How HotelShortlist works
Independent hotel research from public guest reviews, and a private members' club for travellers who check a hotel before they book it.
Anyone can read the research
HotelShortlist reads the public guest reviews of a hotel across booking platforms and writes up what guests report: bed bugs and other pests, noise, hidden fees, cleanliness and serious complaints, each with a count and a date.
The hotel pages and city pages are free to read, with no account. The list of every researched hotel is at /hotels.
Members also see the verbatim guest quotes behind each finding and the member rate for the room.
How a hotel is researched
Every hotel page is built from our own analysis of public guest reviews across platforms, not from what the hotel says about itself.
We look for what guests report and star ratings hide: bed bugs and other pests, noise, hidden fees, and serious complaints.
Each page shows how many reviews were read and the date of the analysis.
No hotel pays to be listed or to be rated. There is no advertising.
Our own 1 to 5 rating starts high only for hotels guests score 9.0 or more, and any pest, noise or fee problem pulls it down hard.
Joining is by introduction or by application
Ask for an introduction at /intro, or apply at /apply. Both open a short welcome that asks who you are, then a page made for you, then the application form.
A person reads every application.
Membership is €500 a year. When you apply it is a hold on your card, not a charge.
The card is charged only if the application is accepted. If it is declined, the hold is released and nothing is charged.
Research credit
Every member gets €50 of research credit. A full review analysis of a hotel costs €0.50, so the credit covers a hundred hotels.
An analysis reads every review of the hotel you name and shows the full findings. Hotels without a page yet can be researched on request, usually in about a minute.
Booking and the fee
Member rates are usually a few percent under what Booking.com charges for the same room on the same night.
Once accepted, the €500 sits on your account as credit to spend on rooms.
The fee is waived by booking €500 or more of hotels with us in the year.
For the travel and hotel trade
Tour operators, travel designers and advisors, hotel owners and hotel chains can have chosen hotels watched every month, with a written digest. Prices and free first checks are on the pages under /for.
Questions
- Is HotelShortlist free to use?
- The hotel and city research pages are free to read. Membership adds the verbatim guest quotes, member rates and €50 of research credit.
- What is research credit?
- Every member gets €50 of research credit. A full review analysis of a hotel costs €0.50, so the credit covers a hundred hotels.
- What does "ask for an introduction" mean?
- It is the way in for people who do not know a member. You say who you are, read a short page made for you, and send an application. A person at HotelShortlist reads it.
- How much does membership cost?
- Membership is €500 a year. When you apply it is a hold on your card, not a charge. The card is charged only if the application is accepted. If it is declined, the hold is released and nothing is charged. Once accepted, the €500 sits on your account as credit to spend on rooms. The fee is waived by booking €500 or more of hotels with us in the year.
- Which hotels has HotelShortlist researched?
- Every hotel with a public page is listed by town at hotelshortlist.com/hotels, and in plain text at hotelshortlist.com/llms-full.txt.
- Can an AI assistant use HotelShortlist?
- Yes. Assistants can read and quote the public pages and llms.txt. People who want their assistant to search the research directly can add the connector at hotelshortlist.com/mcp; see hotelshortlist.com/ai.