Originally Posted by
DrivingRain
But the Gallivanters folks drop the names of hotel GMs ands execs as if they were old buddies. They take a bit hit with their credibility IMO because of that.
True, but it works both ways. They are not anonymous, so all of the major hotels would have a flag for their names in any event, even if they tried to travel incognito. They also try to get inside as many different rooms in a hotel as possible so they can recommend the best choices, which you can obviously only do if the hotel is willing to help.
They do pay for top suites wherever they go, so they are presumably not won over by upgrades. In fact, my only gripe with it is that they do often focus too much on top suites and not on standard rooms.
Nota Bene - I have trialled this but cannot fall in love with it. I don't want 'destination reviews', I want 'hotel reviews' - and Gallivanters focuses on hotels better than NB. I'm happy to leave the guide book stuff to the guide books.