Legal
Cookie Policy
What we store on your device, why, for how long, and how to change your mind at any time.
Last updated:
What cookies are
Cookies are small text files a website stores on your device when you visit it. They let a site remember something between one page and the next — for example, your choice on this very subject.
Similar technologies, such as your browser’s local storage, are treated the same way here: anything stored on your device falls under the same rules, whatever it is technically called.
Which cookies we use
On its own, this site sets strictly necessary cookies only. If you choose “Audience measurement” in the cookie message, the two Google Analytics cookies are added. YouTube can set its own only if you press play on one of the films on the homepage, and Google only if you press “Load the map” on the contact page. These are all of them:
| Name | Purpose | Set by | Category | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pm_consent | Records your choice in the cookie message, so we do not ask again on every page. | portesmelathron.com (first party) | Strictly necessary | 180 days |
| _ga | Tells one visit apart from another, so we can count how many different people read the ads rather than how many times a page was opened. Set only if you choose “Audience measurement”. | Google (Google Analytics 4) | Audience measurement — after your consent | 13 months |
| _ga_WWVQ6FBNMS | Holds the state of the current visit for our own Google Analytics property; the second half of the name is that property’s code. Set only if you choose “Audience measurement”. | Google (Google Analytics 4) | Audience measurement — after your consent | 13 months |
| YouTube cookies | Set ONLY if you press play on one of the films on the homepage. Nothing loads from Google for the film until then. They serve playback and YouTube’s own measurement. | Google (youtube-nocookie.com) | Embedded content — after an action of yours | Determined by Google |
| Google Maps cookies | Set ONLY if you press “Load the map” on the contact page. Nothing loads from Google for the map until then. Google sets them for the map to work and for its own purposes. | Google (Google Maps) | Embedded content — after an action of yours | Determined by Google |
| pnw:closed | Remembers that you minimised the panel with the reviews and prices. Written to your browser’s session storage ONLY when you minimise it, and holds no identifier. | portesmelathron.com (first party) | Display preference — after an action of yours | Until you close the tab |
The panel with the reviews and prices, at the bottom right of every page, sets no cookies. It loads from our own server, which fetches the figures from the service that collects them. Your browser therefore contacts nobody else for it, and your IP address is not passed to that service. If you press a link to Booking.com, Google, Tripadvisor or the booking page, you leave this site and their own policies apply. The booking link carries campaign tags (UTM) and, where present, the dates and number of guests you chose, and nothing else about you.
Strictly necessary cookies are exempt from the consent requirement, because without them the site cannot deliver the service you asked for (Article 4(5) of Greek Law 3471/2006). They are not used to identify you personally and not used for advertising.
The audience statistics are processed on our behalf by Google. Nothing you give us — name, phone number, e-mail address, CV — ever reaches Google Analytics: a job application travels an entirely different path, described in the Privacy Policy.
That does not rest on our vigilance. Before anything leaves your browser the page address is cut back: we keep the site and the page path — which page was read — and whatever follows a “?” or a “#” is never sent. The address of the page you arrived from is cut back the same way. The path is a page name we chose: it contains nothing you type into a form and nothing you send us. If you type an address by hand that matches no page at all, the path is whatever you typed — which is why any part of it that would contain an “@” is replaced before it leaves.
The lifetime of the two Google Analytics cookies is set by us: 13 months, rather than Google’s two-year default, following Guideline 2/2020 of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority.
Your own choice is a separate matter: it is stored in the “pm_consent” cookie for 180 days, and when that expires the cookie message comes back.
The YouTube and Google Maps cookies, by contrast, are not under our control. Google publishes their names and durations itself, in the Google cookie policy. The films and the map are covered in full under “Embedded third-party content” below.
What we do not use
What we do not do matters just as much:
- We use no advertising or targeting cookies, and we take part in no ad networks. Even when audience measurement is switched on, we declare to Google that no advertising use is permitted, and that never changes.
- We embed no social network buttons that track your visit.
- We do not fingerprint your device and do not track your browsing on other sites.
- We measure nothing before you allow it: until you choose “Audience measurement”, the site requests not a single file from Google for measurement. The one thing that can load anything from Google without that choice is your own press: of “play” on one of the films, or of “Load the map” on the contact page — your action, for one particular film or for the map (see “Embedded third-party content”).
- Our fonts are served from our own servers and are not loaded from Google.
This list covers what the site does on its own. If you press play on one of the two homepage films, or “Load the map” on the contact page, the practices of YouTube and Google apply on top — see “Embedded third-party content”.
If we add any other cookie in future, it will load only after you consent, and the table above will be updated before it goes live.
Your consent
For every cookie that is not strictly necessary we ask for your consent before placing it on your device. Consent is given by an active choice: nothing is pre-ticked, and continuing to browse is not treated as acceptance.
That holds literally for the statistics: Google Analytics is not loaded at all — not even its script file — before you choose “Audience measurement”.
If you withdraw that choice, no new measurement is started: the Google Analytics file is removed from the page, Google’s own opt-out switch is turned on, and the two “_ga” cookies are deleted from your device. One thing cannot be undone: something Google Analytics had already captured moments earlier, while your consent was still in force, may still be delivered a few seconds later. Nothing about a page you visit after withdrawing is measured, and under Article 7(3) of the GDPR withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing already carried out.
The films on the homepage and the map on the contact page take a different route to the same principle: they load nothing by themselves, and the permission is the moment you press play on one particular film, or “Load the map”. See “Embedded third-party content”.
Refusing is exactly as easy as accepting — same place, same prominence — and costs you no functionality on the site. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time by reopening the cookie message, or by deleting this site’s cookies in your browser.
This follows Guideline 2/2020 of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority on cookies and similar tracking technologies.
Embedded third-party content
The homepage hosts YouTube films. They do not load by themselves: until you press play you are looking at a still image served from our own servers, and the site makes no request to Google for the film. (Audience measurement is a separate matter and follows your own choice — see “Which cookies we use” and “Your consent”.)
The moment you press play, the player loads from youtube-nocookie.com, and from that point YouTube can set its own cookies and record your IP address, as though you had visited their site.
The press is the permission
Because nothing loads before the press, the film does not depend on your general choice in the cookie message: if you chose “Reject all” and then press play, the film will load — because you asked for it, for that one film. If you want no connection to YouTube at all, simply do not press play.
The contact page hosts a Google map, the same way. Until you press “Load the map” you are looking at a plain image from our own site, and no request is sent to Google for the map. The moment you press it, the map loads from Google (maps.google.com), and from that point Google can set its own cookies and record your IP address. Here too the press is the permission, even if you chose “Reject all”. If you want no connection to Google at all, simply do not press “Load the map”. The “Open in maps” link opens the map in a new tab and loads nothing on this page.
The “Embedded third-party content” switch in the cookie settings covers content that would load on its own, without you asking. There is no such content on any page today.
For what Google does with the data YouTube and Google Maps collect, and which cookies it sets, see the Google cookie policy.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Whatever you choose here, you can inspect, block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block strictly necessary cookies, parts of the site may stop working properly.
How this relates to the privacy policy
This page covers only what is stored on your device. For how we process personal data — job applications and CVs in particular — see the Privacy Policy.
The controller is ΠΟΡΤΕΣ ΜΕΛΑΘΡΟΝ Α.Ε. ΞΕΝΟΔΟΧΕΙΑΚΕΣ - ΤΟΥΡΙΣΤΙΚΕΣ ΕΠΙΧΕΙΡΗΣΕΙΣ. Full identification and contact details are in the "Who is responsible for your data" section of the Privacy Policy.
For any question, or to exercise your rights, write to us at [email protected].
Changes to this policy
The cookie table is updated whenever we add or remove one, before it goes live. The date of the last update is shown at the top of the page.