Effective Date: May 17, 2023
LoungeBuddy, Inc. (hereinafter “LoungeBuddy,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to safeguarding your privacy. LoungeBuddy is owned by American Express.
This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how we collect information about you and how we use, disclose, and protect that information. More specifically, this Privacy Policy applies to information we collect through:
Your use of these services is also subject to LoungeBuddy Terms of Use.
Our websites and apps are not intended for individuals under the age of 18 years of age (or the age of majority in the location in which they reside or where a LoungeBuddy lounge is located) (“Minors”). We do not knowingly collect information online from or market online to Minors.
This Privacy Policy applies to the services provided by LoungeBuddy only. Other American Express products or services will be governed by their own privacy policies, which will provide you with more details about how American Express uses information about you in relation to that specific product or service.
Third-party services, such as our lounge partners’ websites or social media websites, have additional terms that explain how operators of those services collect, use, or disclose your information. Please review the terms of the specific online services you use in connection with LoungeBuddy’s apps and services.
A. Information We Collect
B. Use of Information
C. Sharing & Disclosing
D. Aggregated and Anonymized Information
E. Security
F. Your Data Rights
G. Your Choices
H. Contacting Us
I. Changes to This Privacy Policy
J. Information for European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom Residents
K. Information for United States Residents
The type of information we collect depends on which product or service you use. In some cases, we collect information if you directly provide it to us. We may collect the following types of personal information directly from you:
In some instances, LoungeBuddy’s collection and processing of your personal information is mandatory to provide you with LoungeBuddy’s products or services. If you decide not to provide your personal information to us, we might not be able to provide you with that product or service. Any personal information that you provide for marketing purposes is voluntary. If consent is required for marketing by applicable law, you can revoke your consent for marketing (see the “Your Choices” section below).
Location Data
When you give us consent or enable geolocation on your device, we will collect the latitude and longitude coordinates of your device when you are searching for lounge availability. We use this information to help us improve the relevance of search results and streamline the lounge reservation processes. This information is only collected while the app is running. If you would like to revoke your consent for location tracking, please see the "Your Choices" section below.
We also may use general geographic data inferred from your IP address to identify where you are located to make available lounge reservations more relevant or to personalize your experience.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
We also collect information through Cookies and Similar Technologies when you use our online services or access online content.
A “Cookie” is a small amount of data that a website transfers to your computer. We place Cookies when you visit our website or another company’s website where our ads appear or when you make a reservation or request certain services. If you accept the Cookies used on our website, websites that are “powered by” another company on our behalf, or websites where our ads appear, you may give us access to information about your interests. We use that information to personalize your experience. “Similar Technologies” include clear GIFs, web beacons, and pixel tags, which are typically transparent images on websites. Cookies and Similar Technologies may also help LoungeBuddy or its service providers collect information about your device, operating system and web browser, as well as your use of the device, as described in more detail below.
The information we collect using Cookies and Similar Technologies may include
If you use your mobile device to access our products or services, we may collect information about your mobile device (for example, we collect location information to provide location-based content you request).
For more information about Cookies and Similar Technologies, please refer to LoungeBuddy’s Cookie Policy.
Other Sources of Information
As outlined above, we may collect or receive information about you from other sources in accordance with product or service-specific privacy notices we give to you. For example, we may receive information about your reservation from any lounge where you make a reservation, including your reservation check-in information and any feedback from the lounge regarding your experience.
We also may obtain information about other American Express products and services you use, in accordance with those privacy notices. We may combine this other information with the online information we have collected about you under this Privacy Policy.
We use information about you either on its own or combined with other information and in accordance with applicable law: (i) where it is necessary to administer our contractual relationship with you; (ii) for our own business interests to provide you with better products and services; (iii) where we have obtained your consent, such as for certain marketing purposes; or (iv) for compliance with applicable laws.
More specifically, we may use information about you:
For administering our contractual relationship with you and delivering our products and services to you, including to:
For our business interests, for the business interests of our partners, or as permitted by applicable law, we may use information about you to:
With your consent, to:
To comply with applicable laws and regulation around the world, we may use information about you to establish, exercise, or defend legal rights or claims and assist in dispute resolution or as otherwise required or permitted by law.
We may share or disclose information about you, including with:
Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Information.
To provide you with our products or services and in accordance with applicable law, we may need to transfer personal information to countries other than the country in which you reside. No matter where we process personal information about you, we’ll always protect it in the manner described in the American Express Data Protection and Privacy Principles and this Privacy Policy, and in accordance with applicable laws. We and our service providers may disclose your personal information if we are required or permitted by applicable law or legal process, which may include lawful access by foreign courts, law enforcement, or other government authorities in the jurisdictions in which we or our service providers operate.
Additional information about cross-border transfers of personal information from the following jurisdictions can be found in the section titled “Additional Information for European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom Residents.”
We sometimes process information so that it no longer identifies any individual; this information is referred to as aggregated and anonymized information. We use aggregated and anonymized information to:
We sometimes share aggregated and anonymized information with third parties, for many of the same reasons that are described above.
We use administrative, organizational, technical and physical security measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal information. Here’s what you should know:
We keep personal Information as long as necessary to provide you with products or services, unless we are required or permitted to keep it for longer by law, regulation or for the purposes of litigation or regulatory investigations.
Depending on the privacy laws in your country of residence and your relationship with LoungeBuddy, you may have certain legal rights regarding your personal information. Information about the specific rights available to you based on your country of residence can be found in the sections titled “Information for European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom Residents” and “Information for United States Residents.”
If you would like more information regarding the rights you may have, if you want to exercise any of your rights, if you have questions about how we process information about you, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact us at support@loungebuddy.americanexpress.com.
If we receive a request from you regarding your rights provided under applicable law, we’ll do our best to address your request as soon as possible and no later than required by the privacy law applicable to your request. If you do not feel your request is satisfactorily addressed, you can follow up via the email address above or submit your request in writing to: LoungeBuddy, c/o American Express, 200 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10075, United States. If we can’t meet the deadline to respond to your inquiry that is set by the applicable privacy law of your country of residence, we’ll contact you to explain the cause of the delay and provide an expected time for the response.
Where permitted under the applicable law of your country of residence, you also may contact the applicable local Data Protection Authority directly. You may also have the option to take your case to the court where you live, work, or where there may have been an infringement.
You have choices about how LoungeBuddy uses information about you for marketing and advertising. The choices available to you may differ depending on whether we are communicating with you through a website, email, app, or social media. We will always respect the choices you make.
Online Behavioral Advertising. If you do not want us to collect information about you through Cookies for marketing and advertising purposes, you can opt-out of cookies by following the directions in LoungeBuddy's Cookie Policy. To complete this, your browser must be set to accept cookies (i.e., we will need to place an opt-out cookie on your browser). If you choose not to accept cookies by changing your browser settings, you may find that certain features of the website do not work properly.
Mobile apps. You may exercise choices through your mobile device settings, including by turning off location-based services and device ad tracking.
Email. If you no longer want to receive direct email marketing communications from us, you can opt out by clicking unsubscribe on the bottom of an e-mail communication and following the instructions. Keep in mind, even if you opt out of direct marketing emails, we may still communicate with you to service your account, fulfill your requests, or administer any program in which you have elected to participate. These communications are necessary for us to inform you about the services we provide to you.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, or for information about the way we or our service providers treat personal information, please contact us at support@loungebuddy.americanexpress.com.
If you are a customer and would like to update your personal information, you can log in to your LoungeBuddy account at any time by clicking on "Account" then "Edit Profile" in the LoungeBuddy app.
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Depending on the nature of these changes, we may notify you in advance. When we make changes, we will update the “Effective Date” at the top of this page. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when posted. Your use of our products and services following these changes means you accept the revised Privacy Policy.
Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Information
LoungeBuddy is an affiliate of American Express. LoungeBuddy is a data controller, and LoungeBuddy and its service providers may be located outside of the EEA and the United Kingdom, including the United States. When we share personal information within the American Express Family of Companies or with third parties outside the EEA, we include appropriate contractual protections in those agreements. In addition, we assess whether other technical and organizational measures are required for those transfers. For information about how we or our service providers treat personal information, please contact us as set out in the “Contacting Us” section of the Privacy Policy.
Use of Information
Where we say that we use your information as described in the “Use of Information” section above for our business interests, legitimate interests. Please note that we consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights before processing your personal information for our legitimate interests.
Your Data Rights
Data Subjects in the EEA and the United Kingdom are provided certain legal rights regarding your personal information, including the right to:
If you want to execute your data rights or if you have any questions about how we process your personal information, please contact us as set out in the “Contacting Us” section of the Privacy Policy.
If you have questions, you may reach our Data Protection Officer at loungebuddy.dpo@aexp.com, or our member representative by clicking here or emailing datainquiry@dpr.eu.com quoting LoungeBuddy, Inc. in the subject line.
Your Data Rights
LoungeBuddy is an affiliate of American Express. If you reside in the United States and primarily use LoungeBuddy for personal or family purposes, you are provided with the following rights under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, a federal financial privacy law:
If you would like to change your choices regarding direct marketing, please see your options in the “Your Choices” section above. If you would like to limit our sharing of your personal information, contact us at support@loungebuddy.americanexpress.com.
California Residents
California ("CA") residents who primarily use LoungeBuddy for personal or family purposes are provided rights under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, a federal financial privacy law, not the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"). These rights are described above. California residents may receive additional protections under the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") for "personal information." Under CCPA, personal information includes information that identifies or could reasonably be linked with a particular individual or household. It does not include information that is publicly available or that has been de-identified or aggregated. This section describes the categories of personal information that LoungeBuddy collects, the purposes for which that information is collected, and any rights you may have with respect to your personal information.
Categories of Personal Information We Collect
Depending on the nature of your relationship with LoungeBuddy (e.g., you are the company representative of a lounge operator), we may have collected the following categories of personal information, including sensitive personal information, about you during the preceding 12 months:
We do not sell your personal information or share it with third parties for the purposes of serving “cross-context behavioral advertising,” i.e., advertisements that are based on inferences made from your browsing activity across other sites. Similarly, we do not sell or share the personal information of consumers under the age of 16. We have only disclosed the categories of personal information described above with third parties during the preceding 12 months for the business purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
For each of these categories of personal information, please refer to the "Use of Information", “Sharing & Disclosing Information”, and "Security" sections above for more detailed information regarding our purposes for collecting personal information, our sources of personal information, the length of time we retain personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we may share personal information.
We do not collect or process sensitive personal information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you and therefore do not offer the choice to limit the use or disclosure of sensitive personal information.
Your CA Privacy Rights
As a California resident, you may have certain rights over the personal information we have about you. Pursuant to the CCPA, you may have the right to request:
We will not discriminate against you if you choose to exercise any of these rights. These rights are subject to limitations, such as when we retain personal information to comply with our own legal obligations.
To exercise your rights or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at support@loungebuddy.americanexpress.com. We may need to validate certain information about you to verify your identity before we can fulfill your request. If you are making a request for access, deletion, or correction rights on behalf of another person, we may require you to provide proof that you have been designated as their authorized agent.