Privacy Policy

Last Updated: March 23, 2026

HK Expat Club (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates hkexpatclub.com (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you visit our website. By using the Site, you consent to the practices described in this policy.

Information We Collect

Automatically collected information

When you visit our Site, we and our third-party partners automatically collect certain information about your device and browsing activity, including:

IP address and approximate geographic location
Browser type and version
Operating system
Referring and exit pages
Pages visited and time spent on each page
Date and time of visits
Device identifiers

We collect this data through Google Analytics and other analytics tools to understand how visitors use our Site and to improve our content and user experience.

Information you provide

If you subscribe to our newsletter, leave a comment, or contact us, we may collect your name and email address. We use this information solely to send you requested content and to respond to your enquiries.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies on our Site. A cookie is a small text file placed on your device by a website you visit. Cookies help us improve your experience and understand how our Site is used.

Types of cookies we use:

Essential cookies: Required for the Site to function properly (e.g., session management, security features). These cannot be disabled.
Analytics cookies: Used by Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors interact with our Site. This helps us understand traffic patterns and improve content. Data collected includes pages visited, time on site, and traffic sources.
Advertising cookies: Used by Google AdSense and other advertising partners to serve advertisements. These cookies collect information about your browsing activity across websites to deliver ads that are relevant to your interests (see “Advertising and Interest-Based Ads” section below).

Managing cookies

When you first visit our Site, you will be presented with a cookie consent banner allowing you to accept or decline non-essential cookies. You can also manage cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features of our Site.

Advertising and Interest-Based Ads

We use Google AdSense and other third-party advertising networks to display advertisements on our Site. These advertising partners may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you.

How advertising cookies work:

Google and its advertising partners use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our Site and other websites on the internet.
Third-party vendors (including Google) place and read cookies on your browser and may use web beacons to collect information as a result of ad serving on our Site.
DoubleClick cookie: Google uses the DoubleClick cookie to enable it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to our Site and/or other websites across the internet.
These technologies allow advertising networks to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertisements on other websites you visit.

Opting out of personalised advertising:

Google Ads Settings: You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
NAI opt-out: You can opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies through the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
DAA opt-out: You can also opt out via the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page.
European users: Visit Your Online Choices to manage ad preferences.

Please note that opting out of personalised advertising does not mean you will stop seeing ads on our Site. You will still see advertisements, but they may not be tailored to your interests.

Affiliate Links & Third-Party Services

Some articles on HK Expat Club contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products and services we believe are useful to our readers, and affiliate relationships never influence our editorial content.

We use the following third-party services that may collect data according to their own privacy policies:

Google Analytics : website traffic analysis (Google Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense : display advertising (Google Advertising Policies)
Jetpack / WordPress.com : site security and performance (Automattic Privacy Policy)

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

Operate, maintain, and improve our website
Send newsletters to subscribers who have opted in
Respond to enquiries and communication
Analyse site usage to improve our content and user experience
Serve relevant advertisements through our advertising partners
Detect, prevent, and address technical issues and security threats

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

Data Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your information with:

Advertising partners: Google AdSense and other ad networks receive browsing data through cookies to serve relevant advertisements (see “Advertising and Interest-Based Ads” above).
Analytics providers: Google Analytics processes visitor data to help us understand site usage.
Service providers: Third-party services that help us operate the Site (hosting, email delivery, etc.), who are bound by confidentiality obligations.
Legal requirements: We may disclose information when required by law, regulation, or legal process.

Data Retention

Newsletter subscriptions: Email addresses are retained until you unsubscribe.
Analytics data: Retained in accordance with Google Analytics’ default data retention settings (currently 14 months).
Advertising data: Cookie-based advertising data is retained as determined by each advertising partner’s policies. Most advertising cookies expire within 1-2 years.
Contact form submissions: Retained only as long as necessary to respond to your enquiry, after which they are deleted.

Your Rights Under GDPR (European Economic Area Users)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including:

Right to access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
Right to erasure: Request deletion of your personal data (“right to be forgotten”).
Right to restrict processing: Request that we limit how we use your data.
Right to data portability: Request a copy of your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
Right to object: Object to our processing of your personal data, including for direct marketing or interest-based advertising.
Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on consent as the legal basis for processing.

Legal bases for processing: We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

Consent: For non-essential cookies (analytics, advertising) and newsletter subscriptions.
Legitimate interest: For operating and improving our website, ensuring security, and serving relevant content.
Contractual necessity: For responding to your enquiries and providing requested services.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hkexpatclub@gmail.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

Your Rights Under CCPA (California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including:

The right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose
The right to request deletion of your personal information
The right to opt out of the “sale” of your personal information (note: we do not sell personal information in the traditional sense, but the sharing of data with advertising partners for interest-based advertising may constitute a “sale” under CCPA)
The right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

To exercise your CCPA rights, contact us at hkexpatclub@gmail.com.

Children’s Privacy

Our Site is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete such information.

Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

External Links

Our website contains links to external sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date at the top. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the Site after changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us at:

Email: hkexpatclub@gmail.com
Website: hkexpatclub.com/contact