Privacy Policy

We Take Your Privacy Seriously

Effective Date: July 28th, 2025

Your privacy is important to Off The Beaten Path Travel (“OTBP Travel”). This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your information when you visit our website https://otbp.travel.

By using our site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information when you use our Site:

a) Personal Information You Provide

We may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to OTBP Travel by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, or submitting a contact form.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact Forms

When visitors submit a contact form, the information they submit is collected which may include first name, last name, email, message contents and subject. This information is used to contact OTBP Travel, and likewise for OTBP Travel to reply. The visitors contact information will then be stored to receive newsletters, from which the visitor can unsubscribe.

b) Information We Collect From Others

We may receive information about you from other sources—for instance if you choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google accounts in the website field when commenting. OTBP Travel may utilize social media commenting systems, so if you choose to comment on post here which has been shared on social media, your comment may appear on the blog post as well.

c) Automatically-Collected Information

We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access OTBP Travel, usually for analytical purposes. This data may include:

  • IP address
  • Browser type and version
  • Pages you viewed and time spent
  • Referring URLs
  • Device type and operating system

2. Use of Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our Site. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect data such as pages visited, time on site, and referring sources. This information helps us improve our content and user experience.

Google does not identify you personally, and we do not merge Google Analytics data with personally identifiable information.

You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the browser add-on here:
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Learn more: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

3. Use of Google AdSense & Advertising Cookies

We display ads on our Site using Google AdSense, which may use cookies to serve personalized ads based on your visits to our Site and other websites. This may include interest-based advertising and demographic targeting.

You can opt out of personalized advertising via:

To learn more about how Google uses data in advertising, visit:
https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

4. Affiliate Marketing Disclosure

We participate in affiliate marketing programs, including (but not limited to) Booking.com, Expedia.com, Amazon Associates, Viator, and GetYourGuide. This means that we may earn a commission when you click on affiliate links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

Affiliate links are used throughout our content and are clearly disclosed in accordance with FTC guidelines.

5. How We Use Your Information

We may use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To provide, operate, and improve our website
  • To respond to your inquiries and requests
  • To send newsletters or marketing emails (if you opt in)
  • To analyze traffic and user behavior
  • To display ads and affiliate offers

We do not sell or rent your personal data.

6. Cookie Policy

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use both session and persistent cookies to:

  • Remember your preferences
  • Enable analytics and ad personalization
  • Enhance functionality and site performance

You may disable cookies via your browser settings, but some features of the Site may not function properly.

7. Your Rights & Choices

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

8. Data Retention

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

We retain your information only as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required by law.

9. Security

We implement reasonable safeguards to protect your information. However, no method of internet transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Third-Party Use of Information

a) Third-Party Links

Our website contains links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.

b) Embedded Content From Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our Site is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

12. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised “Effective Date.” Continued use of the Site indicates acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at ben@otbp.travel.