Effective date: September 8, 2026
About this policy
Chicago Trip Guide is operated by The Travel Spark Company LLC. This policy explains how information is handled when you browse our guides, use our contact form, subscribe to our newsletter, interact with a trip helper, or follow a travel booking link.
Information you choose to share
Our contact form collects your name, email address, subject, and message so our support team can respond. Please avoid sending payment details, identification documents, passwords, or sensitive personal information. Newsletter signup collects your email address and your choice to receive Chicago Trip Guide updates. Subscription records and email delivery are managed through Brevo.
If you use a trip helper, the information you enter may be processed by the services that provide its responses. Share only the travel preferences needed to answer your question. A helper response does not create a booking or confirm availability.
Information collected during a visit
Our hosting, content delivery, caching, and security services may process your IP address, requested pages, browser and device information, timestamps, and security events. We use this information to deliver pages, keep the site reliable, prevent abuse, and investigate technical problems.
Tour and hotel tools may process search terms, selected filters, currency, page interactions, and referral identifiers to provide results and attribute visits or bookings. Product images and embedded booking tools may be delivered by external services, which receive the connection information needed to display them.
Cookies and browser storage
Necessary cookies may support site security, administration, and form operation. Travel tools may use browser storage to remember recently viewed items, comparison choices, preferred currency, or whether you dismissed a panel. Your browser settings let you clear stored data or restrict cookies, though some features may then work differently.
How information is used and shared
We use information to respond to enquiries, provide the features you request, send updates you subscribe to, maintain security, understand the performance of our travel content and referral links, and comply with applicable obligations. Service providers may process information on our behalf for hosting, security, email delivery, search, and travel tools. We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights or safety, or support a business transfer subject to appropriate protections.
Travel providers and affiliate links
We may earn a commission when you book through certain links. Referral links can carry a tracking identifier to attribute a booking. When you leave this site or interact with an external service, that provider’s privacy policy applies to its collection and use of your information. Providers such as Viator, GetYourGuide, and hotel booking services control their own checkout, payment processing, reservations, and customer records.
Email choices
Contacting support does not subscribe you to marketing. You can unsubscribe from newsletter emails using the link in each message. Unsubscribing does not prevent a response to a separate support enquiry or a message necessary to handle a request you made.
Retention and security
We retain information for as long as needed for its purpose, including responding to enquiries, maintaining subscription preferences, resolving disputes, meeting legal obligations, and preventing abuse. Retention can differ by record and service. We use reasonable safeguards, but no internet transmission or storage system can guarantee absolute security.
International processing and your rights
Our service providers may process information in countries other than where you live. Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, or to object to certain processing or withdraw consent. These rights may be subject to exceptions. To make a request, use our contact form and identify the right you wish to exercise. We may need to verify your identity before responding. You may also have the right to contact your local data protection authority.
Children and policy changes
This site is intended for general travel planning and is not directed to children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information through our forms, contact us so we can review the situation. We may update this policy when our features or practices change. The effective date above identifies the current version.