Privacy Policy
Effective October 20, 2026
Gaston Shores is a privately owned vacation rental home on Lake Gaston in Littleton, North Carolina, operated by WATE, LLC ("we," "us" or "our"). This policy explains what information we collect when you visit gastonshores.com, book a stay, or contact us, how we use it, and the choices you have. We keep it simple: we collect what we need to host you well, and we never sell your information.
Information we collect
Information you give us
Booking details: your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, travel dates, number of adults and children, whether you're bringing a pet, and any requests you share with us.
Payment information: card details are entered into and processed by our payment provider. We do not see or store your full card number.
Messages: anything you send through our inquiry or contact forms, by email, by text or by phone.
Your rental agreement: your acceptance of the rental agreement and house rules, including a digital signature if one is requested.
Information from booking sites
If you book through Airbnb or Vrbo, that site shares your name, contact details and reservation details with us so we can host your stay. Their own privacy policies govern what they collect from you.
Information collected automatically
When you browse our website, your browser and cookies send us basic technical information: your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit, how you arrived at our site, and the date and time of your visit. See "Cookies and analytics" below.
How we use your information
To confirm, manage and take payment for your reservation
To send your confirmation, arrival instructions, door code and other stay details
To answer your questions and help before, during and after your stay
To keep the home, our guests and our neighbors safe, and to enforce our rental agreement and house rules, including handling damage
To meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations, including North Carolina and Warren County occupancy tax reporting
To understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it
To send occasional news and offers, only if you've asked to receive them. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own advertising.
Who we share it with
We share only what each partner needs to do its job for us:
Lodgify, which runs our website, booking system and guest messaging
Our payment processor, Lodgify Payments (powered by Stripe), which handles card payments and refunds
Airbnb and Vrbo, to keep our calendar accurate and manage reservations made on their sites
Our cleaning and maintenance team, who receive only what they need to prepare the home, such as your dates and party size
Our smart-lock provider, which issues the door code for your stay
Google, which provides our website analytics and the maps on our site
Legal and safety: when the law requires it, to protect our guests, our property or others, or to resolve a dispute
A new owner, if the home is ever sold, so that existing reservations can be honored
Cookies and analytics
Cookies are small files your browser stores when you visit a website. Our site uses them to make booking work (for example, remembering your dates as you move through checkout) and to measure how the site is used.
We use Google Analytics to understand which pages visitors view, how they found us and whether bookings are completed. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as your IP address, device and browser type and pages visited. Google processes this information under its own privacy policy. You can learn more at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services, and you can opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Our Lake Gaston page includes an embedded Google Map, which may also set Google cookies when it loads.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but parts of the booking process may not work without them.
Do Not Track. Some browsers send a "Do Not Track" signal. There is no common standard for responding to it, so our site does not change its behavior when it receives one. Apart from the Google services above, we do not allow other companies to track your activity on our site.
Security cameras
For the safety of guests and the property, Gaston Shores has security cameras on the exterior of the home only. There are no cameras inside the home. Footage is used only for security and to address incidents such as damage or unauthorized guests, and is shared only when needed for that purpose or when required by law.
How long we keep it
We keep reservation and payment records for as long as we need them for tax, accounting and legal purposes, which is usually several years. Inquiries that don't lead to a booking, and security footage that isn't tied to an incident, are deleted once we no longer need them.
How we protect it
We use reputable, secure providers for bookings and payments. Card payments are handled by our payment processor, not by us, and each stay gets its own door code. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach ever affected your personal information, we would notify you as North Carolina law requires.
Your choices
See, correct or delete your information: email us and we'll respond within a reasonable time. We may need to keep some records to meet legal or tax obligations, and we'll tell you if so.
Stop marketing emails: use the unsubscribe link in any email, or ask us directly. You'll still receive messages about a reservation you've made.
Cookies: block or delete them in your browser, or use the Google Analytics opt-out above.
If you live in a state that gives you additional privacy rights, contact us and we will honor them as the law requires.
Children
Our website is meant for adults planning a trip. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. When a booking includes children, we ask the adult booking only for the number of children in the party.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here with a new effective date. If a change significantly affects how we use information we already have, we'll also let guests with upcoming stays know by email.
Contact us
Questions about this policy or your information:
Gaston Shores
Littleton, North Carolina
📧 [email protected]
📱 (804) 350-5339