The Extraordinary
Within the Everyday

This page summarises Sprout Trips' founding operating terms in plain language. It is not a substitute for independent legal advice, and nothing here overrides a signed agreement between you and Sprout Trips. Before relying on any clause below as binding, or if anything here conflicts with a contract you've signed with us, please contact us.

1. Who We Are

Sprout Trips is a booking platform built exclusively for Northeast India, organised around one standard: every experience listed on the platform involves an actively practising cultural host — never a staged performance. We act as a trust layer between travellers and communities — a curator, not an aggregator — and we are not a mass-market travel agency, a "see all 8 states in 5 days" volume operator, or a discount platform. Price is not how we compete; verification and story are.

In operating the platform, we commit to:

• Vetting every host and listing before it is published.
• Keeping the Heritage Contribution transparent and ring-fenced (see Section 6).
• Declining volume or listings that would dilute this standard.

We will not list anonymous vendors or unverifiable hosts, promise guarantees the business cannot financially back, or blend Heritage Contribution funds into our operating cash.

2. Traveller Terms

The support response window and each listing's cancellation policy are published on the relevant booking page so expectations are set before you book.

3. Partner Terms (homestays, guides, artisans, operators)

As a partner, you should not expect guaranteed booking volume, paid marketing spend on your behalf, or exclusivity by default — multiple partners may be listed for the same type of experience. Paid featured placement is a lever we may introduce later; it is not part of the standard listing today.

4. Job Seeker Terms

The jobs board lists verified tourism roles across all 8 Northeast India states. Our differentiator is verification, not volume: you get access to verified listings only, with no fee to browse or apply.

You should not expect Sprout Trips to act as your employer of record, to guarantee placement, or to mediate any dispute with an employer after you are hired. Once an employer has your application, the hiring relationship — and any dispute arising from it — is between you and that employer.

5. Partner Onboarding Referrals ("Genies")

Some partners are introduced to Sprout Trips by an independent onboarding agent we call a "genie," who sources and verifies new partners on a success-only basis: a genie is paid solely from a share of Sprout's commission on that partner's bookings, for a fixed window (typically 6–12 months) from the partner's go-live date. No signup bonus or flat fee is ever paid up front, and nothing is paid on a partner who fails our own verification.

Regardless of how a partner is introduced, the partner relationship belongs to Sprout Trips, not to the referring genie, in perpetuity. A genie has no authority to alter Sprout's terms, pricing, or Heritage Contribution on our behalf, to guarantee booking volume, or to accept side payments from a partner in exchange for onboarding or preferential treatment — any partner offered such an arrangement should report it to us.

6. Pricing, Commission & the Heritage Contribution

Sprout Trips earns revenue through a commission on bookings (charged to the traveller and/or the partner side of a transaction). Separately, a Heritage Contribution of ₹200 is added to each cultural booking. The Heritage Contribution is not counted as Sprout Trips' operating revenue: it is held in a ledger separate from our working capital from the point it is collected, and is not mixed into day-to-day operating cash. This separation exists because the Heritage Contribution is trust capital funding apprenticeships and community benefit — not a fee for service.

7. Who This Platform Is For

Sprout Trips is built around specific standards for who belongs on the platform, and we may decline or remove a listing, booking, application, or account that does not fit them:

• Travellers who value authenticity, context, and a real relationship with a host over the lowest price or a checklist itinerary.
• Partners who actively practise their craft or trade as a livelihood — not a side hustle staged for tourists — and are willing to be verified and to see fair pay to their own community or apprentices as part of the arrangement, not a tax on it.
• Job seekers genuinely pursuing a tourism or hospitality career in Northeast India, with verifiable skills or a real willingness to relocate — not mass-applying across job boards.
• Job listers who are legitimate Northeast India tourism businesses hiring for real, paid roles, willing to be verified, and not using the board for lead generation or unpaid "internship" mills.
• Genies who bring an existing, real trust network in a specific community, vet before referring, and are comfortable with success-based pay only.

8. Our Governing Principle

Every rule above traces back to one test: does this let a traveller leave with a story unique to them, and does it put money or dignity back into the hands of the person who gave them that story? Any partner, referral, or platform feature that does not serve that test is out of scope for Sprout Trips.

Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent through our Contact page or via WhatsApp at +91 87988 73656.

This page describes our data practices in plain language, informed by our founding operating principles. It is not a substitute for independent legal advice, and formal compliance obligations (such as India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act) should be reviewed with counsel before this page is relied on as a binding policy. See also our Terms & Conditions for the terms each type of user agrees to.

1. Why We Collect Verification Data

Sprout Trips' entire model rests on one standard: every listed host is actively practising and verifiable — we do not list anonymous vendors, and we do not carry staged performances. To make that standard real rather than a slogan, we ask partners for ID, proof of practice or space, and one reference before a listing goes live; we ask job listers for equivalent verification before a job posting is published. We collect this information solely to confirm you are who you say you are and do what you say you do, not to sell or repurpose it beyond that verification and the fulfilment of your listing or booking.

2. What We Collect

• Account information — name, email, and account type (traveller, partner, or job seeker) for anyone who signs up.
• Verification documents — ID, proof of practice/space, and references, for partners and job listers only.
• Booking & payment information — trip details, guest counts, and payment records, processed through our payment provider (Razorpay). We do not store full card details ourselves.
• Job applications — the details a job seeker submits when applying to a listed role.
• Communications — messages sent through our contact, enquiry, and booking forms, so we can respond within our stated support window.

3. The Heritage Contribution & Recordkeeping

Every cultural booking includes a ₹200 Heritage Contribution, which we keep in a ledger separate from our operating funds (see our Terms & Conditions, Section 6). Transaction records tied to the Heritage Contribution are retained for as long as needed to keep that ledger accurate and auditable, and are not combined with general marketing or analytics data.

4. Job Seeker Data & Employers

When you apply to a listing on our jobs board, your application details are shared with the employer who posted that listing so they can consider you for the role. Sprout Trips is not the employer of record and does not mediate the hiring process or any dispute that follows it — once your details are shared with an employer, how they handle that information for hiring purposes is between you and them, subject to their own practices.

5. Partner Referrals ("Genies")

If you are introduced to Sprout Trips by an onboarding "genie" (see Terms & Conditions, Section 5), the verification information you provide is collected and held by Sprout Trips directly, on the same basis as any other partner. The referring genie does not retain ongoing access to your data or your partner relationship once onboarding is complete.

6. Data Sharing

We share personal data only where needed to run the platform: with our payment processor to complete a booking, with an employer when you apply to their job listing, and with service providers who host or send communications on our behalf (e.g. email and database infrastructure). We do not sell personal data to third parties.

7. Data Retention & Security

We retain account and booking information for as long as your account is active or as needed to meet the record-keeping described above, and delete it on request where we are not required to keep it for legal, financial, or dispute-resolution purposes. We take reasonable technical measures to protect the data we hold, though no online platform can guarantee absolute security.

8. Your Choices

You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account and associated data, by contacting us using the details below. Some data (such as Heritage Contribution transaction records) may need to be retained for accounting purposes even after account deletion.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy, or requests regarding your data, can be sent through our Contact page or via WhatsApp at +91 87988 73656.