Reviews policy
Every post on Stayed Worked Went is someone’s own account of a place: where they stayed, worked or went, with their photos, an optional 1–5 rating and their own words. This page explains how we keep those posts honest, who can earn from them, and how that’s labelled. It sits alongside our terms.
What a post is
A post is the author’s own experience of their own visit. Nobody can post on someone else’s behalf, and we don’t write, edit or buy posts. Posts are travellers’ opinions, not ours.
How we check visits
Anyone can post Public, but only posts whose visit has been checked reach the feed, the map and place pages. A Public post that hasn’t been checked appears only on its author’s profile, without a verified tick. This is how we check a visit:
- Stays: the booking confirmation is matched to the name on the traveller’s bookings, a booking reference can only be claimed by the people on that booking, the checkout date has to have passed and the booking can’t be cancelled, and a photo or check-in has to place them at the hotel or home.
- Work and visits: a photo or check-in at the place on the day. Only the result of the check reaches us; the phone keeps the photo’s location.
- Anything that doesn’t add up, such as a stay typed in without a booking or a name that doesn’t match, goes to a person on our team before it can count.
- The name on your bookings locks once a stay is verified, and the dates of a checked visit can’t be changed without checking it again.
A verified tick on a post means at least one of its visits passed these checks. To post Public at all you need a confirmed email, and a verified post joins the feed after a short wait that depends on the author’s level, which gives time for reports and our checks. If an edit changes what was checked, the post leaves the feed until it’s checked again.
Ratings
A rating is optional. We never add ratings up into an average or a score for a place, so one person’s stars are only ever shown on their own post.
We don’t hide bad reviews
We never hide, reorder or remove a post because it’s negative, and nobody can pay us to show, promote, hide or remove a post. A business can’t ask us to take down a review it doesn’t like. We only remove posts that break our terms or this policy.
How the feed is ordered
Newest first. Posts from people you follow get a small boost, so they appear a little higher than their age alone would put them. Ratings, money and commission play no part in the order.
Edits
Authors can change their rating or words after a post goes Public. When they do, the post shows “Edited”.
Points
Travellers earn points for checked visits, photos and written takes. Checked visits and points decide levels and badges. They have no cash value and can’t be exchanged for money, stays or discounts, and the rules for earning them are the same whatever a post says about a place.
Who earns, and how it’s labelled
A stay’s Book button can take you to a booking site such as Booking.com. When you book that way we may earn a commission, and the post says so under the button: “We may earn a commission when you book”.
Travellers at the Explorer and Ambassador levels earn a share of that commission from bookings made through their own verified posts. Their posts say so under the button, to everyone who sees them: “@handle earns a share when you book”. The label follows the author’s level today, so it appears and goes away as their level changes. Nobody earns from their own bookings, and commission never depends on the rating or what the post says.
When nothing can earn from a post (for example, where it works or a place without a booking partner), there is no label.
Free and discounted stays
If you got a stay free or at a discount because you post about places (a “hosted” stay), you must switch on “I got this stay free or discounted” on that post. It then shows “Hosted” to everyone. Not labelling a hosted stay breaks this policy.
Your own business, your employer, a rival
Don’t post about a place you own, run or work for, or that a member of your family does, and don’t post about a competitor of any of those. Don’t offer or accept anything in return for a post, a rating or a change to one, other than a hosted stay that is labelled. Fake posts, posts from people who weren’t there, and posts written for someone else aren’t allowed.
Reporting a post
Tap … on any post, choose Report, then “Fake, paid or not labelled” (or the reason that fits). You can add a note. We aim to act on reports within 24 hours. For a fake or paid review we check the visit’s evidence and look for a link between the author and the business. If a post is fake or hides an incentive on purpose, we remove it and add a strike to the account; repeated strikes pause and then close it, and any earnings that came from breaking the rules are taken away. If a real stay should have been labelled Hosted, we ask the author to label it and may add a strike. You can also email hello@stayedworkedwent.com.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and its date. Questions: hello@stayedworkedwent.com.