Privacy Policy

Escape the 9 to 5 is operated by Escape the 9 to 5 Inc. ("Escape the 9 to 5", "we", "us"). We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

This policy covers escapedthe9to5.com, our forms and emails, the travel map store, private trip pages we send to clients, and the Escaper Portal: the partner space where businesses and creators find each other, plan campaigns and message, on the web and as an app.

It does not cover the websites of airlines, hotels, tour operators or other providers we link to. When you book or buy from them, their own privacy policy applies.

Trip planning: your name, email address and the trip details you choose to share, such as destinations, dates, budget, group size and preferences.

Reviews and featured stories: your name, email address, your story or review and any photos you upload. If we publish your review or story, your name, words and photos are shown publicly on the website.

Newsletter: your email address, and where you signed up.

Purchases: when you buy a travel map or pay for a trip, your name, email address and what you bought. Payments are handled by Stripe; we never see or store your full card number.

Partner applications: your name, business details, contact details and the information you include about your business or your work as a creator.

Escaper Portal accounts: your name, email address and a password, which we only ever store in scrambled (hashed) form. Creators may add a profile photo, portfolio photos, a bio, home base, travel availability, social media handles, past collaborations and rates. Businesses may add company and location details, photos and campaign briefs.

Escaper Portal activity: the messages, offers, invitations, applications, bookings, deliverables and reviews exchanged between businesses and creators. Email addresses, phone numbers, social media handles and messaging links typed into portal messages are automatically removed before they are saved, so conversations stay inside the portal.

Visit statistics: on our public pages, Vercel Web Analytics counts page views, approximate country, device and browser type and the website that referred you, without cookies. Google Analytics (loaded through Google Tag Manager) measures how the website is used and uses cookies to do so; Google Analytics does not store your IP address.

The Escaper Portal is not tracked by Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager or our affiliate tools.

Security and technical logs: our hosting provider records technical details such as IP address, browser and time of each request, which we use to keep the service running and secure. When someone tries to sign in to the portal, we record the attempt using a scrambled (hashed) form of the email address and IP address so we can block repeated password guessing.

Affiliate tools: some public pages use Travelpayouts and Stay22, which turn mentions of travel brands and accommodation into affiliate links and may set cookies when you click through to a provider, so the booking can be credited to us.

To provide what you ask for (performing our agreement with you): replying to enquiries, planning and supporting trips, delivering purchases, running your portal account, delivering messages and showing your profile or campaigns to the right people.

To keep you informed (performing our agreement, or your consent): sending email or app notifications when you receive a new message, offer, invitation or application in the portal, and sending the newsletter you signed up for.

To run and improve the service (our legitimate interests): understanding which pages are useful, preventing misuse and fraud, keeping accounts secure, fixing problems and getting credit for bookings made through our affiliate links.

To meet legal obligations: keeping payment and tax records, and responding to lawful requests.

Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time, for example by unsubscribing or turning notifications off. We do not use your information for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Creator profiles and portfolios are visible to signed-in businesses once Escape the 9 to 5 has verified and listed the creator. Business campaigns are visible to signed-in creators once the business publishes them.

Messages, offers and bookings are visible only to the business and the creator in that conversation, to the business's own team members (for a group of venues, the group's account), and to Escape the 9 to 5 administrators for support, safety and dispute resolution.

Notification emails tell you that something new is waiting and who it is from; they do not contain the message itself.

We share information only with providers that help us run the website and portal, and only for that purpose:

Vercel: website and portal hosting, uploaded files and Web Analytics. The portal runs in Vercel's Sydney, Australia region.

Neon: the portal database, hosted in Sydney, Australia.

Google: Gmail for sending our emails, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for website statistics.

Stripe: payments for travel maps and trips.

Our newsletter provider: storing newsletter sign-ups and sending newsletters.

Cloudflare: storing the website's own images (no personal information).

Travelpayouts and Stay22: affiliate links on public pages, as described above.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers. Under some US state laws, analytics and affiliate cookies on our public pages may count as "sharing" for analytics or attribution; you can block them in your browser settings or with Google's Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

We may disclose information if the law requires it, to protect people's safety or our legal rights, or to a buyer or successor if our business is sold or reorganised, in which case this policy continues to apply to it.

Our providers may process information outside your country, including in Australia, the United States and the European Union. Where the law requires it, we rely on our providers' safeguards for international transfers, such as standard contractual clauses, and we take reasonable steps under Australian Privacy Principle 8 to make sure overseas recipients handle it properly.

Essential: a secure sign-in cookie for the Escaper Portal (it expires after 14 days, or when you sign out) and similar secure sign-in cookies for the travel map store and partner area. These are needed for signing in to work.

Preferences: your language choice and whether you dismissed the "Get the Escaper Portal app" message, stored only on your device.

App: the installed Escaper Portal app keeps only an offline page and its icon on your device. It does not store your messages, photos or other portal information.

Analytics and affiliate: Google Analytics cookies and the affiliate cookies described above, on public pages only.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking the sign-in cookie means you will not be able to stay signed in.

Enquiries and trip planning details: for as long as we are helping you, and then for a reasonable period in case you come back to us.

Purchases and payments: for as long as tax and accounting laws require, typically up to seven years.

Newsletter: until you unsubscribe.

Escaper Portal accounts: while your account is open. Portal sign-in sessions expire after 14 days.

When you delete your portal account, we immediately remove your sign-in, profile, photos, portfolio, rates, availability and contact details. Records the other party needs, such as agreed bookings, offers, messages and reviews, are kept but shown as "Deleted creator" or without your name. Copies in our providers' backups are overwritten in the normal course of their backup cycle.

Delete your portal account yourself, on the web or in the app: open the menu, tap Account, then Delete my account, and type DELETE to confirm. You can also update or remove most profile details and photos yourself at any time.

Unsubscribe from the newsletter using the link in any newsletter email, and turn app notifications off in your phone's settings.

Depending on where you live, you can ask us for a copy of your information, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, object to or restrict how we use it, or ask for it in a portable format. Email contact@escapedthe9to5.com; we may need to confirm your identity first, and we will respond within 30 days.

If you are unhappy with how we handled your information, please contact us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to your local privacy regulator: in Australia, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au); in the European Union or United Kingdom, your local data protection authority; in Indonesia, the authority under the Personal Data Protection Law. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

Everything is sent over encrypted connections. Portal passwords are stored only in hashed form, repeated failed sign-ins are blocked, and portal pages, photos and messages are only shown to signed-in people with permission to see them, through links that expire.

No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach that is likely to cause serious harm, we will tell the people affected and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

Our website is for a general audience and is not directed at children under 16. Escaper Portal accounts are only for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect information from children; if you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

We may update this policy as the website, portal and app change. The latest version will always be on this page with its updated date. If we make a significant change, we will tell portal users by email or in the portal before it takes effect.

Privacy questions and requests: contact@escapedthe9to5.com. Please include "Privacy" in the subject line so it reaches the right person quickly.