Cookie Policy

What cookies are

Cookies are small text files a website asks your browser to store. They let the site remember things between visits or pages — like whether you’re signed in, which booking you started, or whether you’ve seen the cookie banner before. Similar technologies covered by this policy include local storage, pixels and tags.

The three kinds of cookies we use

We group cookies into three categories. You can accept or reject the second and third by using the cookie banner that appears when you first visit, or by clicking “Manage cookies” in the footer at any time. The first category cannot be turned off because the site won’t work without it.

• Necessary — required for the site to load and for you to book or pay. Always on.
• Analytics — help us see how the site is used and where people get stuck, so we can improve it.
• Marketing — help us measure how our ads perform and show GYMPODS to people who might be interested.

Who we are

The data controller for the cookies described on this page is The FIT POD Company Limited, trading as GYMPODS. Our registered office is at 3 Plaza Gardens, London SW15 2DT. For any questions about cookies or the data they collect, email info@gympods.com.

Full details about how we handle personal data, including your rights and how to contact the regulator, are in our Privacy Policy.

Necessary

These are required for the site to work — they keep you signed in, remember your booking selection, and let us process payments. They are always on and cannot be switched off through the consent banner.

Legal basis: Legitimate interests — we cannot deliver the booking and payment service you’ve asked for without these cookies. They’re always on and can’t be turned off.

We also use localStorage and sessionStorage (not cookies, but similar) to keep you signed in and remember your booking selection across pages. These are strictly necessary for the booking flow to work and are removed when you sign out.

Analytics

Helps us see how the site performs and where people get stuck, so we can make it better. We use Google Analytics 4 (aggregate page and event metrics) and Microsoft Clarity (anonymised replays of how visitors move through pages). Only loaded if you accept Analytics.

Legal basis: Your consent (you can withdraw it at any time). What we use them for: Counting visits, seeing which pages perform best, identifying where users get stuck. Microsoft Clarity also records anonymised session replays so we can watch how people move through pages without identifying individuals.

Marketing

Lets us measure how our ads perform and show GYMPODS to people who might be interested. We use Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and Google. Only loaded if you accept Marketing.

Legal basis: Your consent (you can withdraw it at any time). What we use them for: Measuring how our Google and Meta ads perform, and showing GYMPODS ads to people who’ve interacted with us or look similar to our existing members. We never give Google or Meta your contact details for this — they work from technical identifiers in your browser.

Where the data goes

Some of the third parties whose cookies we use are based outside the UK, mostly in the United States. When data leaves the UK, we rely on one of the following safeguards:

• The UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (the “UK-US Data Bridge”), which the UK government recognised in October 2023. This covers Google, Meta, Microsoft and Stripe where they are self-certified under the Framework.
• UK Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement where the Framework does not apply.

For more detail on international transfers, see our Privacy Policy.

How long the data is kept

Each cookie has its own expiry, shown in the tables above. That tells your browser when to delete the cookie. The data the cookie helps to generate — for example, the analytics events sent to Google Analytics — is then kept by that processor for as long as their own retention policy allows. The main retention windows are:

• Google Analytics: 14 months (the maximum we set in GA4)
• Microsoft Clarity: 30 days (the maximum Clarity allows)
• Meta and Google Ads: subject to the processor’s standard retention — typically 90 days for activity-level data, longer for aggregated data

Our full retention schedule, including how long we keep your personal data on our own systems, is in the Privacy Policy.

How to withdraw or change your consent

You can change your cookie choices at any time, and you don’t need to give us a reason. There are three ways to do it:

• Click “Manage cookies” in the footer of any page on gympods.com. This re-opens the cookie banner with your current choices — toggle whatever you like and click Save.
• Use your browser settings. Every modern browser lets you block or delete cookies for a specific site. The exact route varies — search your browser’s help for “cookie settings”. Blocking necessary cookies will stop parts of the site working.
• Email us at info@gympods.com if you want help or have a question.

Withdrawing consent doesn’t affect anything we did before you withdrew it. It just means we stop using non-essential cookies from that point forward.

If you have a complaint

Please tell us first — email info@gympods.com and we’ll do our best to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection and electronic communications. Their website is ico.org.uk and their helpline is 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

If we change the cookies we use — for example, if we add a new analytics tool or stop using an existing one — we’ll update this page and update the effective date at the top. For significant changes, we’ll re-open the cookie banner so you can review your choices.