PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated: 23 September 2026

At The Walrus Bar & Hostel, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we may share it with, and the rights you have over your information.

1. Who we are

The Walrus Bar & Hostel is operated by MKC Hospitality LTD.

Our contact details are:

The Walrus Bar & Hostel
172 Westminster Bridge Road
London
SE1 7RW

Email: thewalrushostel@gmail.com
Telephone: +44 7545 589214

For data protection purposes, we are the organisation responsible for the personal information we collect and use.

2. Information we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information:

  • Your name and contact details, including email address and telephone number

  • Booking and reservation details

  • Payment and transaction information

  • Arrival and departure information

  • Information provided when contacting us or making an enquiry

  • Information relating to your stay, including requests, preferences or complaints

  • Information provided when you subscribe to marketing communications

  • Information collected when you use our website, such as your IP address, browser type and information about how you use our website

  • CCTV images where you visit our premises

We only collect information that we need for legitimate business purposes or where we have another lawful basis for doing so.

3. How we use your information

We may use your personal information to:

  • Process and manage accommodation bookings

  • Provide our accommodation and hospitality services

  • Process payments and refunds

  • Communicate with you about your booking or stay

  • Respond to enquiries, requests and complaints

  • Provide customer service and support

  • Send important information about your booking or our services

  • Improve our accommodation, bar and services

  • Manage our website and understand how visitors use it

  • Detect and prevent fraud, theft and other unlawful activity

  • Protect the safety and security of our guests, staff and premises

  • Meet our legal and regulatory obligations

  • Send marketing communications where we are permitted to do so

We will not use your personal information for purposes that are incompatible with those described in this Privacy Policy unless we have a lawful basis to do so.

4. Our lawful basis for using your information

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on:

Contract – where processing your information is necessary to provide a booking or other service you have requested.

Legal obligation – where we are required to process or retain information to comply with the law.

Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that these interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include managing our business, improving our services, preventing fraud and protecting our guests, staff and premises.

Consent – where you have given us permission to use your information for a particular purpose, such as certain marketing communications or non-essential cookies. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

5. Booking information and third parties

When you make a booking, your information may be processed through third-party booking platforms and service providers.

These may include platforms such as Booking.com, Hostelworld and other booking providers through which you make a reservation, as well as our booking and property-management systems.

We may share information with these providers where necessary to manage your booking, process payments, provide customer support or fulfil our obligations to you.

We may also use third-party providers for payment processing, website hosting, email, IT, analytics and other services necessary to operate our business.

These organisations may process personal information on our behalf and are required to handle it appropriately and securely.

6. Payments

Payments may be processed through third-party payment providers.

We do not generally store your full payment card details ourselves. Payment information may be processed directly by the relevant payment provider in accordance with its own privacy policy and security requirements.

7. CCTV

CCTV is operated at The Walrus Bar & Hostel for purposes including the safety and security of our guests, staff and premises, and the prevention and detection of crime.

CCTV footage is only accessed where there is a legitimate reason to do so and is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary, subject to circumstances such as an incident, investigation or legal requirement.

Where appropriate, CCTV footage may be shared with the police or other relevant authorities.

8. Marketing

Where permitted by law, we may contact you about our services, offers, events or other information that we believe may be relevant to you.

Where we require your consent to send marketing communications, we will ask for it separately.

You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe option included in the relevant communication or by contacting us.

We will continue to send essential communications relating to bookings or services you have requested even if you have opted out of marketing.

9. Cookies and website analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.

Some cookies are necessary for the website to function correctly. Other cookies may be used to understand how visitors use our website, improve our website and, where applicable, provide relevant marketing or advertising services.

Where required, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device.

You can manage your cookie preferences through our website's cookie settings and can also control cookies through your browser.

10. How we protect your information

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

11. How long we keep your information

We only keep personal information for as long as we reasonably need it for the purposes for which it was collected, including where necessary to meet legal, accounting, tax or regulatory requirements, resolve disputes or enforce our agreements.

The length of time we retain information depends on the type of information and why we need it.

Where there is no specific legal retention period, we will consider factors such as the nature of the information, the purpose for which it was collected and whether we may reasonably need it in the future.

12. Sharing your information

We may share personal information with trusted third parties where this is necessary to operate our business or provide our services.

These may include:

  • Booking and accommodation platforms

  • Payment providers

  • Property-management and booking systems

  • Website and IT service providers

  • Email and communication providers

  • Analytics and marketing providers

  • Professional advisers, where necessary

  • Law enforcement or other authorities where we are legally required or permitted to do so

We do not sell your personal information.

13. International transfers

Some of the organisations we use to provide our services may process personal information outside the UK.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer is lawful and that your information receives an appropriate level of protection under applicable data protection law.

14. Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you have rights under UK data protection law including the right to:

  • Request access to the personal information we hold about you

  • Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information

  • Ask us to delete your personal information where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it

  • Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances

  • Object to certain types of processing, including processing based on legitimate interests

  • Request a copy of certain personal information in a portable format

  • Withdraw consent where we rely on consent to process your information

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every circumstance.

To exercise your rights, please contact us using the details provided above.

15. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we have used your personal information, we would encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.

You can find further information on the ICO's website at ico.org.uk.

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our business, the services we provide or applicable data protection requirements.

The latest version will always be published on our website, together with the date it was last updated.

Last updated: 23 September 2026