Who we are
Our website address is: https://hibiscusteach.com.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Who we share your data with
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Personal lesson bookings
When you use Hibiscus Teach’s personal lesson booking service, we use your email address to send a sign-in link, identify your lesson credits and manage your bookings. A link expires after 15 minutes and can be used once. An essential sign-in cookie keeps that device signed in for up to 14 days, unless you sign out sooner.
Payments and lesson credits
PayPal processes card and PayPal payments. Your card details are entered in PayPal’s payment interface and are not stored by this booking plugin. We keep payment references, the amount and currency, payment status and a record of credits added or used. These records let us confirm purchases, prevent duplicate credits and handle refunds or payment disputes. PayPal handles payment information under its own privacy policy.
Google Calendar
Denis connects his Google account so the booking service can check busy times on the calendars he selects. Students do not need to connect a Google account. Available times shown to students do not reveal existing event titles, other students’ names or private calendar details.
The service creates lesson events in its own dedicated calendar and sends a calendar invitation to the student’s booking email address. It can cancel its own lesson events when an authorised cancellation is requested. It does not edit, move or cancel lessons in Denis’s existing personal, Preply or Verbling calendars, or change those platforms’ sync settings.
Google Calendar information is used only to provide availability, bookings and invitations. It is not sold, used for advertising or used to train AI models. Google connection credentials are encrypted in the website database. Denis can disconnect the booking service’s Google connection from its settings.
Storage and requests
The booking records are stored with the Hibiscus Teach website on DreamHost. Sign-in messages are sent through the website’s email service. Access is limited to administering the lessons and operating the service. The plugin records protected sign-in-token hashes and temporary abuse-prevention identifiers, rather than storing usable sign-in links in its database.
Lesson, credit and payment records are retained to administer your package and resolve payment or booking queries. They are not automatically erased when the plugin is deactivated. To request a copy or removal of your booking information, or ask about these records, email lessons@hibiscusteach.com. Denis will review the request, including any outstanding lesson credits, payments or disputes, before removing records. Cancelling a lesson returns an eligible lesson credit; it does not itself request deletion of your information or a payment refund.
Membership and lesson completion
Hibiscus Teach uses your membership email, account identifier and paid or invited access status to provide member services. We store the public lessons you manually mark as completed. Manual ticks are separate from course quiz results. Existing course and payment records continue to be handled by the course and membership systems.
Member sign-in uses a single-use email link. Sign-in links expire after 15 minutes and invitations after seven days. The member session lasts up to 14 days; a new sign-in replaces the previous member session. Necessary cookies keep the session secure and indicate whether completion features should load. They are not advertising cookies.
We store hashes of sign-in and session tokens rather than reusable plain tokens. Expired token and request-limit records are removed during later sign-in or administration activity, in bounded batches. There is no guaranteed daily deletion time. Manual progress remains until you change it or request its removal.
Membership emails use the website’s configured email service. PayPal processes payments, and membership records retain transaction references. This completion feature does not collect card details or add advertising analytics.
To request removal of companion membership and manual-progress data, contact lessons@hibiscusteach.com. Removal signs out member access and removes the companion records. Separate paid-membership, course and accounting records are handled under their applicable retention requirements.
Privacy questions
For questions about personal lesson booking information, email lessons@hibiscusteach.com.