Our Editorial Guidelines and Disclosure Policy
In an effort to provide our readers, as well as potential guest authors, with a clear view on our editorial approach, Travel Writers Exchange (‘TWE’) has implemented a public Editorial Policy.
The Policy
Above all, Honesty and Authenticity Are the Best Policy.
More specifically, we align ourselves with the following principles:
- While the life of a travel writer may seem glamorous, it doesn’t pay terribly well. Although other publications may prohibit it, Authors and Editors at TWE, including Guest Authors, may accept sponsored travel and may submit educational/advisory content (though not destination-related articles) based upon sponsored travel. Sponsored travel can include, but is not limited to, free flights, hotel accommodations, meals, and access to attractions, tours and events. Destination articles which were sponsored by the destination now have a clear disclosure on them.
- Authors and Editors at TWE, including Guest Authors, do accept review copies of travel guides, books and other travel-related items, either as a gift or a loan, for review on this publication. We only accept items for review which we feel will be of interest to our audience, thus reducing the likelihood that we will review something we don’t like. But – in keeping with our “honesty is the best policy” position – if we don’t like it, we’ll tell you.
- TWE may accept products from suppliers for the express purpose of a giveaway, sweepstakes, or contest. If you see the verbiage ‘sponsored by’, ‘courtesy of’, or ‘provided by’, these are clear indications that we did not pay for the item(s). This is regularly accepted practice throughout the industry but we’d be remiss not to spell it out here.
- Although TWE does not presently run ‘advertorial’ and/or sponsored content on our site, we reserve the right to do so in the future. Any articles which feature such content may be intended to generate revenue – just like advertisements in a magazine do. However, we will only accept for publication content that offers value to our readership, decisions which are made for editorial reasons, not a financial one.
- Any editorial content, defined as the body of an article, that is in whole or partly sponsored will carry a clear disclosure which will be published along with, as part of, or immediately following such content. If any article does not contain a disclosure statement or any of the aforementioned verbiage, then no sponsorship was involved.
- Advertising vs. Sponsored Content: It’s important to distinguish between paid advertising and sponsored content. This blog accepts forms of paid advertising, which appear in the sidebar and banner space in the form of graphic (image) ads.
- Affiliate Text Links: In the body of, or immediately following, some editorial content text links may direct readers to another website. In some cases these text links may generate income for TWE. Your support of those merchants helps offset the cost of running this website, and thus helps support this community as well.
- The views and opinions expressed by any author are purely the author’s own. In the case of reviews, any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
Our Philosophy
We don’t want anyone to think that we write good things about a place or product because someone paid us to do so (or conversely, write bad things about something because we weren’t paid). But because we promote both travel as well as informed, authentic travel writing, it is important to make it clear that ALL content on this site is written with editorial authenticity – our financial arrangements do not affect any of our content.
Our Promise
Any compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. We always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products, and only endorse or promote products that we truly like and believe to be of value to our readers.
Reporting Violations of This Policy
If you feel that any content on this site is in violation of editorial policy, please CONTACT THE EDITOR.
Lastly, our sincere gratitude to Andrew G. Hayes of Travel Online Partners and Sharing Travel Experiences for his generous assistance in developing this policy.