Behind the scenes · 4 min read · 27 July 2026
How we choose the hotels we recommend
Star ratings measure facilities. They do not measure whether a place is any good. Here is what we look at instead.
The first ten minutes
Arrival tells you nearly everything: how you are greeted, how long the check-in takes, whether the room is ready or you are left with your bags in a lobby.
We ask about early arrival and late departure before we recommend anywhere, because that is where most holidays start badly.
Rooms, honestly described
We flag the rooms that face the road, the ones with a partial view sold as a full one, and the categories genuinely worth the upgrade.
If a property only works in a specific room type, we say so rather than letting you find out on arrival.
What happens when something goes wrong
A hotel earns its place on our list by how it handles a problem. We keep named contacts at the properties we sell, so a fix is a message away rather than a queue at reception.
That is also why a specialist stays reachable on WhatsApp for the whole trip, not just the booking.
