Happy Hippo privacy policy

About this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected by Happy Hippo through our website, booking and inquiry forms, communications, event coordination and other interactions with customers and prospective customers.

References to “Happy Hippo,” “we,” “us” or “our” in this Policy refer to the independently owned Happy Hippo shaved ice and event business serving the DMV area.

By using our website or voluntarily providing information to us, you acknowledge the practices described in this Policy.

Information you may share with us

The information we collect depends on how you interact with Happy Hippo. For example, someone browsing our gallery may provide no information directly to us, while someone requesting an event may provide information needed for us to prepare a quote or coordinate service.

Contact information

• Name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Preferred method of communication

Event and booking information

• Event date and time
• Event address or venue
• Event type
• Estimated number of guests or servings
• Requested Happy Hippo setup, package, service or add-ons
• Venue access, parking or setup instructions
• Special requests or other information you choose to provide

Setup photographs

For some events, we may ask you to send a photograph of the area where you would like Happy Hippo to set up. These photographs are used to help us understand space, access, parking, terrain, entrances or other logistics before arriving at your event.

Please avoid including unnecessary personal information, documents, license plates, house numbers or identifiable people in a setup photograph unless they are relevant to the setup instructions.

Communications

If you email, call, text, message or otherwise communicate with us, we may retain the information contained in that communication as reasonably necessary to respond to you, coordinate your event or maintain business records.

Why we use the information we collect

We may use personal information for purposes reasonably related to operating Happy Hippo, including to:

• Respond to questions, inquiries and booking requests.
• Determine availability for an event.
• Prepare estimates, quotes, invoices, booking confirmations or other event-related communications.
• Coordinate event locations, setup, parking, venue access and service needs.
• Provide shaved ice, ice cream, mini donuts, bubbles, foam or other Happy Hippo services requested for an event.
• Process or facilitate payments through our payment service providers.
• Provide customer service before, during and after an event.
• Maintain appropriate accounting, tax and business records.
• Protect our website, customers, staff, equipment and business from fraud, abuse or security threats.
• Improve our website, services and customer experience.
• Comply with applicable legal, regulatory, insurance or contractual obligations.

Information connected to your event

Booking Happy Hippo requires us to collect enough information to understand what you are requesting and where and when service will take place.

Event information may be shared internally with Happy Hippo team members who need it to prepare, travel to, set up for or serve your event. For example, staff may need access to the event address, contact person’s name, arrival instructions or setup photograph.

We ask that you provide only the information reasonably necessary for us to serve your event. Please do not submit sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers, medical records, financial account credentials or government identification through our booking or contact forms.

Payment information

Payments may be processed through third-party payment processors or financial service providers. When you make a payment, your payment information may be collected directly by that provider rather than stored by Happy Hippo.

Depending on the payment method used, we may receive limited transaction information such as your name, billing status, amount paid, payment date, transaction identifier and confirmation that a payment was successful.

Event photographs and social media

Happy Hippo operates a visual, event-based business, and photographs or videos may occasionally be taken at events to showcase our setups, products and community activities.

When appropriate, we may share photographs or videos through our website, gallery, social media accounts or promotional materials. We will follow any consent, release or permission process applicable to the particular event or content involved.

If you believe an image of you or your child has been posted by Happy Hippo and you would like us to review a removal request, please contact us and identify the image in question.

Photos you send to us

Photographs submitted specifically to show us where to set up are treated as event-planning information and are not intended for public promotion unless separate permission is given.

Children may attend our events

Happy Hippo frequently serves family events, birthday parties, schools, daycares and other gatherings where children may be present. However, our website and booking services are intended for adults arranging or purchasing services, not for children to independently submit personal information.

We do not knowingly ask children to provide personal information through our booking or contact forms without appropriate involvement from a parent, guardian, school, organization or other responsible adult.

If a parent or guardian believes that a child has submitted personal information to us through the website without authorization, please contact us so we can review the matter.

Information collected automatically

Like many websites, the Happy Hippo website may collect limited technical information automatically when you visit.

Depending on the website services currently enabled, this information may include:

• IP address
• Browser or device type
• Operating system
• Pages visited
• Approximate location derived from technical information
• Referring website or traffic source
• Date and time of a visit
• General website interaction information

Cookies or similar technologies may also be used to support website functionality, remember preferences, understand website performance or help protect the site from abuse.

You can generally adjust cookie controls in your web browser. Blocking certain cookies may affect how some website features work.

Services that help us run Happy Hippo

Happy Hippo may use third-party companies and technology providers to help operate our website and business. These may include providers that support:

• Website hosting
• Website forms
• Payment processing
• Email delivery
• Text messaging
• Customer relationship management
• Scheduling or booking
• Website analytics
• Security and spam prevention
• Accounting or business administration

Those providers may process information according to their own privacy policies and terms.

Our website may also contain links to third-party websites or social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Google or other services. Happy Hippo does not control the privacy practices of websites that we do not own.

How we communicate with you

If you contact or book with Happy Hippo, we may send transactional or service-related communications necessary to respond to you or manage your event. These may include questions, booking confirmations, invoices, reminders, arrival information or changes related to your event.

We may separately offer optional promotional emails or text messages about Happy Hippo news, seasonal offerings, events or special promotions.

Where required, promotional communications will be sent based on the appropriate consent or opt-in method. You may unsubscribe from marketing emails using the unsubscribe instructions included in those messages. Text-message opt-out instructions will be provided where applicable.

Opting out of marketing does not prevent us from sending necessary communications about an active inquiry, booking, payment or event.

How we protect and retain information

We take reasonable administrative, technical and organizational measures intended to protect the information entrusted to us. However, no website, internet transmission, electronic storage system or business database can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including event fulfillment, customer service, accounting, tax, insurance, dispute-resolution and legal obligations.

Different types of information may be kept for different periods. Information that is no longer reasonably needed may be deleted, anonymized or securely disposed of when appropriate.

Access, corrections and privacy requests

Depending on where you live and the law applicable to your information, you may have rights relating to certain personal information we maintain about you.

You may contact us to request that we:

• Correct inaccurate contact information.
• Update information associated with an upcoming event.
• Review a reasonable request concerning personal information we maintain.
• Review a request to delete information that we are not required or permitted to retain.
• Review a request concerning a photograph or media item published by Happy Hippo.
• Stop sending optional marketing communications.

We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests. We may also retain information when reasonably necessary to comply with legal, accounting, tax, contractual, fraud-prevention or other legitimate business requirements.

We do not sell your customer list

Happy Hippo does not operate as a data broker, and customer information is not collected for the purpose of selling customer lists to unrelated businesses.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Happy Hippo may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our website, services, technology providers or legal obligations change.

When we update the Policy, we may revise the effective date displayed at the top of this page. Material changes may also be communicated through the website or another reasonable method when appropriate.

We encourage visitors to review this page periodically for the current version.

Questions about your privacy?

If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, information you previously provided to Happy Hippo or a privacy-related request, please contact us.