiry form, contact details and enquiry information are voluntary, but we need enough information to respond. The form marks the fields it needs. A client-room key is required to enter a private room; response fields there are optional, although a name and at least one response are required to email a response summary. Analytics and advertising consent is optional and is not required to use the Site.

4. Providers and international transfers

We use service providers for hosting/security (Vercel), optional analytics (Google), optional advertising (Meta), and sending enquiries and client-room responses by email (Resend). Your own email provider processes messages you send us. These providers may process information in countries outside South Africa. The actual hosting region, provider retention settings, and transfer safeguards depend on our account configuration and contracts; contact us for current details. We take steps required by POPIA section 72 and any other applicable transfer rules before restricted transfers.

We do not sell personal information. We may disclose it to professional advisers, regulators, or authorities where necessary or legally required, and to a successor in a business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Essential storage supports private client-room access and drafts. Your optional-tracking choice is kept in browser local storage and a first-party va_nonessential_consent cookie for one year from when you make it. Google Analytics and Meta load only after you choose Accept, and our server sends events to Meta only while that choice is Accept. Choosing Decline, or withdrawing consent in Cookie Settings, stops the optional trackers from that point and removes the Google Analytics and Meta browser cookies the Site can access. The Site does not use Vercel Web Analytics; our host keeps server logs as described above. See the Cookie Policy for the full list.

6. Retention

We keep information only as long as needed for the purpose, legal obligations, security, or resolving disputes. Enquiry and client records are retained according to the relationship and applicable recordkeeping requirements. Client-room sessions expire according to the room configuration. Google, Meta, email, and hosting providers have separate retention periods and controls; these may depend on our account settings. We have not published a fixed retention period where our current configuration has not been verified.

7. Your choices and rights

You may decline or withdraw optional tracking at any time using Cookie Settings in the footer. You can also contact us to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information, object to or restrict processing where the law allows, or exercise other rights available under applicable law. Where processing relies on consent, withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out lawfully before withdrawal.

For South Africa, you may complain to the Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za, including POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za. If GDPR or UK GDPR applies, you may also complain to your local supervisory authority.

Contact us at hello@vicinityagency.com to exercise a right or ask a question. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

8. Children

The Site is intended for business visitors and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly solicit children's personal information.

9. Security and updates

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect information, but no online transmission or storage method can be guaranteed completely secure. We will update this notice when our practices materially change and revise the date above.

10. Contact

Vicinity Agency (Pty) Ltd 219 Klip Street, Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, 3100, South Africa hello@vicinityagency.com