How we make money

Short version: venues cannot pay us — not for a listing, not for a score, not for a spot in a top 10. Here is where money actually comes from, so you can hold us to it.

Booking links

When you book a hotel, a tour, tickets, or a table through a link on our pages, the booking site may pay us a commission. It costs you nothing extra. These links are always labeled, always carry rel="sponsored", and are chosen by category — every attraction gets the same “Book Tickets” link whether it scored a 9.1 or a 6.2. A venue’s Friend Score, rank, and tier are computed before and independently of any booking link.

Sponsorships

City guides may carry clearly-labeled sponsors — think tourism boards or hotel groups presenting a city’s guide. Sponsors buy visibility around the rankings, never a place inside them. If a sponsor ever appears in a ranked list, it earned the spot the same way everyone else did: on evidence.

What we never do

Sell placement in a ranking, a showcase, or a badge — at any price.
Let a venue edit its own score, tier, or review evidence.
Accept free meals, stays, or tickets in exchange for coverage.
Show you different rankings than we show anyone else.

How rankings are actually made

Every place is scored from real, recent review evidence by an editorial model with a published methodology — how beloved, excellent, authentic, and good-value a place is. Read the full methodology on the Friend Score page.

Questions about this policy? It applies to every city, every page, every domain we run.