Policy
Privacy, and how we handle tips
Plain language, because the point of a tip line is that you can judge the risk before you use it. Last updated September 6, 2026.
What the forms collect
This site has five forms: a news tip, a correction, a press release or announcement, a general message, and the email sign-up. The sign-up asks for an email address and nothing else. Between them the other four ask for a name, an email address, an optional phone number, the locality or business a story concerns, and whatever you type into the message box. Only the message is ever required. You can send a tip without giving your name, your email or your phone number.
The correction form also records which page you are reporting on, so we can find it.
Where a submission goes
The forms post to Netlify Forms, the form service built into the host this site runs on. Your submission is stored in that account and forwarded to the newsroom inbox at news@virginiahospitalitynews.com. It is not posted to any other third party, and it is never sold, rented or traded. We do not run advertising networks or behavioral trackers on this site.
Netlify processes the submission as our hosting provider. Their own handling is governed by their terms, not by this page.
Who can read it
The people who run Virginia Hospitality News, and anyone with administrative access to the site’s hosting account. That is a small number of people and it is not a public inbox.
Technical logs
Like any website, this one is served by infrastructure that keeps technical records of requests — typically an IP address, a timestamp, a browser user-agent string and the page requested. Those logs are created and retained by the hosting provider and its network, not by us, and we do not use them to identify tipsters.
If you need to send something without leaving that trail, do not use this form. Use a device and a network that are not yours, or send physical mail, or contact us from an account that is not connected to you. We would rather tell you that than have you assume a web form is anonymous.
How long we keep it
Correspondence and tips are kept as long as they are useful to reporting or to the record of a published story, which for a story that ran can be indefinitely — being able to show where a fact came from is the point. Submissions that lead nowhere are deleted periodically.
You can ask us to delete your submission and your contact details at any time by writing to news@virginiahospitalitynews.com. We will do it and confirm, except where the material is already part of the published record of a story, in which case we will tell you that.
The limits of confidentiality
We do not identify people who send us information, and we do not publish a tipster’s name without their agreement. That is our practice and we take it seriously.
It is not an absolute guarantee, and no publication can honestly offer one. A court or another legal process can compel the production of records, from us or from our hosting provider. Virginia and federal law provide some protections for journalists and their sources; they are not unlimited, and they have not been tested against every situation. If the risk to you is serious, talk to a lawyer before you talk to a reporter, including us.
Cookies and analytics
This site sets no advertising cookies and runs no cross-site tracking. Some pages remember a filter or a search term inside your own browser so the page behaves sensibly; that stays on your device and never reaches us.
The email list
We use your address to send you Virginia Hospitality News’s email brief and nothing else. It is not sold, rented or shared with advertisers, and it is read by the same small number of people who read the tip line. Like the other forms on this site, the sign-up posts to Netlify Forms and the address is stored in that account.
Nothing is being sent yet. No issue has gone out, and no sending provider has been connected. When one is, this section will name it, every issue will carry an unsubscribe link, and you will be able to leave in one click. Until then, ask us at news@virginiahospitalitynews.com and we will take your address off.
Questions
Write to news@virginiahospitalitynews.com and a person will answer.