What is the 'Reality Check – Approved' badge?
When you see this badge on a photo, it means we've confirmed the image shows a place as it actually looks – unpolished, unfiltered, exactly what you'll see when you get there. Here's what that means in practice:
- No editing, no filters. The colours, lighting and atmosphere are real. What you see is what the photographer saw through the viewfinder.
- No waiting for the perfect moment. These aren't shots taken after an hour of waiting for the crowd to thin out or the sun to hit just right. They capture normal conditions.
- No hiding mess or flaws. If there's construction scaffolding on the temple, tourists blocking the view or litter on the beach, it's in the frame. Reality isn't always pretty.
Why we created this badge
Travel content online has become a minefield of unrealistic expectations. Instagram feeds show destinations at golden hour with zero people around. Travel blogs feature impossibly vibrant sunsets and pristine beaches. Everything looks flawless. Then you arrive. The temple is crowded. The beach has seaweed. The famous viewpoint is fenced off for repairs. The colours are duller than you expected. You feel disappointed, maybe even cheated.
We wanted to do something about that disconnect.
Our goal is to help you plan trips based on what places actually look like, not what they look like in their best possible light. When you know what to expect, you can enjoy a destination for what it is instead of comparing it to some perfect version that never existed. You can make better decisions about where to go, when to visit and how much time to spend there.
That's why we added the Reality Check badge. It's our way of saying: this photo shows the real deal, flaws included.
How the approval process works
We approve photos through three different channels:
1. Photos our team takes
When someone from our team visits a destination, takes photos and uploads them, they mark which images are completely unedited. These get the badge automatically because we trust our own process.
2. Photos from certified contributors
We work with trusted partners and specially trained contributors who understand what we're looking for. These people have proven they can capture places honestly. When they upload photos and confirm they're unedited, we approve them.
3. Third-party photos we verify
Sometimes we find photos from other sources (photographers, archives, networks) that look like they show reality. If someone on our team has been to that location and can confirm 'yes, that's actually how it looks there', we'll approve the photo and add the badge.
For third-party photos, we sometimes can't know for sure whether any editing happened, so we care more about whether the final image still actually represents reality. If someone adjusted the exposure slightly or cropped the frame, but the colours, atmosphere and overall scene match what you'd actually see standing there, that's fine. The core principle is simple: does this photo give you an accurate impression of the place?
A few things to know
We are quite strict with when to add this badge, as it's meant as a symbol of trust. But keep in mind that even our team can visit a place during an unusually good or bad moment. And places change over time. Constructions start or end, beaches get cleaned up or get polluted, crowds shift with the seasons. We try to reflect with doing additional research and reevaluations over time, but it can never be perfect.
The badge tells you we've manually checked a photo and confirmed it matches reality. But plenty of other photos in our gallery also show places accurately, they just haven't been reviewed yet. So if a photo doesn't have this badge, it doesn't mean those other photos are fake or misleading – it just means we haven't manually reviewed and approved them yet. We're working through our library, but it takes time. The badge is a positive confirmation, not a warning system.
When you're browsing destinations and trying to figure out what a place is really like, start with the Reality Check photos. They won't always be the prettiest ones, but they'll prepare you for what you'll actually find when you show up. And that's the whole point.
