Who we are
STR Marketing Lab is run by Jamie Smith, a sole trader based in Scotland. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Jamie Smith trading as STR Marketing Lab. We are the data controller for the personal data described here, which means we decide how and why it is used.
This policy covers strmarketinglab.com, enroll.strmarketinglab.com, the free website check, The Direct Booking System course, and the emails we send.
Contact details
- Jamie Smith, STR Marketing Lab, 55 Sutherland Drive, Kinross, KY13 8YU
- Email: jamie@strmarketinglab.com
- ICO registration number: [ADD ONCE PAID]
Our services are for adults who run or manage holiday accommodation. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.
What personal data we collect
We collect what you give us through our forms and checkout, plus some information about how you use our pages and emails.
When | What we collect |
|---|---|
You request the free website check | First name, email address, the website address you submit, whether you ticked the marketing box and when, and which ad or link brought you to the page |
We run the check | Publicly available content from the website pages we read, and the report we write about them. If those pages include personal details, such as an owner’s name on an About page, these may be processed as part of the check |
You sign up on our website | Name and email address |
You buy the course or the Local Competitor Report | Name, email address, billing details, what you bought, and your course access and progress. Card and PayPal details are handled by Stripe or PayPal; we never see your full card number |
You order the Local Competitor Report | Your town or area, property type and website address |
You comment on our blog | Your name, email address, website if you give one, your comment, your IP address and browser details. A scrambled (hashed) version of your email address may be sent to Gravatar to show your profile picture, if you have one |
You email us | Your email address and whatever you choose to include |
You visit our website or open our emails | Pages visited, device and browser type, your IP address and approximate location, and whether you open or click our emails. Some of this is handled by the security services that protect our site from spam and attacks. See “Cookies and tracking” |
How we use it, and our lawful basis
UK data protection law requires a lawful basis for each use of your data. We never sell your personal data.
What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
Run the free website check you asked for and email you the report | Legitimate interests: providing the free service you requested |
Send emails about your check, for example if we could not reach your website | Legitimate interests |
Keep a short record of your email and website so the same site is not checked repeatedly | Legitimate interests: preventing misuse and controlling costs |
Send marketing emails about getting more direct bookings, including our course and occasional offers | Consent, given by ticking the box on the form. You can withdraw it at any time |
Process your payment, give you course access, deliver the Local Competitor Report and provide support | Contract |
Keep purchase and payment records | Legal obligation (tax and accounting) |
Publish your blog comment and check it for spam | Legitimate interests |
Protect our website and forms from spam, bots and attacks | Legitimate interests: keeping the site secure |
Measure visits to our website with Google Analytics and Elementor | Consent, given through the cookie banner |
Show embedded content, such as LinkedIn posts | Consent, given through the cookie banner |
Measure our Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads with the Meta Pixel | Consent, given through the cookie banner |
Improve the free check and our content, using combined figures such as how many checks were run | Legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed our interests against yours. You can object at any time; see “Your rights”.
How the free website check works
The free check is fully automated and the report is written with the help of AI. Nobody reviews your website personally before the report is sent.
When you submit the form:
- Your details are saved in our customer system (HighLevel).
- Our automation (Make) visits the website address you gave and reads a handful of its public pages, using a page-reading service (Firecrawl).
- The website address and the page content are sent to an AI service (OpenAI), which helps write the report. Your first name may also be sent so the report can be addressed to you. Your email address is not used to write the report.
- The report is emailed to you, normally within a few minutes.
The check gives general observations about a website’s content and set-up. It does not make any decision about you that has legal or similarly significant effects.
Please only submit a website you own or manage. We do not check listings on platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com; if you submit one, we will let you know by email.
Marketing emails
We only send marketing emails if you ticked the box asking for them. The box is never ticked for you, and you still get your free report if you leave it blank.
If you opt in, you will get a short series of emails about getting more direct bookings, which include information about The Direct Booking System course, followed by occasional emails and offers.
You can stop them at any time using the unsubscribe link in every email, or by emailing jamie@strmarketinglab.com. When you unsubscribe, we keep your email address on a do-not-email list so you are never contacted again by mistake.
Our emails record whether they are opened and whether links are clicked. We use this to see which emails are useful and to stop sending to people who are not reading them.
Cookies and tracking
Cookies are small files stored by your browser. We only use analytics and advertising cookies if you click Accept on our cookie banner. If you decline, those tools do not load.
Type | Used for | Where | Needs your consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
Essential | Making pages, forms, checkout and course login work, and protecting the site from spam and bots (HighLevel, WordPress, Cloudflare, Google reCAPTCHA, Stripe, PayPal) | All our pages | No |
Analytics | Google Analytics and Elementor, to count visits and see which pages are used | strmarketinglab.com | Yes |
Advertising | The Meta Pixel, to measure whether our Facebook and Instagram ads lead to sign-ups and sales | enroll.strmarketinglab.com | Yes |
Social media and embeds | LinkedIn posts, YouTube videos and other embedded content, which can set their own cookies, including for advertising | strmarketinglab.com | Yes |
For a full list of the cookies set on strmarketinglab.com, see our Cookie policy.
You can change your choice at any time using the cookie settings link or “Manage consent” button at the bottom of our pages, or by clearing cookies in your browser.
Embedded content. Some pages include content from other websites, such as LinkedIn posts and YouTube videos. It behaves as if you had visited that website: it may collect data about you, set cookies and track how you interact with it. We only load it if you accept the relevant cookies.
Who we share it with
We use the services below to run the business. Each only receives what it needs for its job and is bound by its own data protection terms. We do not sell or rent your data to anyone.
Service | What it does for us | Where data may be processed |
|---|---|---|
HighLevel (LeadConnector) | Hosting our websites, customer records, forms, landing pages, emails, checkout and course hosting | USA |
Make | Runs the automation behind the free check | EU |
Firecrawl | Reads the public pages of the website you submit | USA |
OpenAI | AI that helps write the report | USA |
Google (Workspace, Sheets, Analytics, reCAPTCHA, Fonts, YouTube) | Our email, logs of each free check, website analytics, spam protection on our forms, the fonts on our website, and embedded YouTube videos if you accept the relevant cookies | USA and EU |
Cloudflare | Protecting our website from attacks and bots, and helping it load quickly | Worldwide, including the USA |
Stripe and PayPal | Taking payments | UK, EU and USA |
Meta | Measuring our Facebook and Instagram ads, if you accept advertising cookies | USA and Ireland |
Showing embedded LinkedIn posts, if you accept the relevant cookies | USA and Ireland | |
Automattic (Gravatar) | Showing profile pictures next to blog comments | USA |
[COMMENT SPAM FILTER] | Checking blog comments for spam | [LOCATION] |
Bunny.net | Hosting our videos | EU |
We may also share data if the law requires it, for example with HMRC or the police.
International transfers. Some of these services process data outside the UK. When they do, the transfer is protected by a recognised safeguard, such as the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the ICO’s International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum. Contact us if you want more detail.
How long we keep it
We keep personal data only as long as we need it, then delete it.
Data | How long |
|---|---|
Free check details and report, if you did not opt in to emails | 12 months from your request |
Free check records used to stop repeat checks, and our check logs | Up to 12 months |
Your details, if you opted in to emails | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them |
Do-not-email list after you unsubscribe | Your email address only, for as long as we send marketing emails |
Purchase and payment records | 6 years, for tax purposes |
Course access and progress | While you have access to the course |
Blog comments and the details sent with them | For as long as the comment stays on our website |
Emails you send us | Up to 2 years after your query is resolved |
Google Analytics data | 14 months |
Your rights
You can ask us at any time to:
- give you a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- correct anything that is wrong
- delete your data
- restrict how we use it
- give you your data in a format you can take elsewhere
- stop using it where we rely on legitimate interests
- stop sending you marketing emails, which we will always do
Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To use any of these rights, email jamie@strmarketinglab.com. We will respond within one month, and there is normally no charge.
Complaints. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please email us first. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and deal with it as quickly as we can. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when the way we use personal data changes. The date below shows when it was last updated. If we make a significant change that affects you, we will tell you by email.
Last updated: 26 October 2026