Not In The Guidebooks
Lydia Dearden is an accomplished commercial leader in the travel industry, currently serving as Commercial Director at Not In The Guidebooks since March 2020. Prior experience includes roles as Product Director at Tots to Travel, where a successful product strategy led to a 40% annual growth in customer volume and revenue. Lydia was previously General Manager of Short Haul Product & Strategy at TUI UK, driving sustainable growth and introducing new city destinations. Additional roles include Interim General Manager at ECETravel, Senior Director of Product at Dark Rome Ltd., and Product Director at Thomas Cook, overseeing a large team and managing a worldwide portfolio. Lydia also held the position of Head of Purchasing at Page and Moy Travel Group and Group Overseas Director at lowcostbeds, with early career experience as General Manager in a contact centre for Airtours.
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Not In The Guidebooks
At Not In The Guidebooks they are passionate about helping people have the most amazing experiences on their travels, through meeting local people, exploring the area, the history and the culture of the place and discovering alternative experiences that are unique to the place you are visiting.They do this by carefully selecting partners who arelocal experts in the destination you are travelling to. They live there and know the best spots to see and have contacts to provide the very best experiences whether that be in adventurous activities, historical knowledge or the best foodies to teach you how to make traditional dishes from the region. Their local Experience Partners are obsessed about finding the best and most authentic experiences unique to their hometown. They keep their finger on the pulse and know what is on and when are the best times to go.Why they started – I was working for a large travel organization that specialized in small group travel with exciting itineraries. Only a lot of people I spoke with wanted these immersive itineraries without having to go on a group tour. Some of these travelers had members of their families who had different interests and wanted to do different activities (they didn’t want to all have to stick to a fixed agenda) and other people said they didn’t want to choose between an activity holiday or a beach holiday – they wanted to do a bit of both.So Not In The Guidebooks puts you in the driving seat. You choose whether you want experiences to do together or different things for different members of your group. You choose whether you want to do an immersive tour in a few destinations before you chill on a beach. However you like to holiday – they can help you find the most interesting things to do in the region. They have created a premium marketplace giving you direct access to off the beaten path, premium, authentic experiences. Experiences that you will remember forever.They started this adventure in Cape Town, Sri Lanka and Edinburgh … and now they have partners in India, Vietnam, Costa Rica and Colombia to name a few and they will expand to other places soon. But only when they have met the right people who want to be a part of their journey.