Privacy policy

Last updated: September 28, 2026

This policy explains how Mountain Home Retreats, which rents out Big Bear Ridge Lodge, handles your personal information when you visit mountainhomeretreats.com, contact us, or book a stay. We collect only what we need to answer your questions and look after your stay, and we never sell your information or share it with advertisers.

Who we are

Mountain Home Retreats, 618 Big Bear Ridge Rd, Gatlinburg, TN 37738, United States. For anything about your information, email info@mountainhomeretreats.com or call (865) 244-5406.

What we collect and why

When you visit the website. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes technical data such as your IP address and browser type to deliver the pages and protect the site against attacks. We see visitor statistics only as totals (page views, countries, referring websites), without cookies and without tracking individuals.
When you use our contact form. We receive your name, email address, phone number (if you give it) and your message, and use them to reply to you. Cloudflare Turnstile checks that the form is sent by a person, not a spam robot.
When you ask for a quote, send an inquiry or book. We receive your name, contact details, address, travel dates, number of guests, messages and payment details. These are handled in our booking system, OwnerRez, and payments are processed by Stripe or PayPal; we don’t see or store your full card number. We need this information to make and manage your booking, and we keep booking and payment records because tax and accounting rules require it.
Before and during your stay. We use your contact details and anything you tell us (arrival time, special requests) to prepare the lodge and help you during your stay.
Damage protection and travel insurance. Every booking includes a damage protection plan, so the plan’s provider receives basic details of your booking. When you book, you can also choose to buy optional travel insurance. If you do, the insurance provider receives the details it needs to issue and manage your policy, such as your name, contact details, travel dates and the cost of your stay. Each provider’s own privacy policy covers what it does with your information.
Reviews. If you leave a review after your stay, we may show it on our website with the name you gave with it. Just ask us if you’d like it removed.
Bookings through other websites. If you book through a platform such as Vrbo or Airbnb, that platform shares your booking details with us so we can host you. Its own privacy policy covers what the platform does with your information.

We don’t sell your information or share it with advertisers, and we don’t make automated decisions about you.

Emails from us

We email you about your inquiry, booking and stay. After you have stayed with us, we may occasionally email you about offers at the lodge. You can opt out at any time: just reply to one of these emails or write to info@mountainhomeretreats.com, and we’ll stop.

Who we share it with

Only with the people and services that help us run the website and the lodge, and only what they need:

OwnerRez, our booking system (bookings, inquiries, messages and reviews)
Stripe and PayPal, which process payments
Cloudflare, which hosts and protects the website and provides visitor statistics
Google, which provides our email, and Resend, which delivers contact form messages to us
The damage protection provider, for every booking, and the travel insurance provider, if you choose to buy travel insurance
The people who clean and maintain the lodge, who only receive what they need to prepare for your arrival
Our accountants, and government authorities when the law requires it (for example for lodging taxes)

We and these providers are mainly based in the United States, and your information is stored and processed there.

How long we keep it

Bookings and payments: as long as tax and accounting rules require, then deleted.
Inquiries and messages that don’t lead to a booking: up to two years.
Security logs: kept by Cloudflare for a short period only.
Reviews: until you ask us to remove them, or we take them down.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it, delete it (unless we must keep it, for example for tax records) or stop emailing you. Email info@mountainhomeretreats.com and we will reply within 30 days.

If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you also have the rights that data protection law there gives you, including the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Cookies

We don’t use cookies for analytics, advertising or tracking. Our cookie policy explains the few cookies needed for security and bookings.

Security

We use reputable providers, encrypted connections and limited access to keep your information safe. No system is completely secure, but we will tell you if a breach puts your information at risk, as the law requires.

Children

Our website isn’t aimed at children, and bookings must be made by an adult.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update it on this page and change the date at the top.