Privacy and AI notice

Ask James answers your hospitality business questions using AI and James O'Connell's own material. James can see the questions you ask, so he can keep improving his material and your coaching. We don't sell your information or use it for advertising.

Ask James is run by The Hospitality Company Education Ltd, James O'Connell's company, in New Zealand. Fiord AI built it and looks after it for James.

• Your name, email address and which of James's programs you're on. These come from James's coaching records (CoachAccountable), or James adds them.
• When you sign in. There's no password: we email you a one-time code.
• The questions you ask, the answers Ask James gives, and any ratings or comments you leave on them.
• How many questions you ask each month and what they cost to answer, so everyone gets a fair share.

Please don't put other people's personal details, like a staff member's health or pay, into a question. Ask it in general terms instead.

• To answer your questions and keep your past questions for you to look back on.
• So James can see what his clients are asking, spot topics his material doesn't cover yet, and review answers marked unhelpful. James may follow up with you about them in your coaching.
• To send your sign-in codes, and a welcome email when you first get access.
• To keep Ask James working, secure and within its running costs.

James can see your questions, answers and ratings, with your name. Fiord AI can see them when it's needed to support or fix Ask James. Nobody else in the business sees them, and other clients never do.

To answer a question, Ask James sends it, with the relevant excerpts from James's material, to AI models that search the material and write the answer. We also use:

• OpenRouter, which passes your question to the AI model providers that write the answer
• Convex, which stores the data
• Vercel, which hosts the website
• Resend, which sends the emails

These providers are based overseas, mostly in the United States, so your information is stored and processed there. We use them only to run Ask James, under their own security and privacy terms.

Answers are written by AI from James's material, and each one shows where it came from. AI can get things wrong, so check anything important against the source. Ask James is for quick insights, tips and advice. It isn't a replacement for your coaching, and it doesn't give tax, legal or accounting advice. Talk to the right professional for those.

Ask James only uses what it needs to keep you signed in. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.

We keep your questions while you have access to Ask James, so you can look back at them. When you stop being one of James's clients, your access ends. Ask us at any time to delete your questions and we will.

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, have it corrected, or have it deleted. Email james@thehospitalitycompany.co. In New Zealand this is under the Privacy Act 2020. If you're not happy with how we handle it, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner. In Australia, you can contact the OAIC.