Cookie Policy

This Cookie Policy (the "Policy") explains which cookies and similar browser storage technologies (together, "cookies") the website housebook.global and its subdomains (the "Site") use, for what purpose, on what basis, and how you can manage them. The Policy supplements the Privacy Policy (/en/privacy), which describes how we process personal data.

1. Who we are

The operator of the Site is HOUSEBOOK INVESTMENT L.L.C., a limited liability company registered in Dubai (UAE), commercial licence No. 1061992 (Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism), TRN 104558732400003, address: Office 2502-01, Marina Plaza Tower, Al Marsa Street, Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE (the "Company", "we"). For questions about cookies and personal data: vf@housebook.ae, +971 52 298 8804.

2. What cookies are

Cookies are small text files that the Site sends to your browser and that are stored on your device when you visit websites. Similar technologies include browser local storage (localStorage), session storage (sessionStorage) and comparable mechanisms: they work differently but serve the same purposes, so we describe them together with cookies.

Session cookies are stored until you close the browser or tab. Persistent cookies remain after the session ends until they expire or you delete them.

First-party cookies are set from the Site's domain. Third-party cookies are set from another company's domain. Cookies of analytics services that are connected to the Site by their script are written to the Site's domain but are created and used by a third-party provider; such cases are marked separately in the list below.

3. Categories of cookies

In the banner and the settings window cookies are divided into three categories.

• "Necessary": without them the Site does not work or cannot perform an action you requested (signing in to your account, access to materials after a request, linking your request to the partner who invited you, the language and colour theme, saving your choice in the banner). No consent is required for them, they are always active and cannot be switched off in the settings window.
• "Analytics": shows how visitors use the Site and helps us improve it. This includes Google Analytics 4 and our own visit counter Rybbit, which runs on the Company's own server in Germany; Google Tag Manager may also be connected. All of them are enabled only after your consent to "Analytics". The keys of the interface comparison test (section 4) belong here as well.
• "Advertising": used to show Housebook advertising on other websites and to measure its results. As of the date of this version no advertising tools are connected on the Site. Meta Pixel* (recipient: Meta Platforms Inc., USA) and Google advertising tags, Google Ads (recipient: Google LLC, USA) may be connected in future; they will load only after your consent to "Advertising".

* Meta Platforms Inc. is designated an extremist organisation and banned in the Russian Federation.

Consent to "Analytics" and to "Advertising" is given separately: you may accept one category and decline the other.

4. Cookies and storage we use

Below are the cookies and browser storage entries used on the public pages of the Site. For each one we state: name, provider, purpose, category, lifetime, first-party or third-party. For Google and Meta the names and lifetimes are given according to the providers' public documentation and may be changed by them.

Necessary

• hb-consent (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: stores your choice in the banner (a record of the form {text version, date of choice, "Analytics" yes or no, "Advertising" yes or no}); category: necessary; lifetime: the choice is valid for 12 months from the date of your answer, after which the banner is shown again; the key remains until you delete the site data in your browser or change your choice; first-party. This is the only place where your choice is stored: we do not use a cookie for it.
• NEXT_LOCALE (cookie); provider: Housebook; purpose: remembers the language you selected on the Site; category: necessary; lifetime: 1 year; first-party. It is not set on all pages (for example, not on the home page, the catalogue and the blog).
• display_currency (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: remembers the currency you chose for displaying prices; category: necessary (a setting of your choice); lifetime: no time limit; first-party.
• __session (cookie); provider: Housebook; purpose: confirms that you submitted a request or registered and that a restricted section of the Site is open to you (for example, investor offer selections, the AI assistant); category: necessary; lifetime: 30 days (offer selections) or 90 days (AI assistant); first-party. The name is dictated by the hosting platform and does not reflect the content.
• kt_pa (cookie) and kt_pa_data, kt_io_data (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: remember that you have already been given access to restricted content so that we do not ask for your details again; category: necessary; lifetime: 30 days; first-party.
• hb_ai_search_sid, hb_feedback_sid (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: a random technical number for the AI search and the feedback form to work; it is not linked to you personally; category: necessary; lifetime: no time limit; first-party.
• wa_fab_hint_seen_session (sessionStorage), wa_fab_hint_seen, phuket-map-intro-seen (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: remember that you have already seen the hint next to the messenger button or the map introduction so that it is not shown again; category: necessary (interface); lifetime: session or no time limit; first-party.

Partner programme and traffic source (set when you arrive through a referral link or a link with campaign tags, before you answer the banner)

We classify these cookies as necessary: the Housebook partner programme provides that a request is attributed to the partner who invited you, and without these entries the Site cannot perform this function. They are not used for advertising and are not passed to advertising services.

• kt_ref (cookie) and kt_ref_data (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: remember the code of the partner whose referral link brought you to the Site so that your request is attributed to that partner; category: necessary; lifetime: 30 days; first-party.
• kt_cl (cookie), kt_cl_data (localStorage), kt_cls (cookie, set by the server, HttpOnly), hb_ref_cap (cookie, set by the server, HttpOnly); provider: Housebook; purpose: remember the moment and the code of your visit via a partner's or broker's link so that your request is attributed correctly within 30 days; category: necessary; lifetime: up to 30 days; first-party.
• kt_utm (cookie); provider: Housebook; purpose: remembers the campaign tags from the link address (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term) so that we can record the source of your request and attribute it to the partner; it does not store your name, phone or e-mail; category: necessary; lifetime: 30 days; first-party.

Analytics (enabled only after consent to "Analytics")

• _ga; provider: Google LLC (Google Analytics 4); purpose: distinguishes visitors for statistics; category: analytics; lifetime: 2 years (per provider documentation); first-party domain (third-party provider's script).
• _ga_VTKFDYBGC1; provider: Google LLC; purpose: stores the session state; category: analytics; lifetime: 2 years (per provider documentation); first-party domain (third-party provider's script).
• _gid; provider: Google LLC (Google Analytics, including through Google Tag Manager); purpose: distinguishes visitors within a day; category: analytics; lifetime: 24 hours (per provider documentation); first-party domain (third-party provider's script).
• Google Tag Manager (script googletagmanager.com), if connected; provider: Google LLC; purpose: loads the tags listed in this section; it does not set cookies by itself; category: analytics; third-party provider's script.
• Rybbit (a counter on the Company's own server, hosted by OVH SAS, Frankfurt am Main, Germany); provider: the Company; purpose: statistics of visits and events (page views, traffic source, browser and device type, clicks on messenger buttons and form submissions without the data you entered); stores the visitor identifier rybbit-visitor-id in the browser (localStorage, no expiry, until you delete it or withdraw consent) and the service flag rybbit-replay-sampled (sessionStorage, until the tab is closed); category: analytics; first-party. It loads only after consent to "Analytics", including on the sign-in page and in the cabinets (there is no banner there, the choice made on the public pages applies).
• kt_project_cta_variant_<placement>, kt_io_gate_variant (localStorage); provider: Housebook; purpose: remember which of two versions of a button or form you were shown (an interface comparison test); category: analytics; lifetime: no time limit; first-party.

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager connect to Google servers (googletagmanager.com, google-analytics.com). The set of the providers' service cookies is determined by the providers themselves.

Advertising (not connected at present; if connected, enabled only after consent to "Advertising")

• _fbp; provider: Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta Pixel); purpose: distinguishes visitors for measuring and showing advertising; category: advertising; lifetime: 90 days (per provider documentation); first-party domain (third-party provider's script).
• _fbc; provider: Meta Platforms Inc.; purpose: remembers that you came to the Site from an advertisement (the fbclid parameter in the link address); category: advertising; lifetime: 90 days (per provider documentation); first-party domain (third-party provider's script).
• _gcl_au and other cookies with the prefix _gcl_ (for example, _gcl_aw, _gcl_dc); provider: Google LLC (Google Ads); purpose: recording visits from Google advertising and measuring its results; category: advertising; lifetime: up to 90 days (per provider documentation); first-party domain (third-party provider's script).

Meta Pixel connects to the servers connect.facebook.net, the Google advertising tags to googletagmanager.com. The set of the providers' service cookies is determined by the providers themselves.

5. Consent and the cookie banner

On your first visit to the Site (and each time there is no choice, it is older than 12 months or the banner text has changed) you see a cookie banner. It has a "Learn more" link and three buttons.

• "Accept all": you consent to both categories, "Analytics" and "Advertising". The scripts start working immediately after you click.
• "Necessary only": you decline both categories. The analytics and advertising scripts are not loaded, only necessary cookies work.
• "Customize": the "Cookie settings" window opens. In it "Necessary" is on and cannot be switched off, while you switch "Analytics" and "Advertising" on separately with toggles and confirm with the "Save choice" button. If you close the window without saving, no choice is recorded.

Until you answer, no "Analytics" or "Advertising" script is loaded and their cookies are not set. Consent is voluntary; declining "Analytics" and "Advertising" does not limit your access to the Site or the services.

Your choice is stored on your device in localStorage under the key hb-consent (section 4), is valid for 12 months and only for the current version of the banner text (version of 09.10.2026): if we change the text, the banner will appear again. If you made a choice in the previous banner (the key cookie_consent), it is carried over once to the new format and is valid for 12 months from the transfer, and the previous key is deleted. The Company's server does not receive or store your choice.

6. How to change or withdraw your choice

You can change your choice or withdraw consent at any time, as easily as you gave it.

• Click the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of a page of the Site: the same "Cookie settings" window opens. Change the toggles and click "Save choice".
• Or delete the data of housebook.global in your browser settings (including the key hb-consent): on your next visit the banner will appear again.
• Or write to vf@housebook.ae: we will help you switch off analytics and advertising and explain how to delete cookies already created.

If you switch off a category that was already on, the Site reloads the page to stop its scripts and deletes the cookies of that category: for "Analytics" these are _ga*, _gid, for "Advertising" _fbp, _fbc, _gcl_*. Entries of these services in browser storage (localStorage), if any, are deleted in your browser settings (section 7). Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.

7. Managing cookies in your browser

You can block the storage of cookies or delete those already stored in your browser settings. If you block strictly necessary cookies, some functions of the Site (language, access to restricted sections, recording of a partner link when you submit a request) may work incompletely.

• Google Chrome: Menu → "Settings" → "Privacy and security" → "Third-party cookies" / "All site data and permissions"; to delete: "Delete browsing data", time range "All time", tick "Cookies and other site data".
• Safari: "Settings" → "Privacy" → "Manage Website Data" → find housebook.global → "Remove" (or "Remove All").
• Mozilla Firefox: Menu → "Settings" → "Privacy & Security" → "Cookies and Site Data" → "Manage Data"; find housebook.global and click "Remove Selected".
• Microsoft Edge: Menu → "Settings" → "Cookies and site permissions" → "Manage and delete cookies and site data".
• Opera: Menu → "Settings" → "Privacy & security" → "Cookies and other site data".
• Yandex Browser: "Settings" → "Sites" → "Advanced site settings" → "Cookies and site data".

The names of menu items depend on the browser version.

8. How to opt out of Google Analytics

In addition to refusing in the banner ("Necessary only" or unticking the categories in the settings window), you can opt out of data collection by this service on any website.

• Google Analytics: the browser add-on "Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on": https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Provider's policy: Google - https://policies.google.com/privacy

9. Cross-border transfers

Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google advertising tags (Google Ads) data is processed by Google LLC, including on servers in the United States. Meta advertising pixel data is processed by Meta Platforms Inc. (USA). Rybbit statistics data is stored on the Company's own server hosted by OVH SAS in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The Site and the request database are hosted by Google LLC (Firebase, Google Cloud, Singapore region). Data is passed to these services only after your consent to the relevant category. For more on recipients and countries see the Privacy Policy (/en/privacy).

10. For citizens of the Russian Federation

Cookie identifiers (for example, _ga, _fbp), including in combination with other data (IP address, browser and device information, data from a request), may qualify as personal data under the law of the Russian Federation. If you are a citizen of the Russian Federation, Federal Law No. 152-FZ of 27 July 2006 "On Personal Data" applies to such processing (Article 1, part 1.1).

We enable analytics (Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Rybbit) and advertising (Meta Pixel, Google advertising tags) only after your consent to the relevant category, expressed by clicking "Accept all" or by switching on the toggle and clicking "Save choice". Consent is given voluntarily, specifically and consciously by a separate action; you may withdraw it at any time (section 6). Consent to the processing of personal data in a request is obtained separately (/en/consent). Your rights (Articles 14, 20, 21 of 152-FZ) and the procedure for contacting Roskomnadzor are described in the Privacy Policy (/en/privacy).

11. Changes to the Policy

We may update the Policy, for example when we connect new services. The current version is always available on the Site, and its date is shown at the top. For material changes affecting analytics or advertising cookies we will ask for your choice again.

12. Contacts

HOUSEBOOK INVESTMENT L.L.C., Office 2502-01, Marina Plaza Tower, Al Marsa Street, Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE; vf@housebook.ae; +971 52 298 8804.