How we rank stays

• Pick: our first choice on the island. At most two per island, and only where the facts back it.
• Good: sound, with a catch that we name.
• Listed: the facts only, with no verdict yet.

Tiers are always written in words. We do not use stars, scores or percentages, because we cannot check them.

• Where the stay is: its beach, the reef and the walk or boat ride to the rest of the island.
• When it is open, and whether its boat runs in the monsoon.
• What it costs to reach: the transfer, its time and its price.
• What a rate or package includes, and what it leaves out.
• The booking terms, especially refunds when the weather stops the boats.
• Patterns in recent guest reviews, not single reviews.

Commission rates, which partner sells a stay, and whether any partner sells it at all. A stay with no booking link keeps its tier and its place, and we link to its own site.

Stays appear by tier, Pick first. Within a tier they follow the island’s beaches in the order the guide lists them, then the alphabet. Partner buttons on a stay page look the same and are listed A to Z.

Each Pick and Good entry states its main drawback in plain words: the price, the distance, the terms or the season. If we cannot find a catch, we say what we could not check.

When facts are re-checked, tiers are reviewed with them. The date on each page is the date of the last check.