Your privacy,
straight up.

Akwaaba App (“Akwaaba”, “we”, “us”) is a Ghana travel and events platform operated by Akwaaba App Inc., registered in the United States with operations in Accra, Ghana. You can reach us at [email protected] or on WhatsApp at +233 59 895 4903.

1.Information you give us directly

• Account info: Name, email, phone number, password (hashed, never stored in plain text).
• Trip planning inputs: Travel dates, group size, budget tier, preferred regions, interests, and any notes you share with our AI planner at ai.akwaaba.app or in the mobile app.
• Booking details: Flight info, passport name, dietary needs, accessibility requests — anything needed to make your trip happen.
• Payment info: Processed directly by Stripe. We never see or store your card numbers.
• Messages: WhatsApp, email, and in-app chats with our concierge team.

2.Information we collect automatically

• Device & browser data: Device type, operating system, browser, screen size, language.
• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, time spent, referral source.
• IP address & approximate location: Used to detect fraud, localize content, and comply with regional laws.
• Cookies & similar tech: See “Cookies” section below.

3.Information from third parties

• Social logins: If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email, and profile image.
• Payment processors: Stripe shares transaction status with us (but not your card details).
• Analytics providers: Aggregated and anonymized usage stats.

We only use your data for things that actually benefit you:

• Build your itinerary. Your trip preferences are sent to our AI (powered by GPT‑4o) along with our curated database of Ghana lodges, restaurants, and experiences. The AI never stores your data — each request is stateless.
• Fulfill bookings. We share necessary details with hotels, tour guides, transport providers, and other partners you’ve booked.
• Process payments. Handled by Stripe under their own privacy and security standards.
• Keep in touch. Trip confirmations, updates, and (if you opt in) travel tips and offers via email or WhatsApp.
• Improve the product. Aggregated, anonymized analytics to fix bugs and make Akwaaba better.
• Prevent fraud & abuse. Keep bad actors off the platform and your account safe.
• Legal compliance. Respond to lawful requests and tax obligations in the US and Ghana.

Our AI trip planner (ai.akwaaba.app and in-app) is built on OpenAI’s GPT‑4o, with a twist: we constrain it to only recommend lodges, restaurants, and experiences from Akwaaba’s own curated, locally-verified database. This means:

• Your intake data (dates, regions, style, interests) is sent to OpenAI only to generate the itinerary.
• OpenAI does not train on your data — we use their API with zero data retention.
• Your generated plan is saved in our database so you can access it later.
• You can delete any plan from your account at any time.

We share the minimum amount of data necessary, only with trusted partners:

We use cookies, similar storage tech, and a small first-party tracking pixel across our websites and apps. Here is exactly what each one does:

1.Essential

Keep you logged in, remember your cart, protect against fraud, hold your booking while you check out. These can’t be turned off — without them the site doesn’t work.

2.Analytics

Understand how people use Akwaaba so we can improve it — page views, scroll depth, search queries, broken links. You can opt out via the cookie banner.

3.Behavioral targeting & triggered emails

This is the part most travel sites do quietly. We’ll be transparent about it.

• What we record: Which packages, destinations, and tools (trip planner, cost calculator) you view; how long you spend; whether you start a booking; whether you finish one. Stored against a session ID, not your name.
• How we link it to you: When you fill any form on Akwaaba (newsletter, trip planner intake, contact, signup, booking), we link that session ID to your email. We use a first-party cookie scoped to .akwaaba.app so the same identity carries between our website (akwaaba.app), our consumer app (akwaaba-gh.vercel.app and our mobile apps), and our booking subdomains. We do not share this identity with third-party ad networks.
• What we do with it: If your activity suggests you’re seriously planning a trip — for example, you’ve viewed the same package multiple times or started a booking — we may send you a relevant follow-up email. That email may include a personalized offer (such as a complimentary $50 airport pickup credit) tied to a unique promo code generated for you that expires after a set window.
• Frequency & cooldowns: Each type of trigger email can only be sent to you once within a 30-day window. We don’t carpet-bomb.
• How to stop it: Click unsubscribe in any email, toggle off marketing in your account > Notifications, or email [email protected]. We’ll stop the trigger emails within 24 hours and delete the behavioral history within 30 days on request.

4.Marketing & advertising

If you’ve visited us, we may show you Akwaaba ads on other sites (Meta, Google, TikTok). You can opt out via the cookie banner or each platform’s ad-preferences page.

Manage your preferences anytime via the cookie banner, your browser settings, or by emailing [email protected]. EU/UK visitors: targeting cookies are off by default until you opt in.

• Active accounts: As long as your account exists.
• Deleted accounts: Removed within 30 days, except where law requires us to keep records (e.g., tax records for 7 years).
• Anonymous analytics: Up to 26 months.
• WhatsApp messages: Per Meta’s retention policies.

No matter where you live, you have the right to:

• Access — get a copy of the data we have on you.
• Correct — fix anything that’s wrong.
• Delete — remove your account and data.
• Export — download your data in a portable format.
• Opt out — stop marketing emails at any time.
• Object — tell us to stop processing your data for certain purposes.
• Complain — file a complaint with your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We’ll respond within 30 days.

We take security seriously:

• All data in transit is encrypted with TLS (HTTPS).
• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt — we cannot see them.
• Database backups are encrypted at rest.
• Access to production systems is limited to essential staff and logged.
• We monitor for suspicious activity and patch vulnerabilities promptly.

No system is perfect, but we work hard to protect your information. If you discover a security issue, please email [email protected].

Akwaaba is not intended for children under 13 (or 16 in the EU). We don’t knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Akwaaba operates in the United States and Ghana. Your data may be transferred to, stored, or processed in either country. For European users, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we’ll notify you by email or in-app before they take effect. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page will always reflect the latest version.

We’d rather hear from you than have you wonder. Reach out anytime: