Privacy Policy

NEXT STOP is a network that connects independent hostels with the travellers moving between them. A traveller scans the NEXT STOP QR code displayed at a partner hostel, gets a digital NEXT PASS code on their phone, and uses it to unlock a partner’s NEXT STOP rate in the next city, booking with the hostel rather than through a marketplace. This policy explains what personal information that model involves, why we need it, and what we do and do not do with it.

It covers this website and the booking flow it leads into. It does not cover what a partner hostel does with your information once you are its guest — each hostel is responsible for its own guest records, registration requirements and marketing, and has its own privacy notice.

Today NEXT STOP is a pre-launch preview. Booking is not open, no payments are taken, and the forms on this site are demonstrations that do not transmit what you type. The policy below describes the service as it is designed to run once it is live.

We try to collect as little as the model allows. A NEXT PASS deliberately carries no name on it, and browsing the site requires no account.

• Information you give us. What you type into a form: your name, email address, chosen subject and message when you contact us; the hostel name, city, contact person and details you send when applying to become a partner.
• Booking information. When booking opens: the traveller name, contact email, arrival and departure dates, number of guests, room type and the NEXT PASS code used to unlock the NEXT STOP rate.
• Technical information. Standard server and device data such as IP address, browser type, language, referring page and the pages you visit, used to keep the site running and secure.
• Preferences stored on your device. Small items such as a recently viewed city or a saved hostel, kept in your browser rather than on our servers where that is possible.

We do not ask for passport numbers, dates of birth or payment card details on this site. Where a hostel needs those for check-in or for local guest registration, they are given to the hostel directly.

We use the information described above to:

• pass a booking request to the partner hostel you chose, and confirm it back to you;
• check that a NEXT PASS code is valid and has not already been used, and credit the hostel that issued it;
• answer messages sent through the contact and partner forms;
• keep the network honest — detecting duplicated or fraudulent codes, abuse of the booking flow and attacks on the site;
• understand which destinations and routes people actually use, so listings and guides reflect where travellers go;
• meet accounting, tax and other legal obligations.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not rent or trade traveller lists to advertisers. If we ever want to send you travel email that you did not ask for, we will ask first, and every message will carry a working unsubscribe link.

A NEXT PASS is digital. Every partner hostel displays its own NEXT STOP QR code at reception; scanning it with your phone camera opens NEXT STOP, and a short flow generates a unique pass code that is shown on your screen. There is no registration to work through, so there is no account behind a pass and no profile attached to it.

The QR code carries the hostel’s partner identifier, which is why the pass records which hostel it was generated at. That page needs nothing about you to do its job: generating a pass does not ask for your name, your email address or a login. What the page does handle is the ordinary technical data any website receives — your IP address and browser type — used to keep the flow working and to stop the same code being generated or reused automatically.

When you later use a code to book, three things are recorded: that the code was used, which partner generated it, and which partner received the booking. That record is what lets the originating hostel be credited for the recommendation. It is a link between two hostels and a code — your identity is not part of it.

The booking itself is a different matter. To reserve a bed, the receiving hostel needs a name, contact details and your dates, and we pass exactly those to it. From that point the reservation is a normal NEXT STOP booking between you and the hostel, on the hostel’s own terms.

Because a pass is not tied to a named account, there is no stored identity for us to look it up by. If you lose sight of the code, save it while you have it — a screenshot or a bookmark is enough — or scan the hostel’s QR code again while you are still there.

Cookies and similar browser storage are used for two purposes. Essential storage keeps the site working — remembering a search you are in the middle of, holding a booking step together, and protecting forms from abuse. This cannot be switched off without breaking the site.

Analytics storage tells us, in aggregate, which pages are read, which destinations are searched and where people abandon the booking flow. We use it to decide what to build next, not to profile individuals, and we choose measurement that does not follow you across other websites.

Where the law requires consent for non-essential storage, we ask for it before setting anything, and a refusal leaves the site fully usable. You can also clear or block cookies in your browser settings at any time.

A booking only works if the hostel receives it, so the partner you book with gets the details it needs to hold your bed: your name, your email address, your arrival and departure dates, the room or bed type, the number of guests and any note you added to the reservation.

The hostel whose QR code generated your NEXT PASS is told that a code from it led to a booking. It is not told who booked, where you went or what you paid.

Beyond partner hostels, information is shared only with the service providers that run the platform — hosting, email delivery, error monitoring and, once booking opens, payment processing — and only to the extent they need it to do that job. We ask them to protect it and to use it for nothing else. We will also disclose information where a law or a valid legal request requires it.

We keep information only as long as it is doing something useful. Messages sent through the contact form are kept while the conversation is open and for a reasonable period afterwards, in case you write again about the same thing. Partner applications are kept for as long as the hostel is a partner, or until an unsuccessful application is closed.

Booking records are kept for as long as accounting and tax rules require, which is typically several years. Pass-code records — code, issuing partner, receiving partner — are kept while they matter for crediting partners and preventing reuse, and are stripped of anything identifying when they no longer do.

Technical logs are short-lived and rotate automatically. Aggregated statistics that can no longer be connected to a person may be kept indefinitely.

Depending on where you live, you have rights over the personal information we hold. These generally include the right to:

• ask what we hold about you and get a copy of it;
• have information corrected when it is wrong or out of date;
• ask us to delete information we no longer have a reason to keep;
• object to, or ask us to restrict, certain uses;
• receive information you gave us in a portable format;
• withdraw consent where our use of it rests on consent.

To exercise any of these, use the contact form and say what you are asking for. We will respond within the time the applicable law allows, and we may need to confirm who you are first so that we do not hand your information to somebody else. If you think we have handled your data badly, you can complain to your local data protection authority.

For information held by a partner hostel about your stay, the request goes to that hostel. We will tell you who to ask if you are not sure.

NEXT STOP is a European project launching in Spain, with hostels along routes that cross several countries. Booking inherently moves information across borders: to book a bed in Tirana from a hostel in Granada, the reservation has to reach Albania.

Some of the service providers we rely on also operate outside the European Economic Area. Where information leaves the EEA, we rely on the transfer mechanisms the law provides — such as adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses — and we prefer providers with European hosting where there is a reasonable choice.

NEXT STOP is not intended for children. Most partner hostels set a minimum age of 18 for shared dorms, and the booking flow is built for adults making their own travel arrangements.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us information, write to us through the contact form and we will delete it.

This policy will change, most obviously when booking opens and there is a real reservation system behind it. When it does, we will update the date at the top of this page.

If a change materially affects what we do with information we already hold — a new purpose, a new category of recipient — we will say so clearly rather than quietly editing a paragraph, and we will give notice before it takes effect.

Questions about this policy, about what we hold, or about a specific booking should go through the contact form. Choose the subject that fits and tell us which section you are asking about — it gets you a faster and more useful answer.

Published contact addresses and the registered company details of the entity operating NEXT STOP will be added to this page before booking opens. We would rather leave them blank than print something that is not yet true.