Terms of Service

These terms are an agreement between you and HotPlace ("we", "us"), operating from Singapore. By creating an account or using the HotPlace mobile application or the website at hotplace.app (together, the "Service"), you agree to these terms, the Community Guidelines, the Reputation Programme Terms and the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

The Service is in active development. Features may change, be added or be withdrawn, and parts of the Service may be offered as beta features provided as-is.

You must be at least 13 years old to use HotPlace. You are responsible for your account and for keeping your credentials secure. Provide accurate information, don't impersonate others, and don't create accounts for misleading purposes. Verifying a phone number is optional, but required to join queues.

You keep ownership of the reviews, photos, place submissions and collections you create. By posting, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce and distribute that content as part of operating and promoting the Service — including showing your reviews on place pages, on the map and in feeds, and showing collections you have made public or shared.

You are responsible for what you post. Post only content you have the right to share, and only photos you took or are licensed to use. You may retract a review at any time; retracted reviews are removed from public view, and the reputation points earned from them are reversed (see the Reputation Programme Terms).

Collections and sharing. A collection is private, friends-only or public, and you choose which. Sharing a link to a collection makes it reachable by anyone holding that link, and inviting a collaborator lets them add and remove places in it — treat both as publication. Changing a collection back to private stops new access but cannot recall what someone already saw.

You may also anonymise a review — your name is removed from it while the content stays published. Anonymising is permanent.

The Community Guidelines set out what belongs on HotPlace: honest, firsthand reviews, your own photos, and no content that is fraudulent, hateful, harassing or unlawful. By using the Service you accept them.

We may, with or without notice:

• Hold content for review before it is published (all reviews pass a content check before going live).
• Hide or remove content that breaches the guidelines or these terms.
• Suspend or terminate accounts of repeat or serious offenders.
• Reverse reputation points earned from content removed for breach, as the Reputation Programme Terms describe.

To report content or behaviour, use the reporting tools in the app where available, or email support@hotplace.app. We review reports promptly. If you believe we got a moderation decision wrong, reply to the notice or contact support and we will take a second look.

In short — and in full in the Community Guidelines:

• Write only about your own, genuine experience.
• Don't review your own business, your employer, or a competitor.
• Never accept money or favours from a business in exchange for a review, and businesses must never offer them. Nobody pays for reviews on HotPlace — not businesses, and not us.
• No fabricated, plagiarised or machine-generated "experiences".

Contributing to HotPlace earns reputation: points, a tier, and claimable labels on your profile. Reputation is not money. It has no cash value, is not exchangeable for anything, and is not transferable between accounts. The programme is discretionary and governed by the Reputation Programme Terms, which cover what earns points, how tiers and labels work, and when points are reversed.

HotPlace previously paid small cash rewards for verified reviews. That programme has been discontinued in full — the wallet, withdrawals and the identity verification that gated them are gone from the Service, and no cash rewards are earned, held or owed.

Queue positions, wait estimates, opening hours and other place information are provided by participating shops and the community. We work to keep them accurate but cannot guarantee them. A queue position is not a contractual reservation; shops remain responsible for how they serve their customers. Joining a queue requires a verified phone number and a location check confirming you are near the shop — the coordinates of the join are recorded on your ticket.

You agree not to:

• Manipulate hotness scores, queues or reviews — including coordinated, automated or location-spoofed activity.
• Scrape, harvest or bulk-export data from the Service without our written permission.
• Interfere with the Service's operation or attempt to access it by any means other than the interfaces we provide.
• Use the Service for anything unlawful.

The Service — including the HotPlace name, logo, design and software — belongs to us or our licensors. These terms don't grant you any rights to our brand or software beyond using the Service as intended.

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for the acts of shops, users or other third parties. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

You can stop using HotPlace at any time and delete your account — here is exactly how, including what happens to your data. We may suspend or terminate access for breaches of these terms. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (content licences for content you have not retracted, anti-abuse records, disclaimers and liability limits) survive.

These terms are governed by the laws of Singapore, and disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Singapore courts.

We may update these terms as the Service evolves. Material changes will be announced in the app or by email before they take effect. Continuing to use the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms: support@hotplace.app.