Dine Around Maryland Privacy Policy

Updated October 1, 2026

Scope

This policy describes information handled through the Dine Around Maryland website, passholder portal, purchases, gift passes and related customer support. It also describes information shared to operate the program and allow participating restaurants to contact guests for follow-up and their own marketing.

Information we collect

We collect your name, email address and information you submit through purchases, gift claims, account forms and support requests, including the contents of messages you send us. Gift purchases may include the buyer's name and email, an optional recipient name and a personal message. A gift recipient supplies their own name and email when claiming a pass.

We maintain pass status, program year, payment amount and payment-provider reference numbers, gift codes, gift purchase and claim records, email contents and delivery records, and restaurant redemption records such as restaurant and redemption date. Account systems maintain password hashes, verification-code hashes, session records and records of sign-in or redemption attempts. Our hosting and website providers may process technical information such as IP addresses, browser information, requested pages and request times to deliver and protect the services.

Payment details are submitted through Squarespace or Stripe checkout, including third-party payment services you choose there. Checkout providers may collect billing addresses, phone numbers and other information requested during payment. They process this information under their own privacy policies. The independent passholder portal does not store full card numbers or card security codes.

How we use information

We use information to process purchases, issue and manage passes, deliver gift certificates, verify email addresses, support account access and recovery, track restaurant redemptions, send service messages, respond to support requests, reconcile transactions and prevent misuse. Participating restaurants may use the information about guests who redeem at their own locations for experience follow-up, promotional messages and their own marketing.

Who receives information and how it is shared

Our service providers include Squarespace for the main website and store, Stripe for payment processing, Netlify for portal hosting, Supabase for database services and Resend for transactional email. Information is transferred through checkout submissions, server integrations and payment notifications, hosted database connections, and email-delivery integrations. These providers process information for website operation, payments, hosting, database storage and email delivery. Email providers process recipients’ email addresses and message contents, which may include verification codes, gift certificates and account instructions. Payment methods selected through Stripe, including Link or Klarna when offered, may collect and process additional information under their own policies.

Authorized program administrators can access account, purchase and redemption records through restricted administration tools. We share guest contact information associated with redemptions with the restaurant where the guest redeemed, for experience follow-up, promotional messages and the restaurant’s own marketing. Authorized restaurant operators receive access to their locations' redemption activity through restricted operator dashboards; the current dashboard displays member email addresses and redemption dates. Restaurants do not receive general access to every passholder's records through these dashboards. Restaurants may use the information for their own purposes, including marketing, under their own privacy practices. Dine Around Maryland does not limit these communications to experience follow-up. Contact the restaurant directly about its privacy practices, further sharing and communication preferences.

We may disclose information when legally required or reasonably necessary to address fraud, protect rights or respond to a valid legal request.

Cookies and browser storage

The main website uses Squarespace cookies and visitor analytics to operate the site and understand traffic. Activity logging is enabled. This may include IP addresses, device and browser information, pages visited, referring pages and visit times. The passholder portal uses browser storage to keep your sign-in session. Payment providers may use cookies or similar technologies for checkout, fraud prevention and their own services. You can use your browser settings to block or clear cookies and stored data, but doing so may sign you out or affect checkout.

Security

The website uses HTTPS for browser connections. The portal restricts administration and restaurant access according to account permissions, stores passwords as salted hashes, stores verification codes and session tokens as hashes, and uses expiring or revocable access credentials. Gift codes are protected with hashes and encryption in the database. Server credentials are stored as protected hosting secrets. These safeguards reduce risk, but no system or transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.

Retention and requests

Account removal or access revocation may leave transaction, redemption, audit and other records retained for program administration, fraud prevention, dispute handling or legal recordkeeping. It does not necessarily erase all records immediately. Contact membership@marylandrestaurants.com to ask about access, correction or deletion of your information. We may verify your identity and retain records when needed for those purposes.

To ask about communications from Dine Around Maryland or the sharing of your information, contact membership@marylandrestaurants.com. To unsubscribe from a participating restaurant’s or other business’s marketing, promotional or follow-up communications, contact that restaurant or business directly, or use the unsubscribe option included in its messages when available. Dine Around Maryland cannot manage unsubscribe preferences for messages sent independently by those businesses. A request to Dine Around Maryland does not automatically remove information already held by a restaurant or payment provider.

Contact and changes

For privacy questions, contact membership@marylandrestaurants.com. We may update this policy as our services and practices change. The published version will identify its effective or updated date.