Reviews policy

This policy explains where the review information on our site comes from, how we check it, and what we do about reviews that may not be genuine. It forms part of our commitment to giving travellers honest information.

Where review information comes from

• Google ratings. Hotel pages may show a property's Google rating and number of reviews. These figures are Google's, are attributed to Google, and show the date we last checked them. We do not alter them.
• Our review analysis. For some properties we analyse a sample of publicly available guest reviews. We use it to produce a summary of what guests mention, the share of reviews showing patterns often associated with inauthentic reviews, an adjusted rating and a trust score. Each analysis shows how many reviews it covers and when it was carried out.
• Our own assessments. Editors' notes and "why it's on our list" text are our own opinions, clearly labelled as such.

We do not publish reviews we have written ourselves, and we never post, buy or solicit reviews for any hotel.

How we check reviews

We look for signals described in our review methodology, such as bursts of ratings in a short period, accounts with very little history, near-identical wording and ratings that don't match the text. These signals indicate a likelihood, not proof. We treat suspicious positive and negative reviews in the same way, so our adjusted figures are not biased towards or against any property.

We review our approach regularly: we assess which kinds of inauthentic reviews are most likely, test our signals against samples, and update our methods when patterns change.

Incentivised reviews

Reviews written in exchange for a discount, upgrade or other benefit are treated as a risk signal. Where a hotel openly offers incentives for reviews, we may note it on the property page.

What we do when we find a problem

1. Detect — automated signals and editor checks flag unusual patterns.
2. Investigate — an editor looks at the flagged reviews in context before anything is published.
3. Act — we show the adjusted figures with an explanation, and we may stop showing a summary if the underlying reviews look unreliable.

We describe patterns, not people: we never call a named hotel's reviews "fake" or accuse a business of wrongdoing.

Right of reply and corrections

Hotels and guests can ask us to re-check any analysis. Contact us with the page link and your evidence. We aim to respond within five working days and will correct anything we got wrong.

Prohibited content

We do not accept or publish fake reviews, reviews by people connected to the business, or reviews that are offensive or discriminatory.

Template note for the site owner: have this policy reviewed against the laws that apply to you (for example the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the US FTC rule on consumer reviews).