How Hookoom works with you.

Privacy

What we collect

• Your mobile number — to sign you in with a one-time code sent by SMS. There are no passwords.
• Your name, and your email if you choose to add one.
• What you do on Hookoom — bookings, messages, saved stays, trip folders, and the reviews and reals you post.
• For hosts — listing details and photos, and payout details (bank account or UPI).
• If you verify your identity — a photo of a government ID, a selfie, and your name as printed on the ID (hosts may also add an address proof). Hosts must verify before receiving payouts; guests can choose to. We remove location data from these photos. We ask for your consent before you submit, and record which version of the notice you agreed to.
• Product usage — events such as which stays and reals are viewed, used to rank the feed and improve Hookoom.

Location

Only when you tap “Near me” or allow location for nearby stays. It is used to find stays near you; your exact coordinates are not saved.

How we protect it

• Payout and tax details you save to your Hookoom host account are encrypted when stored. Bank account numbers, PAN and GSTIN are only shown back masked; your UPI ID is shown in full only to you. Tax and payout details typed into the guest app’s Settings stay in that browser only and are cleared when you sign out.
• Identity documents are kept in private storage that only authorised Hookoom staff can open, and staff access to them is logged.
• Aadhaar: we accept only a masked Aadhaar (the first 8 digits hidden), and you can always use another ID instead. If our team sees a full Aadhaar number in any photo, we reject it and delete that photo.
• How long we keep ID photos: if we approve you, we delete the photos 1 year after approval and keep the result of the check, the ID type and the name you entered. If you’re not approved, or you never submit, we delete them after 90 days with no activity on your check, and clear the name you entered. If you’re verified and change your legal name or PAN, we may keep them up to 30 days longer to re-check the change. You can delete your ID photos sooner at any time in Settings: a review in progress is cancelled; if you’re verified you stay verified, unless we’re re-checking a change, in which case you’d need to verify again. We keep a record of the notice you agreed to and when you withdrew.
• Hosts and guests talk through Hookoom messages — neither side sees the other’s phone number or email.

Who sees your information

• The other side of your booking — a host sees the guest’s name and booking details, and whether the guest’s identity is verified (yes or no — never the documents); a guest sees the host’s listing and profile.
• Other signed-in users — whether you’re ID verified (yes or no) is shown on your Hookoom profile. Your documents, ID number and address never are.
• Service providers that run Hookoom — an SMS provider (to deliver sign-in codes), Razorpay (to process payments and refunds), and cloud hosting.
• Hookoom AI — your conversation with Hookoom AI (your recent messages and its replies) is sent to OpenAI to write a reply, along with your first name and language. Your saved stays, recently viewed stays, trip names and whether you’ve picked travel dates are included only while “Use my activity for recommendations” is on in Settings → Privacy. That choice is remembered for your account on this browser.

Your choices

You can edit your profile at any time and turn activity-based recommendations off in Settings. Signing out clears your profile, account settings, saved stays, trip folders, recent searches and Hookoom AI chats from that browser. To ask for a copy of your data, a correction or deletion, write to hosts@hookoom.com.

Terms

Your account

You sign in with your own mobile number. Keep your phone secure — anyone with your one-time code can sign in as you. Accepting these terms is part of creating an account.

Booking a stay

You send a request for your dates. If the host accepts, the dates are held for you for 10 minutes while you pay; once payment goes through, the booking is confirmed. If you don’t pay in time, the hold lapses and the dates reopen. You are never charged for a request a host declines or doesn’t answer.

Hosting

Hosts must verify their identity (KYC) before receiving payouts. Every listing is reviewed before it goes live, and significant edits are reviewed again. Hosts are responsible for keeping their listing accurate.

Reviews, reals and the Truth System

• Only a completed stay can be reviewed or filmed for a real — a booking alone never counts.
• No fake or staged stays, and no promotional-only reals with nothing real behind them.
• Always disclose how you stayed — hosted, discounted, barter or paid.
• Content that breaks these rules can be removed after review.

Creators

Creator commission is earned only when Hookoom can show a creator’s real genuinely led to a booking — through their shared link, or a real watched on the stay’s own page before booking. Each booking credits at most one creator.

Cancellations & refunds

• The cancellation policy for a stay is shown on the stay’s page and in your booking before you pay.
• You pay only after a host accepts your request. Declined, unanswered or expired requests are never charged.
• Refunds go back to the original payment method through Razorpay. Your bank may take a few working days to show the credit.

Cookies & storage

Hookoom currently uses no advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

We use your browser’s own storage to keep you signed in and to remember your choices — theme, language, recent searches, saved stays and trip folders — so the app works the way you left it. Signing out clears your profile, account settings, saved stays, trip folders, recent searches and Hookoom AI chats from that browser.

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Grievance redressal

If something went wrong — with a stay, a payment, content about you, or how your data was handled — tell us and we will look into it.