Version 1.2 · Effective 2026-06-25 · Operated by Kindleye Limited (Hong Kong)

TroveStays — Frequently Asked Questions

Plain-language answers to the questions we hear most often. The Terms and Conditions (01-terms-and-conditions.md), Privacy Policy (02-privacy-policy.md), Creator Agreement (04-creator-agreement.md), and Cancellation and Refund Policy (08-cancellation-and-refund.md) are the documents that legally govern things — this FAQ is a reading aid, not a contract. Where the FAQ and a legal document might appear to disagree, the legal document wins.

Getting started

Q1. What is TroveStays?

TroveStays is a travel app. Creators post photos and short videos of hotels they have stayed at. Travellers discover those hotels and can book directly in the app. Creators earn a share of the commission on bookings their content drives.

Q2. Who runs TroveStays?

TroveStays is operated by Kindleye Limited, a company incorporated in Hong Kong (BR No. 79777743). Our registered office is at 26 Square Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Our general contact is support@trovestays.com.

Q3. How old do I have to be to use TroveStays?

You must be at least 18 years old, whether you use the app as a Traveller or as a Creator. This is because TroveStays involves card payments, in-app contracts with hotels, and (for Creators) payouts through a KYC-regulated process.

Q4. How do I delete my account?

Go to your Profile screen and tap "Delete account", or write to support@trovestays.com from the email on the account. We delete personal data within 30 days, subject to backup-rotation cycles of up to 90 days and to records we must keep for legal reasons (in particular, booking records, which we keep for seven years for tax and accounting purposes). For the full picture see Section 9 of the Privacy Policy.

Q5. Which countries can I use TroveStays from?

TroveStays is available worldwide. Hong Kong law governs your contract with us, but the app supports many currencies and books hotels globally. If your local law gives you extra rights (for example, GDPR rights in Europe or CCPA rights in California), we honour the substantive equivalents on request — see Section 12 of the Privacy Policy.

Booking a hotel

Q6. Who actually takes my payment when I book?

When you complete a booking, your card is charged by LiteAPI on behalf of the hotel. LiteAPI is our hotel inventory and merchant-of-record partner. TroveStays does not charge your card and does not see your card number — the card details are entered into a secure payment window hosted by LiteAPI and supported by Stripe. See Section 3 of the Terms.

Q7. Is the price I see final?

Yes for everything that is collected at booking: taxes and mandatory fees that the hotel set as payable in advance are bundled into the price you see on screen. Some items — for example resort fees, city tax, parking, or security deposits — may be marked as "due at property" and are paid directly to the hotel at check-in/out. Where that is the case, the booking screen flags it before you pay.

Q8. Can I trust the photos and descriptions of the hotel?

The descriptions, photos, and availability come from the hotel (via LiteAPI), and the creator content comes from real Users posting about real stays. We do not warrant accuracy or completeness — see Section 10 of the Terms. If something is wrong, please tell us at support@trovestays.com and we will work with the hotel and LiteAPI to fix it.

Q9. The hotel cannot honour my booking. What happens?

Tell us at support@trovestays.com. We will work with LiteAPI to either get you re-accommodated, refunded, or compensated. The contract for the stay is between you and the hotel via LiteAPI, but we will help you through the process. See Section 6 of the Cancellation and Refund Policy.

Q10. What about taxes and resort fees?

The price you pay through TroveStays includes the taxes and mandatory fees that the hotel set as collectable in advance. Other amounts may be due-at-property — the booking screen lists them. See Question 7 and Section 1 of the Cancellation and Refund Policy.

Cancellations and refunds

Q11. How do I cancel a booking?

Open the booking on the Trips screen and tap "Cancel". The cancel button is the only supported way to cancel — emails and DMs are not enough because we have to send the cancellation to the hotel through LiteAPI at the right moment.

Q12. Will I get my money back if I cancel?

That depends on the rate type you booked and when you cancel:

• Refundable rate — cancel before the free-cancellation deadline shown on your booking for a full refund. Cancel after the deadline and the hotel's late-cancellation charge applies.
• Non-refundable rate — cancellation does not entitle you to a refund (or you may get only a partial refund), depending on the hotel's terms.

The exact figures are recorded on the booking. See Section 1 of the Cancellation and Refund Policy.

Q13. When will the refund arrive in my account?

LiteAPI and Stripe usually process the refund within 1–3 business days of the cancellation being confirmed. Your card issuer then typically posts it to your statement within a further 2–5 business days (sometimes longer outside the United States). If you do not see it within ten business days of cancellation, contact support@trovestays.com.

Q14. What is "due at property"?

These are amounts the hotel collects from you directly at check-in or check-out — for example resort fees, city tax, parking, or a security deposit. They were not paid through LiteAPI, so they are not refunded by us if you cancel. You owe (and would seek any refund of) those amounts directly to the hotel.

Q15. Can I change a booking instead of cancelling?

Sometimes yes. Some bookings can be amended (dates, occupancy, guest names) without cancelling. The booking detail screen will tell you if amendment is available. See Section 5 of the Cancellation and Refund Policy.

Q16. My card was charged but I did not get a confirmation. What do I do?

Don't panic — and don't book a second time. Open the booking on the Trips screen first; very occasionally the confirmation email is slow even when the booking did succeed. If it is genuinely missing, write to support@trovestays.com with your card's last four digits and an approximate time of payment; we will reconcile with LiteAPI and either confirm the booking, void the authorisation, or refund the charge.

For Creators

Q17. How do I become a Creator?

Switch your account to a creator user-type in the Profile screen and accept the Creator Agreement (04-creator-agreement.md). You can post content immediately. To receive payouts you also need to onboard to Stripe Connect — this involves Stripe asking you for identification documents and your bank details (you give them to Stripe, not to us).

Q18. How does commission work?

When a Traveller books a hotel through your post and the booking is confirmed and paid, you earn commission. The current rate is 35% of the commission LiteAPI pays TroveStays on the booking, expressed in USD. Self-bookings (you booking through your own post) earn zero. See Section 5 of the Creator Agreement.

Q19. When do I get paid?

A new commission is held back for 7 days after the Traveller's check-out to allow for early refunds, then becomes "available". Available commissions are paid out monthly, on the 1st of the month, in USD, provided your accumulated available balance is at least USD 100. If it is less, it carries over.

Q20. The minimum payout of USD 100 is too high for me. Can it be waived?

For ongoing Creators, no — we run one combined monthly transfer per Creator to keep transfer fees down and to keep the audit trail simple. The floor is waived for the final cycle of a Creator who is leaving the Platform, so any earned-but-unpaid balance is paid out.

Q21. A booking I drove was refunded. What happens to my commission?

It depends on the timing:

• if the commission is still pending or available when the refund comes in, it is reduced or voided in line with the refund;
• if it has already been paid to you, the recovery becomes a clawback debt netted off your next monthly payout.

See Section 6 of the Creator Agreement.

Q22. Do I owe tax in Hong Kong on my Creator earnings?

Probably yes, but it depends on your circumstances. You are an independent contractor — TroveStays is not your employer and does not act as your tax agent. You are responsible for your own profits-tax or personal-assessment filings under the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), and equivalent obligations in any other jurisdiction where you are liable. We will make an annual payout statement available to help you with your filing. See Section 7 of the Creator Agreement and take your own professional advice if in doubt.

Q23. Why was my video rejected?

Videos are checked automatically for resolution (≥720 on the short side), orientation (portrait), duration (5–120 seconds), and codec (H.264). If yours failed one of these, the rejection screen will tell you which one. Fix it on your device and re-upload. The video that was rejected is deleted from our video processor.

Q24. Can I appeal an automated video rejection?

The quality bar is not a sanction and there is no appeal channel for automated rejection beyond re-uploading. If you have a genuine technical question about why a video failed, write to support@trovestays.com and we will take a look — but the standards themselves are set for the coherence of the in-app feed and we apply them consistently.

Content and conduct

Q25. What can I post?

Photos and short videos of hotels you have actually stayed at, with captions and tags. Honest, kind, and useful. The full rules — and the things you cannot post — are in the Acceptable Use Policy (05-acceptable-use-policy.md). Particularly important: no content that sexualises children (zero tolerance), no doxxing of other people, no infringing other people's copyright, and no fake stays.

Q26. How do I report bad content?

Use the in-app report on the post, comment, or profile, or email support@trovestays.com. If your concern is about a copyright or trademark infringement, please follow the Copyright and IP Takedown Policy (07-copyright-and-ip-takedown.md). If it is about misuse of personal data or doxxing, please write to support@trovestays.com.

Q27. I think someone is using my photos without permission. What do I do?

Send a takedown notice to support@trovestays.com. The information we need is in Section 2 of the Copyright and IP Takedown Policy. We aim to acknowledge within 2 business days and to act within 10.

Privacy

Q28. What data does TroveStays collect about me?

The full list is in Section 2 of the Privacy Policy. In short: your account details (email, password hash, username, display name, avatar); booking data (guest names, email, dates, occupancy); preferences (currency, nationality, travel style); content you post; engagement (who you follow, what you saved, which posts you have seen); push-notification token; and, on Android with permission, approximate location for maps.

Q29. What do you share with LiteAPI, Stripe, and Mux?

• LiteAPI gets the guest names, email, phone, dates, occupancy, nationality, and currency for each booking, and the payment authorisation reference, so it can process the booking and the payment.
• Stripe gets your card details (which you enter into Stripe's iframe — we never see them) for payment; and, for Creators, the KYC data you give Stripe directly for payouts.
• Mux gets your video files (when you post videos) for hosting, transcoding, and quality assessment.

Detail in Section 5 of the Privacy Policy.

Q30. How do I get a copy of my data or correct it?

Write to support@trovestays.com. Under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486), you have the right to access and correct your personal data — we respond within 40 days. The PDPO allows us to charge a not-excessive fee for access requests; in practice we waive it.

Q31. Where does my data go?

Mostly to processors in Ireland and the United States (LiteAPI, Stripe, Mux, Expo Push), and to wherever our Supabase project region is. Hong Kong's restriction on cross-border data transfers (PDPO section 33) is not yet in force, but we apply the safeguards in the PCPD's guidance — contracts, encryption, vendor due diligence. Section 6 of the Privacy Policy explains.

Q32. Do you send marketing notifications?

Only with your express opt-in consent. Push notifications for things like booking confirmations, refunds, and updates from Creators you follow are operational, not direct marketing. Anything beyond that — a curated newsletter, a promotional banner, a recommended-hotels push — needs your consent under Part 6A of the PDPO. See Section 8 of the Privacy Policy.

Safety and disputes

Q33. I had a problem at the hotel. Who do I talk to?

In the first instance, the hotel itself. If that does not work, write to us at support@trovestays.com with the booking reference, dates, and a description; we will see what we can do with LiteAPI. Remember that the contract for the stay is between you and the hotel via LiteAPI — TroveStays is the platform, not the merchant — but we want to help.

Q34. I think TroveStays has handled my personal data wrongly. What can I do?

Write to support@trovestays.com first — we want to fix problems. You also have the right to complain directly to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) at https://www.pcpd.org.hk or by post to PCPD, 1303, 13/F, Sunlight Tower, 248 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Q35. What law governs my contract with TroveStays, and where can I sue?

Hong Kong law governs. For Travellers, the courts of Hong Kong have non-exclusive jurisdiction — meaning Hong Kong is the primary forum, but if your local law gives you a right to bring proceedings somewhere else, we do not take that away. Hong Kong consumers retain the right to bring small claims to the Small Claims Tribunal. For Creators, disputes are referred to arbitration in Hong Kong under HKIAC Rules — see Section 12 of the Creator Agreement. See Section 16 of the Terms.

Account, security, and miscellaneous

Q36. Someone may have got into my account. What do I do?

Change your password immediately in the Profile screen. Then write to support@trovestays.com with the timing of the suspected breach and we will help you secure the account and roll back anything we can.

Q37. Can I have more than one account?

No — one account per person, unless we agree otherwise in writing.

Q38. Can I assign / sell my account or transfer my Creator earnings to someone else?

No on both. Accounts are not transferable. Earnings are paid only to the Stripe Connect account belonging to the Creator who earned them.

Q39. You changed the Terms. Do I have to agree to the new ones?

If a change is material, we give at least 14 days' notice (by in-app banner, push, or email) and you can stop using the Service before the change takes effect if you do not accept it. If you continue to use the Service after the change takes effect, you are taken to have accepted it. See Section 15 of the Terms.

Q40. I have a question that is not answered here.

Email us at support@trovestays.com (for general matters), support@trovestays.com (for privacy), or support@trovestays.com (for copyright or trademark concerns). We aim to acknowledge within two business days.

Version history