The reviews
The reviews, with the parts the brochure leaves out
Five things get the full notebook treatment. Here is how we do it, and what you can hold us to.
How we review
Same four steps, every time
- We go
- Stacy and Tony go, or one of us does. Nothing gets reviewed from a brochure, a website or somebody else's opinion.
- We pay
- We pay for what we review unless a post says otherwise, in plain words, near the top.
- We take notes
- The notebook comes out on the day: what the room was actually like, what the pie cost, how muddy the trail was, how the gear held up.
- We tell you
- The good bit and the awkward bit in the same post. A place we would go back to is described as that. A place we would not is described as that too.
What honest means
No stars, no scores, no drama
We do not hand out stars. A number tells you nothing about whether a motel is fine for one night or a disaster for a week, and it flattens the one thing worth knowing: what it was like to be there.
So we describe the stay, the meal, the trail or the gadget, say who it suits, and say plainly whether we would go back or buy it again. If something went wrong we tell you what it was and how the place handled it.
If we ever take a free stay, a comped meal or a box of gear from a brand, that goes at the top of the post in the same size type as the rest of it. You should not have to hunt for it.