Privacy policy

Last updated: 21 September 2026

Idleside is a holiday house at 42 Peter Crescent, St Francis Bay, owned and let by Blackdown Property 9 CC (registration number 2002/042455/23). This page explains what personal information we collect through this website, why, and what we do with it. We follow the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Who is responsible for your information

Blackdown Property 9 CC is the responsible party. Our Information Officer is Adele Dabbs. You can reach us at bookings@idleside.co.za or 042 294 0380, or write to 42 Peter Crescent, St Francis Bay, 6312.

What we collect

When you send a booking request we collect your name, email address, phone number, the number of adults and children in your party, your dates, and anything you choose to tell us in the message box, such as children's ages or that you are bringing a pet.

When you pay, we record the amount, the date, the method and the payment reference. We never see or store your card or banking details. Card and Instant EFT payments are handled entirely by PayFast on their own secure pages.

When you use the booking form we briefly record the internet address (IP address) your request came from, only to stop automated abuse of the form. This is deleted after one hour.

Emails you send us are kept in our mailbox so that we can answer you and keep a record of what was agreed.

What we do not collect

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies and we do not run analytics that follow you around the internet. The public pages set no cookies at all. We do not knowingly collect information about children beyond how many are in your party and any ages you choose to give us.

Why we collect it

We use your information only to answer your request, confirm and manage your booking, take payment, send you arrival details, contact you about your stay, and keep the financial records the law requires. The legal grounds are that it is needed to conclude and carry out our contract with you, and to comply with tax law.

We will not send you marketing unless you have asked us to. If we ever offer a newsletter or returning-guest offers, it will be opt-in and every message will let you unsubscribe.

Who we share it with

PayFast (Network International), our payment provider, when you choose to pay online. PayFast receives your email address, the amount and your booking reference from us. Their privacy policy is at payfast.io.
The people who manage bookings: the owner and her assistant, who receive booking emails and keep your information confidential.
Our website and email server, which we operate ourselves on hosting provided by Hetzner in Germany. Germany's data protection law (the GDPR) gives protection at least equal to POPIA.
Authorities, only where the law requires it.

We do not sell or rent your information to anyone. The calendar we share with Airbnb and LekkeSlaap, so that dates booked here are blocked there, contains dates only and never your name or details.

Our pages load their fonts from Google Fonts, which means your browser contacts Google when you open the site, as it does on most websites. The map link opens Google Maps only if you click it.

How long we keep it

Confirmed bookings and their payment records: 5 years after your stay, because tax law requires us to keep income records.
Requests that were declined, expired or cancelled before any payment: deleted within 12 months.
Emails: the same periods.

How we protect it

The site uses an encrypted connection (https). Booking records are stored in files that cannot be opened from the web, on a server that only we can log in to, and the booking dashboard is password protected. Links in our emails that show your booking are individually signed so that they cannot be guessed.

Your rights

You may ask us what information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it where we are not required by law to keep it, and object to how we use it. Email bookings@idleside.co.za and we will respond within a reasonable time, and in any case within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our answer you may complain to the Information Regulator: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za, 010 023 5200, Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191, inforegulator.org.za.

Changes

If we change this policy we will post the new version here with a new date.