Transparency
How we review hotels & hostels
Hotels-Hostels.com is an independent editorial site. We earn commissions on bookings but our reviews are written without commercial influence. Here’s exactly how our process works.
The short version
- → We visit every property we review. No exceptions.
- → We write honest pros and cons — even for properties that earn commissions.
- → We score properties on our own scale, not by aggregating external ratings.
- → We never take payment to feature or positively review a property.
- → We update reviews regularly — old information is flagged clearly.
We visit in person — or we don’t review
Every hotel and hostel reviewed on Hotels-Hostels.com has been visited by one of our editors or trusted contributors. We don’t write reviews from press releases, promotional photos, or second-hand accounts. If we haven’t stayed there, we don’t publish.
We assess the full picture
We look at the room, the bed, the bathroom, the neighborhood, the noise levels, the breakfast, the staff, the check-in, and the check-out. We also check in at different times of day to see how a property actually runs — not just how it looks at golden hour.
We write pros AND cons — honestly
Every review includes a genuine pros and cons section. A beautiful hotel with terrible noise management will have that in the cons. A budget hostel with brilliant staff will have that in the pros. We don’t flatten our opinions to avoid upsetting anyone.
Our ratings are editorial — not aggregated
We don’t pull ratings from Booking.com or TripAdvisor. Our 0–10 scores reflect our editors’ genuine assessment across: location (20%), rooms (25%), value (20%), service (15%), atmosphere (10%), and cleanliness (10%). We revisit scores if a property changes significantly.
We read guest reviews across platforms
Alongside our own visit, we read the last 6 months of guest reviews on major booking platforms to spot patterns we might have missed — seasonal issues, recent management changes, recurring complaints. Our review reflects the real long-term picture.
We update — reviews have expiry dates
Hotels change. Staff turnover, renovations, new ownership — all of these can make a review stale. We flag reviews that are older than 18 months and revisit any property where we see significant changes in guest sentiment.