How we evaluate.

The Four Rules

These are not aspirations. They govern every dispatch we publish. The §01–§08 sections below are the operational detail; the Four Rules are what those sections enforce.

1. The 3 km Rule Every restaurant we recommend is measured by us, within three kilometres of every hotel. Not by what pays commission.
2. The Selection Ratio The Mallorca Gold List required evaluating 102 properties to name five. We choose; we do not list.
3. No Paid Placement PR images we didn't request and editorial-for-pay arrangements: refused on principle. If you offer to pay for placement, we will say no — see §02.
4. The Public Ledger Every load-bearing claim verified before publish. Every correction logged within 48 hours. Visible to anyone. The ledger is part of the publication. Prevention and cure are one rule, not two: the verification pass keeps the ledger short; the ledger keeps the verification pass honest.

01 What hotels cannot do.

No pre-publication review. Hotels have no right to read a piece before it is published. No approval over images. No veto over the verdict. No negotiation of the headline.

Negative coverage. Verdicts name what failed. A property has no right to negotiate the removal of a critical observation.

02 What we refuse.

The refusals below are permanent. They do not change when a property raises an objection to a verdict.

• Refused: Paid placement in rankings, lists, and featured slots. Hotels cannot buy a position.
• Refused: Sponsored content presented as editorial, in any format or ad unit.
• Refused: Gifted upgrades or amenities that materially alter the reviewed experience, unless the alteration is disclosed in the piece.
• Refused: Pre-publication review, approval rights, and retraction negotiations outside the corrections policy in §07.
• Refused: Gifts to editors or contributors that exceed €25 in declared value, whether or not a piece is being prepared.

03 How we source images.

Every photograph on Mondmodel originates from the property itself. We license imagery through Creator Toolbox via the Expedia Affiliate Hub, which distributes a hotel's own approved media. Each image is traceable to a specific asset ID in that property's distributed media set.

We do not use stock photography. We do not use AI-generated images. We do not reuse a photograph from one property to illustrate another. When a property's own media is insufficient for a story, we say so in the piece rather than substitute an image from elsewhere.

04 How we evaluate.

Every Mondmodel piece is filed as one of two tiers. The tier is named at the top of the piece, not in fine print.

Editorial Stay · 12–14 Mar 2026

Editorial Stay. An editor visited the property on the named dates. The editor slept on site and the verdict is a first-person reading.

Desk Verdict · Reviewed Q1 2026

Desk Verdict. A methodology-based assessment drawing on four inputs: verified images from the property's distributed media, aggregated guest data from licensed sources, on-the-ground guest signal aggregated from licensed booking platforms and updated within the last twelve months, and the Alamar Protocol — a geofence that admits only dining and services within three kilometres of the property. Michelin and World's 50 Best establishments beyond the geofence are admissible as context, and the exemption is disclosed in the piece.

A Desk Verdict is never presented as an Editorial Stay. An Editorial Stay is never re-labelled as a Desk Verdict after publication. Tier changes, if they happen, are logged in the corrections ledger.

05 How we check facts.

We track four facts about hotels that change over time: Michelin status, the named chef or restaurant, opening months, and room count. Each value carries its evidence level, and a source link and review date where we have them. Attestation needs a first-hand source: guide.michelin.com for Michelin status, and, for the other three, material the hotel or its operator published or issued, such as its website, a fact sheet, a press kit or a press release. A value backed only by a third party, such as a guide's hotel listing, a hotel association or a tourist board, stays a pointer. If we find no source for a value, we mark it unsourced.

Attested — source read

The source was read and supports the value.

Pointer — source on record

We have a source, but it does not meet the bar for attestation: it was only located, it supports the value in part, or it is not first-hand. The value is shown as unconfirmed.

Unsourced — no supporting source

The value could not be supported and is shown as unconfirmed.

Michelin status, chef or restaurant, and opening months have a 365-day limit. Room count has a 730-day limit. A value is confirmed only when it is attested, has a source link and review date, and that date is within the limit.

Mondmodel's MCP server returns the value, status, source link, and review date. It marks a value without current attestation as unconfirmed and never presents it as confirmed.

06 How we earn.

Mondmodel earns affiliate commission on reader bookings. It is named in every piece that could plausibly be influenced by it.

Editorial independence is a sequence, not a slogan. A hotel’s inclusion — and the tier and verdict it receives — is decided and timestamped before any commercial relationship with that hotel begins. The inclusion is never revised on the basis of a commercial relationship formed afterwards. The timestamps that establish this order are recorded internally and are available to journalists and analysts on request.

Affiliate commission — on reader bookings

Paid by the booking platform, not by the hotel. The rate does not vary by property, rating, or placement. Commission does not influence which hotels appear on Mondmodel, the order in which they appear, the tier they are filed at, or the verdict they receive.

07 Corrections policy.

We log every correction within 48 hours of detection — the discipline named in Rule 4 above. Substantive corrections — those that alter a ranking, a tier, a disclosure, or a material judgement — are published to a dated public ledger at mondmodel.com/corrections, with the original text preserved alongside the revision and a note explaining the change. We aim to ship the live update within seven days of logging.

Typographic fixes are made silently. Anything above that line is logged. The ledger is open even when empty.

If you are the subject of a piece and believe it contains an error, write to the address below.

— The Editors

08 Contact.

Editorial desk: [email protected]. There is no form, no ticket, no queue.

For corrections, use the same address with Correction as the first word of the subject line. For an off-the-record conversation, state that in the first line of your message; we will not print what you ask us not to print.