Privacy Policy

1 Who Is Responsible For Your Data

BooknTalk is operated by Kardelen Social Media, Parklaan 54a, 5613 BH Eindhoven, the Netherlands, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under KvK number 92472656. For the data described in this policy, that company is the data controller, and it is who you contact about any of the rights below.

One important exception: when you book an appointment with someone who uses BooknTalk, that provider decides what details they ask you for and how long they keep them. We store and handle that information on their behalf, as part of running their booking page. If you want your booking data corrected or removed, contact the provider first, they are the ones who can decide. If you cannot reach them, write to us and we will help.

2 What We Collect

If you run a booking page: your name, email address, password (stored hashed, never in readable form), the timezone and working hours you set, the events you publish and the images you upload for them, your team members, and, if you choose to connect one, the email address and an encrypted token for your Google, Microsoft or Zoom account.

If you book an appointment: the details the provider's booking form asks for, which is usually a name, an email address and any question they have added, plus the event and time you chose and, for a paid booking, the payment reference Stripe returns. We do not ask you to create a password or an account to book.

Everybody: the strictly necessary storage that keeps a signed-in session working, and the aggregate page counts described in §5. We do not buy personal data from anyone, and we do not build advertising profiles.

3 Data Storage

Your personal information (such as first and last name, address, phone number) and event images are hosted on secure servers located within the European Union (EU). Our servers are provided by Contabo GmbH (Welfenstraße 22, 81541 Munich, Germany), and event images are stored with Google Cloud Storage.

Where a consultant offers an appointment at a place rather than online, the address they give is stored with that event and shown to anyone booking it, because it is where they are being asked to go. It is theirs to publish and theirs to change.

4 How We Protect Your Data

In transit. The whole platform is served over HTTPS only, so everything you send us, and everything we send back, is encrypted in transit with TLS. Calls we make to Google, Microsoft, Zoom and Stripe on your behalf use the same protection. The application also sets browser-side protections on every response, a Content Security Policy, a strict referrer policy and a permissions policy that switches off camera, microphone, geolocation and payment access for the page itself.

At rest, for sensitive data. Credentials and tokens are never stored in readable form. Google, Microsoft and Zoom OAuth tokens and Stripe API keys are encrypted before they are written to the database, using an encryption key held in Google Cloud Key Management Service, a managed key store the key itself never leaves, so the platform can ask for a value to be decrypted but can never obtain or copy the key. Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes with a per-password salt, which means they cannot be read back even by us, a forgotten password is reset, never recovered. Sensitive values are kept out of application logs, and logs themselves contain no tokens, passwords or payment card data.

Separation between providers. Each provider's data is isolated in the database by PostgreSQL row-level security, enforced by the database itself rather than by application code, so one provider's queries cannot return another provider's clients, bookings or team members even if the application is asked for them. Access to the application requires a signed, expiring session token, and every request is checked against the roles of the account it belongs to.

Around the servers. Production runs on servers in the European Union (Contabo, Germany) that are kept patched. Administrative access is limited to the people who operate BooknTalk, is over SSH with key-based authentication only, with password logins disabled, and the database is not reachable from the public internet.

Google user data specifically. The Google data described in §12 to §14 is protected by all of the above: the refresh token is encrypted at rest under the Cloud KMS key, calendar data travels only over TLS, it is readable only within the provider's own isolated data, and it is deleted, and the token revoked with Google, when the connection is disconnected.

If something goes wrong. No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim otherwise. If a breach affects your personal data we will notify the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, and we will tell you directly where the law requires it.

5 Visitor Statistics

We count page views using Umami, analytics software we run ourselves on our own domain (stats.bookntalk.com), on the same servers as the rest of the platform. It sets no cookies, does not store IP addresses, and produces aggregate counts only, no profile of you is built and nothing is shared with anyone else. Because it stores nothing on your device and identifies no individual, it needs no consent, which is why the cookie banner offers no switch for it.

6 Google Analytics & Cookies

We also use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used. Unlike the above, Google Analytics sets cookies on your device and sends data to Google, which may process it outside the EU. It therefore runs on consent only: until you choose "Accept" in the banner shown on your first visit, analytics storage is switched off, and choosing "Decline" keeps it off. Your choice is remembered in your browser and you can change it by clearing your browser storage for this site. Advertising, ad personalisation and ad-related data sharing are disabled at all times, whatever you choose.

Beyond this, we use only the storage strictly necessary to run the service, for example keeping you signed in. That is not optional, because the site cannot function without it.

7 Who Processes Your Data For Us

We use a small number of providers to run the service, and no others: Contabo (servers, Germany), Stripe (payments), Google (Calendar and Meet integration, email delivery, image storage and encryption keys) and Google Analytics (site statistics, with consent). We do not sell data, and we do not share it with advertising networks.

Video meetings are the exception to that list, because they are not always ours to place. BooknTalk video runs on the Contabo servers above and involves nobody else. If the consultant you are booking with holds meetings on their own Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Zoom account, the meeting is created on that service and it is that service, under the consultant's own agreement with it, that handles the call.

8 How Long We Keep Things

Account, booking and client information is kept for as long as the account it belongs to exists, and is deleted when that account is deleted. Records of payments are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires us to keep them, which is longer than the account itself may last. Accounts that are created but never activated are deleted automatically after 24 hours. Visitor statistics are aggregate and contain no personal data to retain.

9 Your Rights

If you are in the EU or the UK you have the right to ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to receive it in a portable format, and to object to or ask us to restrict certain processing. Write to the address in §19 and we will answer within one month. If you are unhappy with how we handle a request, you may complain to your national data protection authority, in the Netherlands, where we are established, that is the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

For a booking you made with a provider, start with that provider, the rights above are exercised against whoever decided to collect the data, and for bookings that is them. We will help if you cannot reach them.

10 Why We Are Allowed To Process It

We process booking, account and payment data because it is necessary to provide the service you or your provider asked for, and to meet our legal obligations around accounting. We process Google Calendar data, Google Meet data, Microsoft Outlook calendar and Teams data, and Zoom data on the basis of the permission you grant when connecting that account, which you can withdraw at any time by disconnecting. Google Analytics runs only on your consent.

11 Payment Data

Financial data used during the checkout process is stored directly on Stripe's secure servers. Bookntalk.com is not the direct data controller of this financial information.

12 Google User Data

If a consultant chooses to connect their Google Calendar, we request a single scope, calendar.events, and use it for exactly two things. We read the events already on that calendar so that hours the consultant is not free are not offered to clients, we read events rather than free/busy periods so we can leave out appointments they declined, ones they marked as free, and the booking events this platform created itself, all three of which a free/busy report would count as busy and close hours they are actually available for. We write each confirmed booking to that calendar as an event, with the client as a guest and the consultant as its organiser, and we move or cancel it when the booking is rescheduled or called off.

We only ever create, modify or delete events that this application created for that consultant's own bookings. We never modify an event created by anyone else. The Google account email and an encrypted OAuth refresh token are stored to keep the connection active between syncs. Booking confirmation emails are sent from Bookntalk.com's own Google Workspace account, not through the consultant's connection.

Where a consultant chooses to hold their appointments on Google Meet, the meeting link is produced by the calendar event itself as it is created, so we request no Google Meet API scope at all and have no access to recordings, transcripts, participants or any other meeting content. We store the resulting meeting link on the booking so the people attending can be sent the way in.

13 Sharing of Google User Data

Google user data obtained through this integration (calendar event data, the connected account email, the OAuth refresh token, and the meeting links created on that account) is used exclusively to provide the two features described above: syncing availability, and holding that consultant's own appointments. It is not sold, rented, or shared with any third party, and it is not used for advertising, profiling, training any model, or any purpose unrelated to those features. It is never transferred to Stripe, Zoom, or any other integration used by the platform. Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

14 Retention & Deletion of Google User Data

The encrypted refresh token and associated calendar data are retained only for as long as the Google Calendar connection remains active. A consultant can disconnect Google Calendar at any time from their backoffice integrations page; doing so immediately revokes the token with Google, meeting creation included, since both permissions live in the same grant, and permanently deletes the stored connection and refresh token from our database. Their appointments then return to BooknTalk video. Meeting links already created on their Google account belong to that account and can be removed there; we delete our copy with the booking it belongs to. You may also request deletion by contacting us at the address in §19, and we will revoke and delete the connection promptly.

15 Zoom

A consultant may connect their own Zoom account instead, on the same terms: we ask Zoom only for permission to create and manage the meetings for their bookings, we store an encrypted token so those meetings can be created, moved and cancelled as bookings change, and we use it for nothing else. Disconnecting Zoom from the integrations page revokes that token and deletes it, and their appointments return to BooknTalk video. Meetings held on Zoom are subject to Zoom's own terms and privacy policy, under the consultant's agreement with Zoom.

16 Microsoft User Data

A consultant may connect their Microsoft Outlook calendar instead of Google Calendar, never both. It works with a personal Microsoft account (such as outlook.com) or a Microsoft 365 work or school account. We ask Microsoft for these permissions: to sign them in and read their basic profile and email address (openid, profile, email, User.Read), to stay connected between syncs (offline_access), and to read and write their calendars (Calendars.ReadWrite).

We use that access for the same two things as with Google. We read the events on their main calendar, and on any other calendar they choose from their own list, so that hours they are not free are not offered to clients. Events they declined, marked as free, or that this platform created itself are left out. We write each confirmed booking to their main calendar as an event, with the client as a guest and the consultant as its organiser, and we move or cancel it when the booking changes. We only ever modify or delete events this application created for that consultant's own bookings, never one created by anyone else.

Where a consultant with a work or school account holds appointments on Microsoft Teams, the meeting is created by the calendar event itself, so we request no Teams permission and have no access to recordings, transcripts, chats or participants. We store the resulting join link on the booking.

We store the Microsoft account's email address, the identifier of the organisation it belongs to (which tells a work account from a personal one), the calendars the consultant chose, and encrypted access and refresh tokens, protected as described in §4. This data is used only to provide the features above. It is not sold, rented or shared with any third party, not used for advertising, profiling or training any model, and never transferred to Google, Stripe, Zoom or any other integration.

A consultant can disconnect Outlook at any time from their integrations page. Doing so permanently deletes the stored tokens and connection from our database. Microsoft offers no way for an application to revoke this kind of permission itself, so to withdraw it on Microsoft's side as well, remove BooknTalk from your Microsoft account's app permissions (personal accounts) or from My Apps (work or school accounts). Events already written to the calendar stay there and belong to that account. You may also request deletion at the address in §19.

17 Children

BooknTalk is a tool for running a professional practice and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly create accounts for anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal data, write to the address in §19 and we will delete it.

18 Changes To This Policy

When this policy changes we update the date at the top of the page. If a change affects what we do with data you have already given us, we tell account holders by email before it takes effect, so that anyone who disagrees has time to close their account and take their data with them.

19 Contact

For privacy-related inquiries, data deletion requests, or general support, contact us at organisation@bookntalk.com, or write to Kardelen Social Media, Parklaan 54a, 5613 BH Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

The terms that govern your use of the platform are published separately, at Terms of Service.