Privacy policy

What this policy covers

My Best Houston (mybesthouston.com) is a guide to the best-rated local businesses in Houston. This policy explains what information the site handles when you read it, write to us or use the business area, why, for how long, and what you can ask of us. We collect as little as we can: every page can be read without an account.

Technical logs

Each time a page is requested, the site receives technical data such as your IP address, the time, the page requested, your browser and device, and the referring page. We use it only to run and secure the site, stop spam and abuse, and fix errors; it is not used to profile you and is kept only as long as needed.

Emails you send us

If you write to info@mybesthouston.com, we receive your address, your name if you give it and your message. We use them only to reply and handle your request, such as a correction, and delete the correspondence a reasonable time after the matter is closed. We never add you to a mailing list.

Business accounts and payments

Owners and managers can use the business area to claim a listing, correct details, add information or subscribe to a paid plan. For this we handle the sign-in email address, the changes submitted for the listing (reviewed before they appear) and a record of the plan and its payments.

Payments are processed by Stripe. Card details are entered on Stripe's systems: we never see or store card numbers and only receive confirmation of the payment, the plan and its dates. Account data is kept while the account is active and deleted when you ask us to close it, except payment records we must keep for as long as the law requires.

Cookies and advertising

My Best Houston is free to read and is funded by advertising served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies to show ads, limit repetition, measure how ads perform and, if you allow it, personalize them.

A consent message lets you choose whether to allow these cookies; you can change your choice later there, in your Google ad settings or in your browser. Beyond strictly necessary cookies, such as the one that remembers your choice or keeps a business user signed in, the site sets no cookies of its own.

Maps, hosting and statistics

Maps use tiles from OpenFreeMap, built on data from OpenStreetMap contributors. To draw a map, your browser requests the tiles directly from those servers, which therefore receive your IP address and the usual request details.

The site is hosted and protected by Cloudflare, which processes request data to deliver pages quickly and block attacks and abusive traffic. We count visits with Cloudflare's statistics, which work without cookies and do not identify individual readers.

Legal bases and sharing

Logs and emails rely on our legitimate interest in running a secure site and answering messages; business accounts on providing the service requested; advertising cookies on your consent where it is required. We share data only with the providers named here, for these purposes, or when the law obliges us to. Some operate from other countries, including the United States, with the safeguards the law requires.

Your rights

You can ask us for access to the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Write to info@mybesthouston.com; we may need to confirm it is you, and we normally reply within one month.

Depending on the state where you live, privacy laws may give you further rights, and we will honor requests made under them. Visitors from the EU or the UK also have their GDPR rights, including restriction of processing, data portability and the right to complain to a data protection authority.

Changes and contact

My Best Houston is meant for adults and is not directed at children. We may update this policy when the site or the law changes; the version on this page is always the current one. Privacy questions: info@mybesthouston.com.