If we cannot point to a source for a claim, we do not publish the claim. Not a softened version of it, not an estimate, not a “typically around”. The field comes off the page.
This sounds obvious. It is not how most travel content works, and it is the reason some pages here are noticeably thinner than the equivalent page elsewhere. A sparse page that is true is the product. A complete page that is partly invented is the thing we are reacting against.
verified
A primary source: the resort's own site, an official rate sheet or fact sheet, or a government registry.
Requires: a source URL and the date we checked it
reported
Secondary or aggregate evidence: patterns across review corpora, reef survey data, collected guest reports.
Requires: sample size and date range, never a bare assertion
editorial
Our own judgement, drawn from facts stated on the same page.
Requires: a visible label, so you can discount it if you disagree
Blogs, other aggregator sites, AI summaries, and “widely known” are not sources. Neither is the recollection of whoever is writing.
We will
We will not
Maldives rates are almost always quoted before 17% TGST, a 10% service charge and a $12 per person per night green tax. The service charge is itself taxable, so these compound rather than simply adding up.
TGST rose from 16% on 1 July 2025 under the seventh amendment to the Goods and Services Tax Act (MIRA circular). The resort green tax doubled from $6 to $12 on 1 January 2025; properties with fewer than 50 rooms charge $6. Checked 2026-08-17.
There is none. No advertising, no affiliate links, no booking commission, no paid placement, no sponsored entries. Nobody has paid to be included or excluded, and no resort has seen any of this before publication.
If that changes, it will be disclosed on every page it affects before we take a penny — and ranking will never depend on it.
We will. Prices move, sources go stale, and we misread things. Every correction is published with the date, what was wrong, and what replaced it, in the corrections log. A site that has never published a correction is not careful, it is just not looking.