← Back to MV Restaurants
MV Dining

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 1, 2026 · Last Updated: August 12, 2026

Summary: MV Restaurants uses analytics to understand how visitors use the Site, and stores some of your preferences locally on your device. If you subscribe to the newsletter or send us a photo, we keep what you gave us and a record of the permission you gave with it. We do not sell your personal information. If the Site is ever sold, your data may transfer to the new owner, and if you are a subscriber, you will be told and can leave in one click before anything changes.

1. Information We Collect

MV Restaurants ("the Site," "we," "us," or "our", which includes any future owner or operator of the Site, see Section 9) collects certain information to improve the user experience and analyze how the Site is used. The information we collect falls into the following categories:

1.1 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain information through analytics and tag management technologies, including but not limited to:

  • IP address (which may be anonymized depending on your region)
  • Browser type and version
  • Operating system
  • Device type (desktop, mobile, tablet)
  • Screen resolution
  • Referring URL (the page that directed you to our Site)
  • Pages visited and duration of visit
  • Approximate geographic location (derived from IP address)
  • Language preferences
  • Interactions with Site features (clicks, scrolls, searches)

1.2 Newsletter Subscriptions

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect and store:

  • Your email address, and your name if you choose to give one
  • A record of your consent: the date and time you subscribed, which version of this policy applied, the page you subscribed from, and a one-way hash of your IP address and browser user-agent
  • Whether and when you confirmed your address, and whether and when you unsubscribed

The consent record exists so we can demonstrate that every address on our list asked to be there. We keep a hash of your IP address rather than the address itself, so the record proves the subscription happened without storing the identifier.

The newsletter uses double opt-in: nothing is sent to you until you click a confirmation link. An address that never confirms never receives mail, and is deleted after 30 days. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link.

1.3 Photo Contributions

If you submit a photo through /submit-photo/, we collect the image file, the caption and restaurant you attach to it, the name you want credited, your email address, and the same kind of consent record described above, including the exact version and a cryptographic hash of the permission wording you agreed to.

Your browser strips the photo's embedded metadata (including GPS coordinates and device identifiers) by re-encoding the image before it is uploaded, so that information never reaches us.

Your email address is used only to contact you about that photo, and is not added to the newsletter unless you separately ask. What we may do with the photo itself is set out in the permission wording shown on the submission page, which is versioned and stored alongside your submission. The receipt we email you carries a link that withdraws the photo at any time.

1.4 Information Stored Locally

The Site uses your browser's built-in localStorage feature to save preferences locally on your device. This data is never transmitted to our servers. Locally stored data may include:

  • Dark mode preference
  • Favorite restaurants
  • View mode preference (grid or list)
  • Recently viewed restaurants

This data remains entirely on your device and is under your full control. You can clear it at any time through your browser settings.

2. Analytics

2.1 Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC ("Google"), to collect and analyze information about how visitors use the Site. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect data such as how often users visit the Site, which pages they visit, and what other sites they visited prior to visiting our Site.

We use the information we receive from Google Analytics to improve the Site and our content. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Site, rather than your name or other identifying information.

For more information: Google Privacy Policy · Google Analytics Opt-out

2.2 Additional Analytics & Marketing Tools

We may, from time to time, use additional analytics, performance monitoring, advertising, or marketing tools and services to further understand Site usage, test features, or measure the effectiveness of content. These tools may collect similar types of data as described in Section 1.1 and may place additional cookies on your device. We will update this Privacy Policy to reflect any material changes in the tools or services we use.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • Site improvement: To understand how visitors interact with the Site and to improve its design, content, and functionality
  • Performance monitoring: To monitor Site performance, identify technical issues, and ensure optimal user experience
  • Content analysis: To understand which restaurants and content are most popular and to tailor future updates
  • Communication: To send newsletters and updates to subscribers who have opted in
  • Legal compliance: To comply with applicable legal requirements, respond to legal processes, and protect our rights

4. Data Sharing & Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. We may share data in the following limited circumstances:

  • Service providers: We share data with analytics providers (such as Google) that process data on our behalf as described in Section 2
  • Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request
  • Business transfer: In the event of a sale, merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or transfer of the Site or its assets, or during due diligence for one under a confidentiality agreement, collected data may be among the assets transferred or disclosed (see Section 9)
  • Protection of rights: To protect the rights, property, or safety of the Site, its users, or the public

5. Service Providers & Third-Party Services

The following providers process data on our behalf, or receive a request directly from your browser when you load a page. Each is bound by its own privacy terms. This list is kept current; if it changes materially, this policy is updated.

ProviderWhat it doesWhat it sees
Vercel Inc. Hosting and content delivery Standard server request logs, including IP address
Neon Inc. Database (newsletter list, photo submissions, consent records) The data described in Sections 1.2 and 1.3, stored at rest
Resend (Plus Five Five, Inc.) Sends our confirmation emails and newsletter Subscriber email addresses and message contents
Google LLC Google Analytics Usage data (Section 2)
CARTO Map tile imagery Tile requests from your browser when you view the map
Formspree, Inc. Delivers the form on our restaurant claim page Only what you type into that specific form

The mapping library (Leaflet) and both webfonts are served from our own domain rather than third-party CDNs, so loading a page discloses nothing to their publishers.

We do not use Google Tag Manager, advertising pixels, session recording, or cross-site behavioural tracking.

6. External Links

The Site contains links to restaurant websites, ordering platforms, mapping services, and other third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any site you visit through our links.

7. Children's Privacy

The Site is a general-audience informational directory and is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or 16 in jurisdictions where applicable). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child, we will take steps to delete such information promptly.

8. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information collected through the Site. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Data collected by third-party analytics providers is subject to their respective security practices.

9. Change of Ownership

MV Restaurants is a business, and a business can be sold. If the Site, its domain names, its content, its intellectual property, or the business operating it is sold, merged, acquired, reorganised, or otherwise transferred to a new owner or operator, in whole or in part, including as part of a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding, the following applies.

9.1 What transfers

All data described in this policy may be transferred to the new owner or operator as part of the transaction, or disclosed to a prospective buyer during due diligence. That includes analytics data, the newsletter list together with its consent records, photo submissions together with the permission records attached to them, and associated business records.

Any disclosure to a prospective buyer before a transaction completes is made under a written confidentiality agreement, limited to what is needed to evaluate the business, and does not permit that party to contact you.

9.2 What does not change

A change of ownership is not a licence to start doing something different with your data. From the effective date of the transfer:

  • The new owner or operator steps fully into our position, taking on both the rights and the obligations in this policy
  • Your data continues to be handled for the purposes described in Section 3, namely running a Martha's Vineyard dining guide, and not for materially different or incompatible ones
  • Every right you have under Section 10 continues to work, against the new owner, on the same terms
  • Permission you gave for a contributed photo is governed by the version of the permission wording you agreed to at the time, which transfers with the photo. Your credit and your ability to withdraw the photo survive the transfer intact

9.3 Notice and your choice

If you are a newsletter subscriber, we will email you before, or as soon as reasonably practicable after, a change of ownership takes effect. That email will name the new operator and carry a one-click unsubscribe link. If the new owner intends to use your data for a materially different purpose than the one you signed up for, they must tell you and obtain your consent before doing so.

For other visitors, notice of a change in ownership will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date, and continued use of the Site after that date constitutes acceptance of the new operator's policy.

9.4 Allocation of responsibility

Following a completed transfer, the new owner or operator is responsible for its own data practices, and the previous owner is released from responsibility for anything the new owner does after the effective date. Nothing in this section limits any liability of the previous owner for its own conduct before that date, or waives any right you hold under applicable law that cannot be waived by agreement.

This section survives any termination or modification of this policy.

In plain terms: the list and the archive can be sold along with the guide, because that is how a business like this changes hands. What cannot be sold is your ability to get out. If ownership changes, you get an email saying so and a link that removes you, before anyone uses your address for anything new.

10. Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your data:

All Users

  • You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
  • You can manage or delete cookies through your browser settings (see our Cookies Policy)
  • You can clear all locally stored data (favorites, preferences) through your browser settings
  • You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time using the unsubscribe link in every email
  • You can enable "Do Not Track" in your browser settings

European Economic Area (EEA): GDPR

If you are located in the EEA, you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing of, and port your personal data. You also have the right to object to processing and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. To exercise these rights, please contact us at the address below.

California Residents: CCPA/CPRA

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, request its deletion or correction, and opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes requiring a right to limit.

A transfer of personal information to a successor as part of a merger, acquisition, or other transaction in which that successor assumes control of all or part of the business is not a "sale" under the CCPA, provided the successor's use of that information remains consistent with this policy. Section 9 is written to keep it consistent, and to give subscribers notice and an exit if it ever would not be.

To exercise your rights, please contact us at the address below. We will not discriminate against you for doing so.

11. International Data Transfers

Data collected through analytics services may be processed in countries outside your country of residence, including the United States. By using the Site, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries that may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.

12. Data Retention

  • Analytics data is retained according to the default retention policy of the provider.
  • Newsletter subscriptions are retained while you are subscribed. An address that never confirms is deleted after 30 days. When you unsubscribe, we clear what we hold about you and keep only a suppression record, enough to be sure we never mail you again by mistake.
  • Consent records are retained for as long as we rely on them, and afterwards for as long as we may need to demonstrate that the consent was validly given. This is why we keep the timestamp and the version of the wording you agreed to.
  • Photo submissions: if a photo is not published, the file is deleted. If it is published, or if you withdraw it, the file is removed from our queue and the permission record is kept as proof of what was permitted and when. That record is what protects a contributor as much as it protects us.
  • Locally stored data on your device persists until you clear it.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other factors. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. Continued use of the Site after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. Material changes may be communicated through a notice on the Site.

14. Contact

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

Contact: Use the contact form, or email contact@mvrestaurants.com.

© 2026 MV Restaurants, part of MVVacation.com. All rights reserved.

Terms of Service Privacy Policy Cookies Policy

Designed by Amity Website Design