How I research

Every review on this site is built the same way. This page shows how, and where I can be wrong.

What annoys me

When I started looking at resorts in the Maldives, I kept running into the same thing. I'd find a villa and a price per night, click through, and at the last step before paying the total was suddenly a lot higher. At one resort it was half as much again as the price I started with, because the taxes, service charge and green tax only showed up at the end. The transfer from the airport, often a seaplane, wasn't in it at all. Not on the resort's own site, and not on Booking.com.

Then I tried to compare the same villa on both. Different name, different photo, and on one of them it was a third bigger. I still don't know whether it was the same villa.

And the things that decide whether you'll love the place, like what's right outside your door and what guests say about the week they had, are spread over menus, price lists, small print and thousands of reviews. Nobody has the evenings to go through all of that for one holiday. I do it, one resort at a time.

What one review takes

For Huvafen Fushi, the first resort on this site:

• 1,611guest reviews on two sites gone through, nearly a hundred read in full, including every one from 2026
• 2trips priced on the resort's own booking page, as far as the payment page
• 5complete menus, plus the spa and activity price lists
• Hoursof guest videos from 2025 and 2026, some watched frame by frame

Every review has a small block at the top with its own numbers like these.

The five steps

1. I price the same trip every time. Two adults, five nights, the cheapest villa, once in early February and once in early June 2027. Always the same trip, so the comparison between resorts is as even as possible. I go through the resort's own booking page until the last step before payment, so taxes and fees are in the total, and I check the same dates on Booking.com. The page says on which day I checked.

2. I read what guests write. Mostly reviews from the current year, because a complaint from three years ago is often fixed. I note what keeps coming back: the area and the nature around the resort, the noise, the food, which rooms people regret.

3. I read what the resort publishes. Menus, price lists, the small print of its offers, and its map. The map tells you which villas look out on what, which the photos often don't.

4. I watch guest videos. To see what's really outside the door, the size of the bathroom, how close the neighbours are.

5. I ask the resort. When a question would change a booking decision, such as which villas have the best spot, I email the resort.

Then I work out what the whole stay costs, not just the villa, to give you as complete a picture of the price as I can. It's an example trip, not a quote: your dates, your villa and how much you drink will move it.

How I handle what I find

Every claim comes from a source I can point to, listed at the bottom of the review with the date I read it. I keep apart what the evidence shows, what I think it means and what I don't know yet. A resort is judged on what it's trying to be: a quiet island doesn't lose points for having no nightlife.

Nobody pays me to say anything about a resort, and I don't accept free stays.

When not to trust me

Take what you read here with a grain of salt too. That's where the name comes from.

• I see a place through other people's eyes. Every review says where that falls short.
• Guest reviews lean towards strong weeks. People write when something went very well or very badly. The ordinary week is underrepresented.
• Nature changes. A storm, a bleaching year, a new jetty or building work next door can make a description out of date within months.
• Prices change. The numbers are right on the day I checked them. Look at your own dates before you book.
• I may earn a commission later. This site earns nothing yet. Once it does, a booking through one of my links may pay me a commission. It won't change what I write.

A few questions people ask

Why don't you stay at the resorts?

A few nights as a guest tells you about one villa in one week. Guests write about every villa in every season. I'd rather read a few hundred of them than base a review on my own five nights, and it also means no resort can host me in return for a nice review.

Is the total in the review what I'll pay?

It's close for the dates and villa I priced, with all taxes included and flights left out. For your dates it will be different. That's why each review has a button to check your own dates.

How do I earn money?

You click through and book with the resort or the booking site. Right now I earn nothing from that. Later I may get a commission on bookings made through my links. I don't book for you, I don't contact hotels on your behalf and I'm not there during or after your stay.

What if something is wrong?

Write to me at erwin@grainofsalt.travel. I check it, fix the page and note the change at the bottom.

Erwin, Chief of Salt