Editorial standards

Every directory calls itself independent. The word costs nothing to print, so this page sets out what it consists of here, in terms you can check rather than take on trust.

Rankings are featured-blind

When a score is calculated, the process has no access to whether a business has paid for anything. That information is not passed to the ranking engine at all.

This is a structural property, not a policy of restraint. We are not choosing to ignore commercial information when we rank. The ranking cannot see it. That distinction matters, because a policy can be quietly relaxed and a missing input cannot.

Paid surfaces sit outside the ranked list

No paid placement is offered today. Nothing on any of our directories has been paid for by a listed business, because there is nothing to buy.

If paid placement launches in future, three rules will apply to it without exception.

• It will be labelled as paid, on the placement itself rather than in a footer disclosure elsewhere on the page.
• It will sit outside the ranked list, visually separate, so that the order of the ranked list remains an order produced by the method.
• It will not affect any score. Buying a placement will not move a business within the ranked list, and it will not protect a business from a falling score.

The current position on advertising, and what it will look like when it opens, is set out on advertise with us. There are no rates on that page because there are no rates.

Earned labels cannot be bought

Where a directory carries an editorial label, such as an editor's pick, that label is earned and cannot be bought under any circumstance. It is not available as an advertising product now, and it will not become one.

A paid label and an earned label must never be capable of being mistaken for one another. That is the whole point of labelling paid surfaces.

No commercial relationships with listed businesses

Stated plainly, because vagueness here is worthless:

• Meridian Guides has no ownership stake in any business listed on any of its directories.
• Meridian Guides has no commercial relationship with any business listed on any of its directories.
• No listed business is a client.
• We do not accept free services, hosted stays, complimentary meals, or gifts from businesses that appear on our directories.
• We take no commission on any booking made through a link on a directory.

If any of these change, this page changes first, and the change will be stated rather than quietly dropped.

Listings are compiled, not sold

Businesses are listed because they were found in public sources for a category we cover. They are not asked, they are not charged, and they are not required to register, claim, or respond to anything.

This means a listed business owes us nothing and can expect nothing from us, including a better position. It also means nobody can be removed as a commercial consequence, because there is no commercial relationship to withdraw.

What we do not claim

Our rankings are editorial opinion based on a published method applied to public reviews. They are not inspections. We do not visit premises. We do not verify licences, accreditations or insurance, and we do not imply that a high position means any of those have been checked.

We also do not publish fabricated proof of our own. This publisher was founded in 2026 and has no reviews, no case studies, no awards and no traffic figures. It would be easy to invent them, and doing so on a site whose entire argument is verifiability would be self-defeating.

Corrections are honoured

Where a listing is wrong, we fix it. Where a business wants to be removed, we remove it, and a removed business is not penalised anywhere else. The process, including how legal requests are handled, is on corrections, disputes and removals.

Where we get something wrong on this site, we correct it on the page rather than deleting it quietly.

Who is responsible

The Editor is responsible for the scoring method, the monthly re-check, and every correction and removal. Questions about anything on this page go to hello@meridianguides.my.