For hotels
Earn the badge travelers trust.
Fledge Verified Stays is our editorial program for exceptional hotels. We stay as guests, score against a published 100-point rubric, and award the badge to fewer than 10 hotels per city. If your property belongs on that list, apply.
How it works
From application to badge in four steps
Apply
Tell us about your property in two minutes. No fee, no obligation.
We select
Our editors review every application and verify a small number of hotels per city. Selectivity is the point of the badge.
We stay
A vetted Fledge experiencer stays one or two nights as an ordinary guest and documents the stay to our shot list. Your team is welcome to provide a photographer or videographer; we set the standard.
We publish
Your hotel receives a scored review in our city guide, booking links, and the Fledge Verified badge for your own site.
Why hotels apply
What your hotel gets
Verification puts your property in front of travelers at the exact moment they are choosing where to stay.
Ranked placement
A full scored review inside our city guide's Where to stay section: the page travelers read when they are choosing a hotel.
Booking links
Direct links from a high-intent audience to your booking engine, inside the most detailed guide to your city.
The badge
The Fledge Verified mark for your website and lobby, linking back to your published review.
Photography you can reuse
A professional photo set from the stay, licensed for your own marketing.
The rubric
Our scoring, published in full
We publish our rubric because a score you can inspect is a score you can trust. Every verified hotel is scored out of 100.
Location
20 ptsHow well the hotel serves the city: walkability, neighborhood, and access to what travelers came for.
Room and comfort
20 ptsThe room itself: bed, bathroom, light, quiet, and the details you notice at midnight.
Service
20 ptsHow the staff treats guests when nothing is wrong, and how they recover when something is.
Food and drink
15 ptsBreakfast first, then the bar and restaurant. Quality, not quantity.
Value
10 ptsWhat the stay delivers for its price, judged against the city's own range.
Experience
15 ptsThe intangibles: character, warmth, the story guests tell afterward.
Verification requires 80 points or above. A hosted stay buys our time, never our opinion: we publish the score whatever it is, and every verified review carries a disclosure that the stay was hosted.
How stays are documented
Experiencers, not influencers
Our reviewers are vetted travelers who stay as ordinary guests. Each follows the same published rubric and shot list, so every review is directly comparable.
One standard, every stay
Room wide, bathroom, breakfast, pool, a 60-second walkthrough: the shot list is fixed, so a review in Marrakech reads the same way as a review in Mexico City.
Bring your own photographer
Hotels may provide their own photographer or videographer for the stay. Fledge sets the shot list and the standard, and our editors make the final selection of what publishes.
Editorial, not sponsored
Influencers sell posts; readers discount them. We publish scored reviews, good or bad, which is why luxury hotels trust the badge the way restaurants trust inspectors.
Application
Apply for verification
Two minutes. No fee. We reply to every application within two weeks.
Questions
Asked by hotels
Does verification cost anything?
No. There is no application fee and no placement fee. Hotels host a one or two night stay for our experiencer; that is the entire commercial arrangement.
Do you only publish positive reviews?
No. We publish the score whatever it is. Fewer hotels clear 80 points than you would expect, which is why the badge means something.
Who stays at our hotel?
A vetted Fledge experiencer, traveling as an ordinary guest. We coordinate dates with your team in advance.
How will readers know the stay was hosted?
Every verified review carries a clear disclosure. Readers trust the badge because the arrangement is transparent.
We are small, or new. Should we apply?
Yes. Character beats size in our rubric, and some of our highest scores belong to small properties.
How long does it take?
We reply to every application within two weeks. Verified reviews typically publish within a month of the stay.
Fewer than 10 hotels per city earn the badge.
If yours is one of them, we should talk.
Apply for verification