Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how The Cerulean (“we,” “us”), a private vacation villa on St. Croix booked and managed by Sterling Point Real Estate, collects and uses information when you visit this website or contact us. We’ve written it in plain language. If anything is unclear, email stay@sterlingpointvi.com.

Who is responsible for your data

The data controller for this website is Sterling Point Real Estate, on behalf of The Cerulean, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Contact: stay@sterlingpointvi.com · 340-205-3929.

What we collect, and why

We collect only what we need:

Information you send us. When you use the contact form, we receive the name, email address, approximate dates, guest count, and message you provide. We use this only to answer your inquiry and, if you ask, to help arrange your stay. Legal basis: your consent and our legitimate interest in responding to you.
Email sign-up. If you join the newsletter on the home page, we collect your email address and the date and page of your sign-up. We use it to send about one email a month with open dates, rates and offers from The Cerulean. Legal basis: your consent. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also write to stay@sterlingpointvi.com to be removed.
Basic technical data. Like any website, our host records standard server logs (IP address, browser type, pages requested, timestamps) to deliver the site securely and prevent abuse. Our host also turns these logs into anonymous daily totals, such as the number of pages viewed, which we use to count visits to the site; this uses no cookie and identifies no one. Legal basis: legitimate interest in a secure, working site.
Optional analytics. If — and only if — you accept analytics in our cookie banner, we load Google Analytics 4 (measurement IDs G-K6PQLGK4X2 and G-6EJQM1W20P, the second being the villa owner's own property) to count visits and see which pages are useful: pages viewed, how you reached the site, device and browser type, and approximate location (city or country, worked out from your IP address; Google Analytics does not store the IP address itself). It sets first-party cookies named _ga and _ga_* for this. Legal basis: your consent. You can decline, and everything on the site still works.
Advertising, only with consent. If you choose “Accept” in the cookie banner, the Meta Pixel (Meta Platforms, Inc.) tells Meta which pages of this site your browser visited and whether you clicked a booking link, so The Cerulean’s own ads can be shown to you on Facebook and Instagram. Meta may link this to your Facebook or Instagram account under its own privacy policy and may set a cookie named _fbp. Legal basis: your consent. If you choose “Decline,” the pixel never loads.

We do not sell your personal information. Apart from the Meta Pixel above, which runs only if you accept, nothing on this site shares your activity with advertisers.

By default this site sets only what it needs to function and remember your cookie choice. No analytics or tracking runs until you choose “Accept” in the banner. You can change your mind at any time by clearing this site’s data in your browser, which will bring the banner back.

We share information only with the service providers that help us run the site and respond to you, each acting under contract:

Cloudflare, Inc. — website hosting and security.
Google LLC (Google Analytics) — visit statistics, only if you accept analytics in the cookie banner. Google processes this data under its own privacy policy and data processing terms.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta Pixel) — advertising on Facebook and Instagram, only if you accept cookies in the banner.
Instagram (Meta). Our Instagram page loads posts directly from Instagram only after you choose to show them; Instagram may then set its own cookies under Meta’s privacy policy.
Sterling Point Real Estate — the villa’s manager, who receives contact-form inquiries in order to reply and arrange bookings.
Our email providers — used to deliver contact-form messages to the villa team and, if you join the newsletter, to keep the list and send it.
Booking platform. When you choose to book, you leave this site for Sterling Point’s reservation system, which has its own privacy terms. Any payment or reservation details are handled there, not by this website.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of guests, the property, or the public.

Data retention — how long we keep it

Our retention rule is to keep personal data no longer than we need it. We retain inquiry messages only as long as needed to answer you and, where relevant, to support a stay — and then for a reasonable retention period for our records (generally up to 24 months) — after which we delete or anonymize them. We keep a newsletter email address until you unsubscribe. Server logs are retained for a short period and then rotated out. Google Analytics data is kept for up to 14 months and then deleted automatically. You can ask us to delete your information sooner (see your rights below).

International transfers

The villa is in the U.S. Virgin Islands (United States), and our providers may process data in the United States and other countries. Where we transfer personal data out of the EU/EEA, the UK, or Brazil, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent lawful transfer mechanism.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have rights over your personal data. We honor these regardless of location:

Under the GDPR (EU/EEA/UK): access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and the right to object. You may also lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
Under the LGPD (Brazil): confirmation of processing, access, correction, anonymization or deletion, portability, information about sharing, and the right to withdraw consent.
Under the CCPA/CPRA (California): the right to know what we collect, to request deletion, to correct, and to opt out of “sale” or “sharing.” We do not sell personal information. We share it with Meta for advertising only if you choose “Accept” in the cookie banner; choosing “Decline,” or clearing this site’s data and declining, opts you out. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any right.

To exercise any right, email stay@sterlingpointvi.com. We may need to verify your identity before acting, and we’ll respond within the timeframe the applicable law requires.

Children

This site is intended for adults planning travel. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU/EEA). If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures — including HTTPS encryption, security headers, and access controls — to protect your information. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top reflects the latest version, and material changes will be posted on this page.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email stay@sterlingpointvi.com or call 340-205-3929.