Editorial policy

This page sets out how the comparisons on this site are put together and what we will not do. It is written to be checked against the site, so if you find something that contradicts it, please tell us.

How hotels are selected

Every list on this site answers a specific question, and properties are selected against that question rather than ranked by a single overall score. A hotel can be an excellent choice for an arena night and a poor one for a family arriving by car, and we would rather say that than average it into a number.

Not every property appears on every relevant page. A short accurate list is more useful than a long one, and a hotel that meets a requirement only marginally is left off rather than padded in.

How practical details are handled

We treat facts about a property in three tiers.

• Established. Specific detail from an operator source or a consistent set of sources. Published plainly.
• Indicated. Drawn from guest reports or listing data, credible but not confirmed by the operator. Published with that context attached, in wording that tells you to check it.
• Unknown. Not published at all. A blank cell on this site means we did not establish the answer, not that the answer is no.

We do not fill gaps with likelihood. A four star hotel is not assumed to have a gym, and a hotel with a spa is not assumed to have a hot tub.

Distances and walking times

Distances are calculated from each property's coordinates to the coordinates of the destination. They are straight-line distances, and walking times derived from them include an allowance for street routing. They are indicative figures for comparing properties against each other, not measured route times, and we label them as such wherever they appear. Where a distance is far enough that walking is not the sensible option, we show no walking time rather than a misleading one.

Prices

This site does not carry live prices. Price bands describe where a property normally sits in the market, based on listing data, and will not match what you are quoted for your dates. We do not publish a specific nightly figure as though it were current, and we make no claim to have the lowest price anywhere.

Reviews and ratings

Where a review score appears it is Booking.com's, out of ten, shown with the review count it rests on, so you can see how much weight it carries. A 4.9 from twenty reviews and a 4.1 from five thousand are not the same signal and we do not present them as though they were. We do not convert ratings between scales, and we do not turn a handful of review comments into a claim about what guests generally think.

First-hand experience

We have not stayed at these hotels and the site never suggests otherwise. There are no invented visits, no fabricated guest quotes, no fictional reviewers and no staff photographs. Editorial judgements on this site are conclusions drawn from stated facts, and the facts are on the page so you can disagree with the conclusion.

Affiliate links and commercial policy

Booking links are affiliate links and may earn a commission at no cost to you. Commission plays no part in selection or ranking. Properties with no affiliate relationship are included on the same terms as those with one, and several are, because leaving out two of Birmingham's largest budget chains would make the guide worse.

We do not accept payment for inclusion, for a position in a list, or for a badge. No hotel has approval over what is written about it.

Updates and corrections

Practical details are checked and dated. Where a page shows a checked date, that is when we last reviewed the practical detail on it. Prices, parking charges and policies change between reviews, which is why the pages tell you to confirm at the point of booking.

If we get something wrong we correct it. Report an error through the contact page and tell us which page and which detail.