How this guide is run

This guide has been written by two of us since 2021. We are interested in how a building is run and how a stay is shaped by it, and not at all in how well anyone is looked after. A photographer we work with takes the pictures.

What we mean by the arrangement. The arrangement is the ordinary division of work in a house: which parts of an evening the people staying see to, and which parts the building has already settled before they walk in. It is a description of a way of living, not a verdict on anybody.

The three headings. What guests do holds the things a visitor handles: a stove, a key, a bag, a bath, a set of linen. What the house does holds everything the building keeps for itself, from the wood store to the concert programme. Why it works this way sets out the plain reason: a road that ends, a season, the size of the place, a hillside, a building with no way of holding staff.

Why we do not rank anything. An arrangement is not a level of service, so it cannot be scored. A lodge that leaves a key in a box has not failed to meet anyone; a resort that carries the whole evening has not spoiled anybody. We never set two hotels against each other, and we never say that one way of running a house is the right one.

Why there are no instructions here. We do not explain how to light a stove, load a sledge or use a generator, and we give no advice about weather, equipment or safety. Those things belong to the people who run each house and know their own ground. Our sentences say what happens, not what anyone should do.

Why the casino resorts are here. The four Canadian resorts in this guide run the arrangement the other way round: the house takes nearly everything, and a guest crosses the threshold and stops. That is an answer to the same question, and leaving it out would make the guide look narrower than the world is. Those pages describe buildings, kitchens, halls and grounds; the gaming floor itself is not described.

Say this ahead. The blue line under each entry is one thing worth settling before a stay, phrased as preparation: how a key is handed over, which address of a chain you hold a booking with, what is supplied and what is not. It is never a complaint and never a warning.

Written down. The month and year at the foot of an entry is when we last opened the published material behind it. Arrangements change, houses close for a season and chains move addresses, so the date says how fresh our reading is and nothing more.

Where the material comes from. We read what each house publishes about itself, together with public interviews, planning material and reporting. We then write the entry in our own words. We do not claim to have stayed anywhere, and we name no private individuals.

What is never published here. No prices, no stars, no ratings, no booking, no affiliate links and no paid placement. Nobody can buy an entry, a correction or a kinder sentence. If we get something wrong, tell us on the contact page and we will change it because it is wrong.