Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 31, 2026

Best Christmas Markets USA (bestchristmasmarketsusa.com) is run by Bobble Ventures, a trading name of Bobble Solutions Ltd (registered in England and Wales, company no. 10371802, registered office Ossington Chambers, 6-8 Castle Gate, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1AX). We are the data controller for this website. Contact: [email protected].

The Short Version

• You don't need an account. We set one cookie only if you vote on a market. A hotel map sets its own cookies only if you open it.
• We count visits with privacy-friendly analytics that don't identify you, and with Google Analytics, which uses cookies. You can turn Google Analytics off; in the UK and Europe it only runs if you say yes.
• We don't sell or share your data.

What We Collect and Why

Visit statistics. We use Umami, hosted on our own server (stats.bobblesol.com), to count page views, which pages are popular, how far down a page people read, which outside links are clicked and roughly where visitors come from (country, referring site, device type). Umami doesn't use cookies or store your IP address, and it can't identify you. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in knowing which pages are useful.

Google Analytics. We also use Google Analytics to count visits, because the advertising network we plan to work with reads its figures from there. It sets cookies (_ga and _ga_…, lasting up to two years) and sends Google the pages you view, how you arrived, your device type and your rough location. Google's advertising features are turned off for this site and Google doesn't use the data to build an advertising profile of you. If you're in the UK, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, it only runs after you say yes in the cookie bar. Elsewhere it runs unless you turn it off here or your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, which we treat as turning it off. Lawful basis: your consent in the UK and Europe; elsewhere, our legitimate interest in knowing how the site is used.

Analytics settings need JavaScript. Turn Analytics Off Turn Analytics On

Server logs. Like every website, our server records requests (IP address, date and time, page, browser type) to keep the site secure and working. We keep these logs for 14 days, then delete them. Lawful basis: legitimate interest (security).

Votes on markets. Each market page lets you say whether the market was worth the trip. If you vote, we set one cookie on your device, bcm_voter, holding a random identifier that lasts a year. It is there so that each browser has one vote per market and so that you can change or withdraw yours; it is not used for anything else and is not linked to your name, your email or any other record. We store the identifier, the market and your vote. We do not store your IP address with a vote: to stop one person casting hundreds, we keep a scrambled, one-way code made from it, which changes every day and is deleted the next day. If you don't vote, no cookie is set. To remove the cookie, clear this site's cookies in your browser. Lawful basis: the cookie is needed to provide the vote you asked to cast; the daily limit is our legitimate interest in keeping the tally honest.

Email. If you email us, we use your message and address only to reply, and keep them as long as needed to deal with your query.

We don't run forms, newsletters or user accounts on this site. If that changes, we'll update this page first.

Other Companies Involved

• Cloudflare delivers this website and protects it from attacks. It processes your IP address to do so (privacy policy).
• Zippopotam.us turns a ZIP code into a rough location when you type one into the market finder: your browser sends the ZIP code to their service (zippopotam.us). If you press "Use My Location" instead, your position stays in your browser and is not sent to us.
• OpenFreeMap supplies the map tiles on pages that show a map: your browser requests tiles from their servers when the map comes into view (openfreemap.org). The map code itself is served from this site.
• Stay22 supplies the hotel links and the hotel map. A hotel link is an ordinary link: nothing is sent to Stay22 unless you follow it. The map loads only if you press "Show Hotels on a Map": your browser then connects to Stay22's servers, which see your IP address and set cookies, and the booking sites it shows (such as Booking.com and Expedia) may do the same if you click through (privacy policy). Until then nothing is sent to them.
• Google (Google Analytics) counts visits for us, as described above. In the UK and Europe it loads only after you agree; elsewhere you can turn it off (how Google uses information from sites that use its services).
• Organizers and venues we link to may set their own cookies after you follow a link to their site.

Your Rights

Wherever you live, you can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Email [email protected] and we'll answer within 30 days. We don't need you to make an account or prove anything beyond what's needed to find your data, and we won't treat you differently for asking.

California and other US states. We don't sell or share personal information for cross-context advertising, as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and similar state laws define it, and we don't use sensitive personal information. California residents and residents of other states with privacy laws have the rights above.

UK law. The site is run by a company in the United Kingdom, so UK data protection law applies to how we handle your data. If you're unhappy with our answer you can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Changes

We'll update this page if anything changes, with a new date at the top.