The rules we write by
Our editorial policy
Aruba Playbook is written and maintained by a small team that plans real trips on this island, our own and our friends'. The whole site rests on one bet: that being straight with you converts better than tricking you ever could. Here is exactly how that works in practice.
How a recommendation earns its place
Tested ourselves
The beaches, restaurants, and experiences in the core guide are places we have been, eaten at, swum at, or booked. When we say the fish at Zeerovers comes off the boat behind the building, it is because we stood there.
Verified live data
Tour ratings and review counts come straight from the Viator API, restaurant ratings from Google, each labeled with its source. We never write a rating ourselves and never display one we could not verify on the live listing.
Researched and sourced
Logistics guides (entry requirements, taxi rates, weather, events) are cross-checked against official and primary sources. When an event date is unconfirmed, we say "dates TBA" instead of guessing.
What we never do
- No fabricated reviews, testimonials, or star ratings. If a number cannot be verified, it is omitted.
- No countdown timers, fake "3 people are looking at this" pings, or invented scarcity. Any seasonal note reflects real booking patterns.
- No pay-for-placement. Nobody can buy a spot in our rankings, and no partner sees a draft before you do.
- Commission never decides ranking. Some links earn us a commission (disclosed on every page it applies), but what pays us more never outranks what we would pick for a friend.
- No renders of real named hotels or businesses presented as photos. Where a specific property matters, you see the partner’s own live listing.
Freshness, dated in the open
Where you see a checked-on date (tour details, ratings, prices), it is the real date we last verified that data against the live source, not a decorative stamp. Guides get re-verified when we update them; if something has moved on since our last check, the date tells you that honestly. A restaurant that closes comes off the site, it does not linger for traffic.
How the site makes money
Some outbound links are affiliate links (Viator tours, hotel and flight search, car rental, insurance) and some services are our own (trip planning, the Aruba Threads label). Booking through our links never costs you more, and the full list of partners lives on the affiliate disclosure page. The editorial rule above still governs everything: the recommendation comes first, the link second.
Spotted something off?
A price that moved, a spot that closed, a detail we got wrong: tell us and we will fix it and re-verify the page. That feedback loop is a load-bearing part of this policy.
info@arubaplaybook.com